We Asked an Expert Why Vaping Makes You Want To Poo – VICE

When you reach out to an acclaimed expert and scientist, its usually not under the guise of asking some incredibly futile question. But we here at VICE have an obligation to bring the people what they want, what they need, and what they desire. In this case its, Why does vaping make me want to take a big hearty dump?

Sometimes even the most disturbing questions need an answer and who said that you cant make dumb things smart? Not us.

So, we contacted newly-appointed Honorary Professorial fellow at The University Of Melbourne, Joel Borstein, who actually retired two months ago. Before that, he worked at the university's department of anatomy and physiology, his primary interest being the relationship between intestinal movements and secretion.

Heres what he said.

SOWHAT HAPPENS FROM THAT FIRST HIT OF A VAPE?

According to Bornstein with the assumption that the vape is inhaled orally your first hit of a vape will travel through the lungs and through the wall of the intestine. The nicotine will then excite the gut wall and the enteric nervous system a part of the body that controls motor functions, blood flow, mucosal transport and the endocrine system. Most of the neurons in that system will be sensitive to nicotine so they will be stimulated.

Then it will enter the bloodstream and affect a variety of areas of the body including the brain, where its main stimulant effect occurs.

WHY DO VAPES MAKE THINGS FEEL A LITTLE FUNNY DOWN THERE?

There are several different reasons why that could happen, Borstein says.

The first one is simply that the nerve cells that detect what's going on within the gut transmit to their target cells through terminals that relay acetylcholine (a chemical that triggers motor neurons and affects voluntary movement) to excite nicotine receptors.

Because nicotine activates these receptors, with continuous exposure this reduces the overall number of them. As a result, you're going to have dysfunction due to poor ability of your body to detect nicotine.

That's going to affect things like appetite and coordination of activity within the system (digestion etc).

The second one is that if you vape you get a rapid hit of nicotine, that's going to activate many of the neurons that would normally not be activated unless you were eating, he says.

According to Bornstein, there are three different control systems that use nicotine receptors as part of their normal functioning, which are activated by the presence of nutrients and stimuli inside the gut. Others lie within the brain and are indirectly activated through nicotine receptors somewhere along their pathways. They then go back to the gut and change its overall behaviour, especially in the upper gut. These include things like sight, smell and taste.

Nicotine will activate the neurons that cause acid secretion which is going to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable as you do after you've been drinking, says Bornstein.

Alcohol is converted to acid as part of its metabolic process. So it increases stomach acidity. Nicotine will also do that in a more minor way.

So that's one of the reasons why people who smoke and presumably who vape when they go to the pub they're combining two stimuli that are going to cause increased acid secretion in the stomach might feel uncomfortable down there.

AND SO HOW DOES THAT AFFECT POOPING? AND WHY DOES IT MAKE US WANT TO?

So I could make predictions, says Bornstein.

The nerves that are involved in generating a bowel movement live within the spinal cord in a special nucleus group of neurons, and they use acetylcholine to activate the nervous system that activates both the gut movements and defecation.

By taking a hit of a vape, youre producing a spike in the system which then decreases as the nicotine is cleared away. If youre constantly taking hits, the system will continue to spike and decrease.

So your system gets used to this up and down, and each time you take a new hit you will get a quick stimulus, he says.

That will start activating the region in the spinal cord that's involved in producing this whole process, you've got a descending pathway coming from the brain itself that either allows or prevents that activity. So, you might feel an urge to defecate, which is a whole reflex of its own.

This pathway is consciously controlled, thank God, otherwise youd be defecating whenever.

The nerves that run from the spinal cord into the enteric nervous system can be activated by the surge in nicotine. Then the adjusted system is going to be operating between surges.

If the surge coincides with an urge to go, then you'll likely get an increased response. Which basically means youll poo.

My prediction would be that the easiest way to go (poo) would be to take a vape just before you want to.

This can then be behaviourally reinforced.

SO THEN THE GUT RELIES ON NICOTINE TO WORK PROPERLY?

Everything adjusts to get it to work just the same as it does with opiates, heroin, and so on. The system resets itself. With nicotine addiction, it's the same thing, the system resets itself, so you don't get normal function without the nicotine, says Bornstein.

That's why people use nicotine patches, or vapes to get off cigarettes. The whole system re-tunes itself.

If you were to stop vaping, or consuming nicotine, you would probably become constipated. Probably, for a couple of days.

This article is not intended to encourage or promote the use ofvapingor othertobacco products. The consumption of tobacco is harmful for your health and can cause lung cancer.

Follow Julie Fenwick onTwitterandInstagram.

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We Asked an Expert Why Vaping Makes You Want To Poo - VICE

How Much Nicotine Is In A Cigarette Compared To Vape: Vaping VS Smoking – The Island Now

The health hazards of cigarettes are becoming more evident with every published work on the health of the human lungs. As a result, smokers are actively searching for viable alternatives. These smokers are considering switching to vaping based on queries on major search engines.

But is vaping safer than cigarette smoking? How much nicotine is in one cigarette compared to a vape?

In this article, well try to provide answers to these questions and more. Also, if you arent a smoker but are curious about the nicotine content in cigarettes and vapes, you will find the contents and answers proffered in this article informative.

Similarly, if you plan to take up vaping, you will find the information in this article instructive. With that said, lets get started with everything nicotine, cigarettes, and vaping.

Nicotine is a name forged from the scientific name for tobacco plants, Nicotiana species. These tobacco plants are members of the nightshade family.

Tobacco originated in South America before its influence spread to nations in Africa, North America, and Australia. Natives of these regions originally used tobacco leaves as edibles and smokable joints. Some used them for ritual purposes that made sense to the recommendations of their traditions.

In recent times, tobacco has found use in many other areas.

Nicotine is the major chemical substance found in tobacco. Its percentage composition in the plant is greater than any other chemical constituent of the leaves.

Hence, youll find nicotine in many tobacco products like cigarettes, smoke-free tobacco, Hookah tobacco, cigars, vapes, and most e-cigarettes.

Also, youll find that the most significant impact of nicotine occurs in the brain. This explains why smoking or using substances that contain tobacco can be addictive.

Shortly, well consider the nicotine content of cigarettes and vape juice. Well also consider the effects of the chemical and provide answers to common questions related to it.

Since cigarettes come from different manufacturers with different manufacturing processes, nicotine levels in cigarettes cannot be the same across the board. Based on the results of frequent practice, a regular stick of cigarette can contain an estimated 6 mg of nicotine. In extreme cases, a single stick of cigarette have as much as 28 mg. However, most cigarette sticks contain mg of nicotine on average.

When users smoke cigarette sticks, not all of the nicotine is inhaled. Some parts of the substance escape into the atmosphere as the smoker blows smoke into the air. According to findings and research, smokers can inhale up to 1.04 mg of nicotine with every stick they smoke. This means a pack of 20 cigarettes will deliver about 20-21 mg of nicotine into the smokers body.

This brings us to the common question that smokers and non-smokers ask, how many puffs are in a cigarette?

Well, there isnt a particular answer to this question since there are some factors that can determine how much puff a cigarette puff holds:

The level of nicotine in vapes varies from brand to brand. With improvements in technology, some brands now manufacture cartridges free from nicotine. In contrast, others offer cartridges containing salts-derived nicotine and are fortified with about 50 mg for every ml. Regular smoker who wish to restrict their nicotine consumption to cigarette levels will prefer vapes with nicotine levels of 3 to 15 mg per ml.

Smokers with higher daily tolerance prefer vapes containing vape juice with higher nicotine levels of up to 24 mg per ml.

With vapes having varying nicotine content levels, many users wonder how much vape juice theyll need to consume to match smoking an entire cigarette stick.

It is difficult to answer the question above since hundreds of vape nicotine levels are available on the market. However, to arrive at an estimated amount, you will have to consider all of the following:

However, manufacturers suggest a single ml of vape juice should generate at least 100 puffs. With this estimated number in mind, we can conclude that 1 ml vape juice will make up about five regular cigarette packs.

Furthermore, the effects of the substance released and inhaled when vaping are much stronger than that inhaled when you smoke cigarettes. Youll find that this situation plays out even more when using sub-ohm devices. Vaping with sub-ohm devices generates big and thicker clouds rich in stimulants. However, you can also look for best THC vape pens, if you are interested.

To fully grasp the effect of stimulants like nicotine, you must understand what neurotransmitters are and what they do. The human brain is constantly active, with billions of neurons sending and receiving information every second from every part of the body.

When nicotine finds its way into the body, it mimics acetylcholine functions. Hence, it increases brain activity, making you feel energized whenever you draw in a smoke. After a while, the neurons of your brain compensate for this hyperactivity by reducing natural acetylcholine receptors. This creates a cycle of addiction because your bodys nicotine storage reduces when you quit smoking. Youd find yourself craving it more because your brain has gotten used to not producing enough acetylcholine by itself anymore.

Nicotine triggers a temporary feeling of wellness and relaxation. It also increases the heart rate and the amount of oxygen it burns. As soon as cigarette smoke delivers nicotine into the body, it causes a rush of endorphins, the chemical that relieves stress and pain. It is also known to improve general mood.

The body quickly absorbs the stimulant into the body system to reach the brain fast enough. However, quick nicotine absorption causes its levels to peak fast, and the rewards disappear too quickly.

Furthermore, nicotine mimics the feel good neurotransmitter or dopamine hormone. So, you get a great feeling when you smoke your favorite cigarette and increase the mg of nicotine in your body.

In many ways, your bloods nicotine level alters the brains chemical functions and leaves you wanting more of it every time. So, quitting its intake is an uphill task.

Thanks to its chemical composition, nicotine may briefly improve your concentration levels and boost your memory. Unfortunately, continued use of cigarettes and smoking may gradually lead to a decline in vital cognitive abilities and increase your chances of developing Alzheimers disease. This means that the short-term rewards of improved cognitive functions do not outweigh the long damage that nicotine may cause.

Furthermore, when people quit nicotine, they are bound to experience withdrawal symptoms. People who quit smoking after long years of intense use may experience sleep impairment.

Consistent use of nicotine can affect major functions in the body. It may cause conditions such as headaches, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, irregular sleep patterns, high risk of blood clotting. Peptic ulcer, dry mouth, disrupted blood flow, shortness of breath, indigestion, diarrhea, joint pains, and more may also occur.

Some special nicotine products can trigger unique side effects like skin irritation, aching muscles, occasional stiffness, racing heartbeat, and sleep challenges.

A racing heartbeat could be an indication of an overdose of nicotine. In this case, users should seek the advice of healthcare professionals.

As stated earlier, the amount of nicotine you consume while vaping varies greatly. So, it may be correct to say that the amount of nicotine you consume while vaping may equal or more than what you get when you smoke regular cigarettes. However, many vapers have larger vape mods that refill vape juices with stronger nicotine than regular cigarettes. Vaping delivers nicotine into your body system the same way cigarettes do.

With the number of vaping instruments out on the market, it is hard to say how many puffs a vaper will need daily. However, there is a general belief that regular vapers take an average of 140 puffs daily. And only 14.60% of the daily vaping surpasses 300 puffs. Also, less than 1% of users exceed 600 puffs per day, depending on how much vaping they do.

Again, there isnt a specific answer to this question. The number of puffs a cigarette can generate depends on how the smoker conducts the smoking exercise. The size of the puff created and the time spent dragging it in can determine the lifespan of the cigarette and, ultimately, the number of puffs it can generate.

So, if you want to enjoy more puffs while smoking your cigarette, you may want to consider drawing on it with less intensity and reducing the magnitude of puffs you generate.

It is unclear how many puffs from a vape will equal the puffs from a cigarette. It all depends on the size and type of atomizer you use and how you set up the cartridge. As we stated, sub-ohm devices operating at higher wattages generate higher vaporization levels and burn vape juice much faster. Furthermore, the nicotine levels in your e-juice compared to the cigarette brand can also play a role in determining how many puffs you can generate.

Generally, the nicotine content of vape juice is the same as the quantity of nicotine available measured by the quantity of nicotine in mg per ml of the e-juice. These levels are not the same in all models or cartridges. You can adjust them to reduce your overall calorie intake.

Industry-standard vape nicotine levels come in different doses. You will find that commercial quantities of vape juice come in doses of 3 mg, 6 mg, 12 mg, 14 mg, and 18 mg per ml. You will also find zero milligrams. In the same vein, cartridges with high nicotine levels of about 24-36 mg per ml are also available for users with high endurance and tolerance for the stimulant.

These are electronic nicotine delivery devices. They heat liquids or e-juice (containing nicotine, solvents, and flavors) into vapor. These devices are portable, and you can take them with you anywhere.

The use of nicotine is not suitable for pregnant women since it may cause prenatal developmental challenges.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published a report on the potential dangers of using vaping products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This is the component in cannabis responsible for euphoria.

Furthermore, the FDA warns against using vape products from unapproved sources. These poorly manufactured devices can lead to lung conditions and other heart diseases.

So far, there isnt a lot of research to completely discredit the use of vapes. The effects of the chemicals they contain on general health remain widely unknown. However, people switching to vaping to quit smoking should explore other means.

According to Public Health England, vaping is a safer form of inhaling nicotine than smoking cigarettes. In cigarette smoke, you will find different chemicals and carcinogens that can cause irreparable damage to your body. These substances may not be present in vapes. Furthermore, vaping is not as expensive as smoking. Most vaping devices are reusable and will save you extra cash. Cigarettes, on the other hand, are meant for one-time use, and thats all.

Nicotine levels and strengths change as soon as you move from one style of cigarette or vape to the other. Hence, if you wish to switch from cigarettes to vapes, youll need to adopt proven therapies before making the switch. There isnt sufficient information about the long-term effect of vaping on human health yet. However, some publications insist that vapes are significantly less harmful than cigarettes. You can also look for vapes with no nicotine, as it will reduce the effect of nicotine on your health.

Vapes provide you with a lot of options. You can choose vape devices that are low in nicotine to reduce your nicotine intake.

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How Much Nicotine Is In A Cigarette Compared To Vape: Vaping VS Smoking - The Island Now

Firefighters: Vaping triggered explosion at VW dealership – Automotive News

A Volkswagen dealership employee was taken to a hospital in Seattle after an explosion in the store's designated smoking area, firefighters said.

The Volkswagen of Kirkland employee was burned, but conscious when taken to a local hospital around 6 p.m. local time Monday, according to Kirkland Fire Battalion Chief Seth Buchanan.

The Kirkland, Wash., fire department said the dealership's smoking area is next to 55-gallon containers that were empty at the time but were previously filled with flammable liquid. The employee was vaping in that area when the explosion occurred, according to a news release from Kirkland Fire.

"We believe that it flashed, so the fire in the container was immediately out. It was just a flammable gas, but it kind of exploded and blew up a 55-gallon drum and, unfortunately, it was the patient that caught on fire," Buchanan said.

The resulting explosion caught the employee's clothes, hair, hands and face on fire, Buchanan told Automotive News.

The fire remains under investigation, Buchanan said.

Investigators suspect the vape's electronic heater, which creates the vapor, contributed to the fire's ignition, Buchanan said.

No damage was reported at the business, the release said.

Volkswagen of Kirkland did not respond to a request for comment.

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Firefighters: Vaping triggered explosion at VW dealership - Automotive News

Secaucus ordinance would iron out regulations for vaping vendors – The Hudson Reporter

Secaucus has again amended regulations and licensing for to electronic smoking devices and establishments.

The ordinance updates Chapter 141 of the Town Code, which was previously adopted and placed restrictions on smoking in public areas, and setting licensing requirements for establishments that sell electronic smoking devices in the interest of public health.

Upon the review and recommendation of the Board of Health, the mayor and council have determined that updates to this chapter are needed to reflect updated licensing regulations and fees.

Specifically, the ordinance updates the regulations to note that there will be no more than 11 licenses may be issued to operate a retail electronic smoking device establishment in town. The ordinance also adds sections outlining disqualifying violations.

Mayor Michael Gonnelli and the Town Council introduced the ordinance at its October 12 meeting. Town Administrator Gary Jeffas described the changes that would be made under the ordinance to the Hudson Reporter.

So we did an ordinance within the last couple of months, Jeffas said. We had it down as nine vendors. But after the ordinance came through, I was talking to the Health Department and we actually have currently 11 licensed vendors.

The previous ordinance adopted in June limited the amount of vaping establishments to nine. But they are actually 11 existing establishments, so the new ordinance was necessary because the town wasnt trying to eliminate current establishments.

So we realized that the number that was in the ordinance was actually less than our current vendors, Jeffas said. So it was not the towns intent to revoke and remove licenses, but we didnt want them to expand it any further. So this ordinance is really correcting and the only change really is to that number to come in line with the actual licenses we currently have out there. So 11 would be the maximum the town has available for licensing going forward.

Outlining disqualifying violations

Jeffas also noted that the other provisions regarding disqualifying violations were something the town was already contemplating.

We put that in to further identify that if it was a shop that was not adhering to the law, selling a product thats not really permissible for sale, has cannabis, or something like that, Jeffas said. So if youre getting violations from a policing standpoint and the public health, obviously we would have the right to remove that license due to the behavior of the establishment.

The sections on disqualifying violations and related topics were included in the new ordinance since the town was already amending the regulations to update the number limited.

When myself and the town attorney were speaking, I said that since we were changing it, to put in the other mechanisms by which if theyre conducting any illegal activities or having any issues with the police and stuff that they could be subject to revocation of a license if theyre not adhering to the way they are legally able to sell the products, Jeffas said.

According to Jeffas, this ordinance and the previous one aim to restrict the number of vaping vendor establishments in Secaucus because the town doesnt want there to be too many.

The Board of Health in their meeting had asked for this ordinance because they didnt want the vape businesses to keep expanding, Jeffas said. They wanted to have a limitation so the town wouldnt be overrun by them. So that was one of their pressing goals.

Read the full ordinance at: secaucusnj.gov/government/meeting-documents/2022-mayor-council-meeting-documents/2022-agendas-mayor-council/1035-10-12-2022-mayor-council-meeting-agenda/file.

For updates on this and other stories, check http://www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at disrael@hudsonreporter.com.

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Secaucus ordinance would iron out regulations for vaping vendors - The Hudson Reporter

Vaping and our pets – Vaping Post

How can I protect my pet from e-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are not dangerous for pets unless they ingest the nicotine. Cats are different though because propylene glycol (PG) is very dangerous to them. To avoid any risks, store your e-liquids somewhere they cant access, preferably in a closed cupboard. Keeping them out of reach works for children, but not for our 4-legged friends as it only piques their curiosity.

We love our four-legged friends and all our pets. But do we really take proper care when it comes to protecting them from the dangers of coming into contact with our e-liquids? You keep bottles of e-liquid out of reach of children to stop them from ingesting the liquid, so why not do the same for your pets? After all, our pets are more inquisitive than almost any other creatures on Earth and it doesnt take much to get them exploring! Just watch what happens when you put something out of reach suddenly your pet thinks its the most interesting thing in the world.

We know these days that e-liquids are not really harmful to human health. Sure, if you decided to drink several bottles* of your favourite e-liquid, it would do you no good at all. But e-liquids wont harm your health if you use them properly. However, this is not always true for animals depending on the size of the pet that ingests the liquid. Its common sense: the smaller the animal the less it can tolerate nicotine. For a human who accidentally drinks half a 10ml bottle of e-liquid, its hardly life-threatening. But if its a small dog, the effects of ingesting the liquid will be much more severe and can even lead to the animals death.The only ingredient in e-liquids that is really harmful to our pets is nicotine, except for cats which are a special case. The other ingredients in e-liquids are relatively benign for humans and for our four-legged friends. Its fairly common to even find some of them in pet food. Even so, its vital to prevent them from ingesting any by accident, so how exactly do you do it?

Its easy to store your liquids out of reach of children to keep them safe. Most of the time you just have to put them somewhere high enough to be out of their reach. However, even if something is out of the reach of a child, our agile pets may still be able to reach it. They are naturally attracted to anything thats high up. They also have a sense of smell thats far more developed than ours, making them curious to find out just what is making that delicious strawberry smell they cant ignore. So, to prevent accidents, we recommend that you store your e-liquids high up and in a closed cupboard so that they cant get to them.

Although most e-liquid ingredients are not in themselves dangerous to our pets, its very different for cats. Propylene glycol, or PG, is highly toxic to them. In cats, PG causes a form of anaemia which means they have far fewer red blood cells in their bodies. This leads to lethargy and other serious consequences.So, to keep your animals and your children safe, please store all of your e-liquids in a high cupboard with a door.

* According to Dr Bernd R Mayer from the Pharmaceutical Sciences Institute at the University of Graz, Austria (Institut fr Pharmazeutische Wissenschaften), the lethal dose of ingested nicotine is at least 500 to 1,000 mg, or 6.5 to 13mg/kg.

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Vaping and our pets - Vaping Post

FDA Conveniently Denied Hyde PMTAs Just in Time for NYTS Press Release – Vaping360 News

Oct. 17 updateIn a statement released Oct. 13, Magellan Technology admitted the FDA had issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) for 32 Hyde disposable vaping products on Oct. 6, but said the agency issued its press release announcing the action before notifying Magellan. The company had previously questioned whether the FDA had issued MDOs at all.

It wasnt until that evening that the Agency acknowledged in writing that it had erred in failing to inform the company and actually sent notice of the MDOs to Magellan, the company said in its statement. The FDA blamed the lack of notification on an inadvertent error.

More interesting is the fact that the products in question were all made with tobacco-derived nicotine, and the premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs) for those products were submitted by Magellan before the Sept. 9, 2020 PMTA submission deadline. The agency waited two years to take action on them.

Did the FDA use a different review method for the Hyde PMTAs than the so-called fatal flaw standard that allowed it to issue thousands of denial orders with the stroke of a pen, based on the lack of certain kinds of studies? If the agency used a "fatal flaw" review, the MDO could have been issued as early as last year, since it required no actual effort to complete. And if the FDA actually conducted a thorough scientific review, how did agency scientists manage to complete their work at exactly this very opportune moment for FDA leadership?

The FDA announced the denials the same day and in the same press release as its comments on the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which for the first time showed that Hyde was a popular brand among school-age vapers. The agency used the occasion to trumpet the Hyde MDOs, obviously intended to please tobacco control groups that have criticized the agency for weak enforcement action on disposables.

In conducting its scientific review, wrote the agency in the Oct. 6 press release, the FDA determined that the applications lacked sufficient evidence demonstrating that these flavored e-cigarettes would provide a benefit to adult users that would be adequate to outweigh the risks to youth. Therefore, the FDA has determined that permitting the marketing of these products would not be appropriate for the protection of the public health. The company must stop selling and distributing these products, and those currently on the market must be removed or risk enforcement action.

It would be an amazing coincidence for FDA scientists to just happen to complete a two-year scientific review of the Hyde PMTA submissions on the very same day that preliminary NYTS numbers were released, and the agency needed a recognizable disposable vape manufacturer to publicly chastise.

Because the affected PMTAs had been pending with the Agency for over two years, said Magellan, we can only surmise that what the FDA deemed an inadvertent error in failing to inform the company was caused by an apparent rush to include the MDO action with the Agencys press release on the National Youth Tobacco Survey data, which shows youth vaping down 50% since 2019.

Regarding the other Hyde products for which Magellan received Refuse to Accept (RTA) letters (but not MDOs), the company explained that technical SNAFUs with the applications were to blame, and said it had asked the FDA to reconsider its initial determination so that Magellans application review can progress forward. Magellan said it would seek a stay in federal court if the FDA refuses to reconsider the RTA.

Oct. 10, 2022

On Oct. 6, the FDA marked the release of preliminary 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) results with a press release. A large part of that document was dedicated to playing up the agencys get-tough approach to disposable vapes, and specifically highlighted new actions taken against Puff Bar importers and the manufacturer of Hyde disposables.

Hyde was named as the sixth most popular vape brand (7.3 percent) among vaping middle and high school students who listed a brand in their NYTS responses, according to the authors of the CDC report released last week. Only Puff Bar, Vuse, JUUL, SMOK and NJOY were listed more often by students who had vaped in the previous 30 daysalthough not listed (32.2 percent) and not sure/dont know.(28.3 percent) were the only answers that vied with Puff Bar (29.7 percent) for the top response.

The FDA said in its press release that the agencys Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) had issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) for 32 Hyde-branded products for which PMTAs had been submitted by Magellan Technology, Inc., a well-known manufacturer and distributor based in Buffalo, New York.

In conducting its scientific review, the agency wrote, the FDA determined that the applications lacked sufficient evidence demonstrating that these flavored e-cigarettes would provide a benefit to adult users that would be adequate to outweigh the risks to youth. Therefore, the FDA has determined that permitting the marketing of these products would not be appropriate for the protection of the public health. The company must stop selling and distributing these products, and those currently on the market must be removed or risk enforcement action.

But, according to Magellan, the FDA has not issued an MDO for any Hyde products.

In a statement released soon after the FDAs, Magellan said that the agency had issued a Refuse to Accept (RTA) letter for the Hyde PMTAsan entirely different FDA response than an MDO. An RTA letter is a notice that some basic technical requirement for successful PMTA submission has not been met. When an RTA determination is made, the application is unable to proceed to scientific review.

According to the company, the FDAs communication to Magellan made clear that the agency did not conduct the scientific review on which it claims to have based the alleged marketing denial orders. In fact, Magellan says the Refuse to Accept determination was based on a single missing document: a sworn certification related to the translation of certain components of the application.

Magellan calls the FDA claim it issued an MDO a glaring error. But if Magellan is correct in its assertion that no MDO has been issued, the FDAs statement goes far beyond an error. It is either evidence of supreme incompetence, or an outright lie intended to deceive the public and the many reporters that published stories claiming that Hyde products had received MDOs and had been ordered off the market.

Magellan says its attorney has demanded that FDA not only retract the press statement it made but also issue a corrective statement making clear that FDA did not issue an MDO to Magellan and that it has not yet conducted a scientific review of Magellans products.

The FDA was granted regulatory authority over synthetic nicotine products by Congress in March. The law took effect in April, and manufacturers were given a monthuntil May 14to submit premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs), and two additional months to continue selling products with pending PMTAs. When the grace period ended July 13, all synthetic nicotine-based products became subject to FDA enforcement, although the agency has apparently not yet taken action against products for which PMTAs are still pending.

We reported more than two months ago that the FDA had changed some forms required for PMTA acceptance just before the submission deadline for vape products made with synthetic nicotine. This may have been done deliberately to allow the agency to easily eliminate thousands of applications by making RTA determinations, rather than have to slog through the full PMTA review process. In fact, CTP Director Brian King bragged in August that In the past three weeks alone, FDA has issued refuse-to-accept (RTA) letters for more than 88,000 products in applications that do not meet the criteria for acceptance.

Dozens of small vaping manufacturers have challenged FDAs marketing denials in court. Magellan Technology already has pending litigation against the agencya petition for review in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of an MDO issued last year for Magellans pod-based Juno vaping products.

Vaping360 has asked the FDA for confirmation that it issued MDOs for the Hyde products in question, but press officials are off today (for the federal holiday). We will update the story when the agency responds.

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FDA Conveniently Denied Hyde PMTAs Just in Time for NYTS Press Release - Vaping360 News

Study Looked Into Tobacco Product Use And Respiratory Symptoms in Youth – Vaping Post

Vaping is much less damaging to the lungs than smoking.

The research team aimed to determine the presence of respiratory symptoms by asking questions regarding wheezing and nighttime cough at a cutoff score associated with poorer functional health status. They then compared the responses with past 30-day tobacco use in never-tobacco users (reference) vs. combustible users, noncombustible-only users, and former users; or frequency of use of cigarettes and/or e-cigarettes.

The compiled data indicated that smoking cigarettes, marijuana use, and secondhand smoke exposure were cross-sectionally associated with functionally-important respiratory symptoms in adolescents/young adults. Moreover, the risk increased with the frequency of cigarette use but not e-cigarette use.

Functionally-important respiratory symptoms were present in 10.0% overall: 13.8% of combustible users, 9.0% of noncombustible users, 8.2% of noncurrent users and 9.7% of never users. Functionally-important respiratory symptoms were associated with combustible tobacco use (relative risk [RR]=1.52[95% CI 1.29, 1.80]), marijuana use (RR=1.54[1.34, 1.77]) and secondhand smoke exposure (RR=1.04[1.03, 1.05]). Higher cigarette smoking frequency was also associated with functionally-important respiratory symptoms for frequency categories >14 days/month (e.g. RR=1.93[1.50, 2.49] for 15-29 days/month). Frequency of e-cigarette use was not associated with functionally-important respiratory symptoms, explained the study Abstract.

An earlier study by award winning and renowned expert in respiratory health and tobacco harm reduction, Prof. Riccardo Polosa titled Health effects in COPD smokers who switch to electronic cigarettes: a retrospective-prospective 3-year follow-up, had indicated that patients suffering from the serious Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and had completely switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, reported improved respiratory symptoms. Meanwhile those who continued to smoke, experienced no change in either measure of disease severity.

Similarly, a comprehensive review also conducted by Polosa in August 2019, which was carried out with the aim of analysing the effects of vaping on lung health in comparison to those of smoking, had indicated once again that vaping is much less damaging to the lungs than smoking.

We critically assess published research on the respiratory system investigating the effects of ECs in pre-clinical models, clinical studies of people who switched to ECs from tobacco cigarettes, and population surveys. We assess the studies for the quality of their methodology and accuracy of their interpretation. To adequately assess the impact of EC use on human health, addressing common mistakes and developing robust and realistic methodological recommendations is an urgent priority, read the study Abstract.

Smokers Who Quit Before Age 45 Significantly Reduce Risk of Lung Cancer

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Study Looked Into Tobacco Product Use And Respiratory Symptoms in Youth - Vaping Post

Strongest THC Vapes You Need To Try – High Times

Todays cannabis customers by and large believe that the stronger, the better. With the ultra-potent strains that are in circulation, its no surprise that many people out there have a high tolerance to THC-based cannabinoids, and even crave something that will get them as high as possible.

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And, even better, theyre hemp-derived, meaning that theyre federally legal, which is ideal if you happen to live in a state where cannabis legalization hasnt happened yet.

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What Makes Some THC Vapes Stronger Than Others?There are all kinds of factors that go into producing a very strong cannabis vape, so lets look at what those factors are.

The Most Potent THC Vapes on the Market TodayNow, lets take a look at the strongest cannabinoid vapes that you can get on the legal hemp market. Binoid has built their reputation on carrying the most powerful vaping products out there, through a combination of ultra-pure distillates of the most intoxicating cannabinoids found in the hemp plant, paired with carefully curated strains, always sold as fresh as can be.

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HHC-P is on par with THC-P when it comes to its potency, delivering one of the strongest highs you can possibly get out of the hemp plant. This vape cartridge really highlights the impressive power of HHC-P with a super-fresh formula that can knock your socks off.

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These live resin vapes come in 4 cannabinoid options: THC-O, THC-P, HHC-O and Delta-8 THC and each cannabinoid is thoughtfully paired with a complementary strain to enhance the strength of its effects even further. Again, youll be treated to a generous 2 grams per disposable.

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1. Binoid Knockout Blend Live Resin Disposable VapeThe name really says it all. Developed specifically to be as potently psychoactive as possible, Binoids Knockout Blend disposable vape contains a cannabinoid trio of THC-H, THC-P and HHC-P the 3 most psychoactive cannabinoids derived from the plant.Not only that, but they come in a great choice of strains that all enhance the potency further through the wonderful synergistic relationship between cannabinoids and terpenes.

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Strongest THC Vapes You Need To Try - High Times

Flagler Beach Smoking Ban on Beaches Set to Take Effect This Weekend, Cigars and Vaping Exempt – FlaglerLive.com

The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday is set to approve banning smoking almost any tobacco product in any way on beaches, in parks and on the citys boardwalk, starting this weekend. Enforcement will be an issue: there are no intentions to police the ban, which does not extend to the beaches under county jurisdiction. The ordinance is silent on vaping and marijuana products.

The ban applies to cigarettes, filtered cigars, pipes, or any device used to inhale smoke from burning tobacco products. It will extend to the beach, public parks, and the boardwalk unless such activity occurs in an area designated for smoking or tobacco use by posted signage.

Unfiltered cigars are exempt from the ban. The reason: the ban is primarily targeting the discarding of cigarette butts, which take eons to biodegrade and can harm wildlife. Unfiltered cigars have no such synthetic butts. Their remnants degrade more rapidly.

The ordinance is silent on marijuana, but that doesnt mean beachgoers may smoke pot on the beach, even though, as City Commissioner James Sherman noted, Im sure people smoke pot on the beach. Smokable marijuana has been allowed since 2019 for people with medical marijuana cards. But the law prohibits smoking pot in public places. That ban has always applied to Flagler Bachs shoreline and public parks, and still will. (See a briefing on the smoking of medical marijuana here.)

Vaping is a different issue. Its fully exempt.

I am working specifically within the language that the statute authorized, City Attorney Drew Smith, referring to the 2022 law that gave cities and counties authority to ban smoking along the states 825 miles of beaches and in 13,000 parks or recreational facilities.

The Legislature first approved an indoor smoking ban in 1985. Voters 20 years ago approved a constitutional amendment broadening restrictions in places such as restaurants, bars, workplaces and certain other locations. The 2022 law removes the word indoor from the Florida Indoor Clean Air Act, now that bans can extend outdoors. In 2018, another constitutional amendment extended indoor workplace bans to vaping. But the vaping ban neither in the constitutional amendment nor in the 2022 law applies to public recreation areas.

Because the legislative language was specific to tobacco, for now, Ive tracked it, Smith said. The authorizing legislation says tobacco products. He added: If you ever have a constituent who youre trying to help understand how powerful certain lobbies are in this state, just show him this legislation or this ordinance, where we have to exempt out unfiltered cigars, because a certain lobby made sure that the product was protected from this. But City Clerk Penny Overstreet clarified about cigars: The theory was, they dont have a butt, it burns all the way to the end.

City Commission Chairman Ken Bryan suggested the ban and won consensus from the commission in early September. City Attorney Drew Smith drafted the five lines to be added to the rules and regulations ordinance controlling beaches and recreation facilities.

A lot of this stems from a lot of our experiences on the beach and the parks, and also because the legislators gave us the ability to be able to pass this particular ordinance within the municipalities. From what I can tell I dont think the county has any pleasure or desire to do anything of this nature, but we control most of the beach here in Flagler Beach and all of us have personally been out on the beach to pick up cigarette butts, and also been exposed to some of the secondhand smoke of individuals that choose to use product. But at any rate in consideration for the health of the people and our visitors, we brought it forward. So here we are.

Yall know I never agree with about anything. But Im going to say Yeeeees to this. Yeeees, Commissioner Eric Cooley said. Cooley owns the 7-Eleven downtown, at the beach, and sells cigarettes that get smoked on the beach, but nevertheless favors the ban.

Theres nothing worse than standing under the A frame at the pier and being smoked out by a bunch of cigarettes in the morning while youre trying to host a beach cleanup, Mayor Suzie Johnston said. Im literally watching people who smoke drop cigarettes, and then another person come behind them to clean up. Cant fix stupid. But, the mayor asked, how would the ordinance be enforced, and are we even going to make an attempt to enforce it? Thats my biggest question on this. We have lots of rules in this city. Thats all we have are rules. We dont have enforcement.

The city has a similar anti-littering ordinance, but doesnt enforce it. On the other hand, its 10-year-old ban on bonfires between May and October has been respected, likely because its difficult to hide flaming lawbreaking, though the ordinance, as Commissioner Jane Mealy noted, does not spell out the months when fires are banned. She noted several inconsistencies in the ordinance, whose language the commission had not examined in a while. For example, it has a broad, vague ban on alcohol anywhere in parks and beaches, although alcohol has not, in fact, been banned from the citys beaches. Alcohol may not be sold on the beach. The commission will be clarifying those clauses.

As for enforcement of the smoking ban, it falls under the citys code enforcement powers, but no penalties are spelled out.

You have peer pressure, and also pure consideration and the respect of the law itself, Bryan said. A lot of is going to be educational, as far as I can tell, and hopefully the word gets out. Theres always going to be someone thats going to throw a McDonalds bags on the street. Theres always going to be people that are going to smoke where theyre not supposed to smoke. And Im sure that there will be some issues with enforcement.

You can see what San Francisco did their streets are smoke free, the mayor said.

San Francisco bans smoking outside entrances, exits and operable windows and vents of all buildings, and bans it even in apartment buildings, hotels and motels, but not on streets. The ban is primarily directed at secondhand smoke. It does not apply to marijuana, since smoking marijuana in public is prohibited, and a ban on smoking it in ones apartment would have removed the only place residents could legally smoke it. In Flagler Beach, smoking marijuana is prohibited without a medical marijuana card.

Cooley said the new ordinance language is a starting point only, with no expectation that police will be issuing tickets for violations. We put the structure in place to get this started, he said. From there, later, we kind of start figuring out how do we get our arms around this. He mentioned an education campaign, drafting the countys tourism division to help, angling at a green-beach sort of message.

The County Commission has shown no interest, so far, in applying such a ban to its beaches and parks.

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Flagler Beach Smoking Ban on Beaches Set to Take Effect This Weekend, Cigars and Vaping Exempt - FlaglerLive.com

Hess Bankruptcy Ruling Expected in November – St, Thomas Source

Creditors claim former owners of St. Croixs oil refinery are dodging asbestos-related lawsuits by filing bankruptcy. (PHOTO: Environmental Protection Agency)

A Texas judge said hed rule on bankruptcy protection for a Hess subsidiary in early November, potentially opening the door to former employees in the U.S. Virgin Islands seeking damages for asbestos exposure.

Judge Marvin Isgur, of the Southern District of Texas bankruptcy court, said at Mondays hearing hed take final filings from HONX, a Hess subsidiary, and a group of its creditors.

The creditors have asked the court to either void Chapter 11 bankruptcy for HONX or convert it to Chapter 7. Either way, the former owners of St. Croixslong-troubled oil refinerywould have to answer hundreds of lawsuits from Virgin Islanders allegedly hurt by the gas plants toxins, according tothe court records.

The HONX bankruptcy, the creditors wrote, is protecting $37 billion from potential exposure to the asbestos suits. The filing claimed Hess settled out of court approximately 1,100 asbestos suits over the last 23 years.

Hess is especially scared of the suit going to trial in the USVI because of a 2021 change in laws, allowing older or sick people to have their cases expedited, the creditors claimed.

Legal filings in the case alleges nearly 60 years ofenvironmental and social illscaused by the refinery, claiming while the oil plant owners manipulated local workers and government officials, they also poisoned St. Croix.

Hess ran the refinery on St. Croixs south shore from 1965 to 1998, allegedly exposing a generation of Crucians to unchecked toxins in their workplace. Hess sold the refinery to Hovensa, which inturn sold it to Limetree Bay. Who exactlyowns the massive refinerynow has been a matter of debate since it was sold at bankruptcy auction early this year but Hamilton Refining and Transportation claims to be the sole owner.

Residents and would-be developers have called for the refinery to be permanently closed and dismantled. Some claim to have been sickened by fumes from the plant. Others have asked the Environmental Protection Agency todeclare the sight hazardousand designated asuperfund area. The EPA, however, has been hampered in its monitoring of such matters by recentU.S. Supreme Court rulings. In May, 2021,oil spray from the plantcoated homes downwind.

The recent court filing dug into the history of oil refining in St. Croix, painting a picture of oil barrens taking advantage of USVI tax breaks and plowing over zoning regulations. Refinery owners were able to sidestep $6.2 billion in expenses by 1992, the filing alleges. USVI leaders demanded Hess hire 75 percent locally, making the refinery an essential part of the territorial economy. But refinery owners leveraged this influence employing roughly 15 percent of the local workforce to extract even more favorable tax breaks, the court filing claimed.

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Hess Bankruptcy Ruling Expected in November - St, Thomas Source

Chinese Steel Manufacturers On The Brink Of Bankruptcy – OilPrice.com

Via AG Metal Miner

Is it all doom and gloom for Chinese steel manufacturing? Its hard to tell at the moment. Indeed, China finds itself in a precarious place financially. Whats more, a sizable section of global financial and stock analysts have predicted the crises will only get worse as the country prepares to face its toughest winter yet.

But that is only half the story. A financial downward spiral hit the Chinese economy hard. Among the most widely hit industries are its steel and iron ore sectors. The present crisis started about a year ago. Thats when a leading Chinese property developer, Evergrande, announced that it could no longer support some $300 billion in liabilities.

While that alone was enough to set off a panic, the Chinese authorities reaction time only worsened the situation. A few months ago, the Chinese government announced a fresh fiscal stimulus. However, many experts say it was too little too late. The countrys industries were already reeling from a fresh COVID-19 outbreak, frequent power cuts, and the Ukraine invasion.

What cant be argued is that China no longer appears like the global powerhouse it was just a year ago. Now global media, like this article in Forbes, say that what China is experiencing is a textbook illustration of how a financial crisis unfolds.

With every passing day, the Chinese economy gets weaker. And despite last-minute infrastructure spending by the government, they may not achieve their real economic growth rate goal of 5.5%.

The Chinese steel industry and those companies supplying it with raw materials like iron ore now face a bleak future. As they head into the second half of the year, the steel manufacturing industrys profitability has already dropped massively. In fact, less than 20% of companies announced a profit in July. When compared with the 80% who enjoyed profitability before March, its easy to see the grim outlook. In recently released forecasts, only about five of the 25 domestically listed steel companies estimated a rise in their profits for the first half of the year.

China is not only one of the worlds biggest steel manufacturers but also its biggest steel consumer. It took the mantle of the largest steel producer back in 1996, but production reached a record 1.07 billion tons as recently as 2020. Despite these impressive numbers, domestic companies account for around 95% of Chinese steel consumption. Without them, the steel simply has nowhere to go.

At present, Chinas steel production capacity is 1.2 billion tons a year, with annual consumption hovering around 1 billion tons. However, a lack of interest from real estate developers after the real estate crisis has caused many projects to shut down, reducing steel uptake. After all, real estate and auto manufacturing are some of the biggest steel consumers in the country. Meanwhile, around 29% of Chinese real estate companies claim to be nearing bankruptcy.

When the worlds biggest staple in steel manufacturing, China Baowu Steel Group, issued a warning at an internal meeting over the great challenges presented by tumbling sales, falling prices, and declining profitability, it raised a lot of red flags. In response, Chinese officials continue to try solution after solution.

Along with the fiscal stimulus, the government also set up a US $3 billion (20 billion yuan) state-owned China Mineral Resources Group. The aim was to jockey itself into a bargaining position in the world steel manufacturing market. This market remains dominated by four mining giants: Rio Tinto Group, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals Group, and Vale.

So, is 2022 the end of Chinese steel? According to a major section of analysts, the answer is yes. These men and women feel that Chinas demand for steel has peaked, and all that remains is a slow downward spiral.

But with Chinas financial crisis, the Politburo, Chinas chief policy-making body, is still fumbling over various counter-measures to their steel manufacturing woes For example, it recently said that local and provincial governments should take the lead in dealing with financial strains, which many see as just another example of passing the buck.

By Sohrab Darabshaw

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Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Court Finds That Consent and Release Do Not Protect Against Wrongful Foreclosure Claim – JD Supra

On September 19, 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania found that secured lenders could not hide behind a consent and a release to avoid the review of the commercial reasonableness of a pre-bankruptcy foreclosure sale. Prepetition, the debtor was a manufacturer of nutrition bars, protein bars and other baked good for various brands. KIND Operations was one of the debtors major customers. While the debtor, at various times, had substantial operations, at the time of its bankruptcy filing it was a non-operating shell company with no employees or assets. It did however have almost $30 million in debt.

Within a year prior to the bankruptcy filing, the debtors prepetition secured lenders, Cadence Bank, N.A. and Bank Hapoalim B.M., and others allegedly manufactured a private foreclosure sale of substantially all of the debtors assets at a below market price. After the chapter 11 case was converted to chapter 7 and the trustee assigned various claims to KIND, KIND commenced various adversary proceedings against the secured lenders, asserting claims for civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, violation of Article 9 of the UCC because the foreclosure sale was not commercially reasonable, and avoidance of the pre-petition foreclosure sale as a fraudulent transfer. The lenders moved to dismiss on the ground that a consent and a release executed by the debtor in connection with the prepetition foreclosure sale barred the claims.

The bankruptcy court, finding that KIND stood in the shoes of the prepetition debtor and had no greater rights than the debtor, stated that a majority of the claims could potentially be dismissed. While there remained an issue as to whether the consent and the release could be avoided, and while the court believed that claims sounding in civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary could be barred by the general releases (if not avoided), the court found that the advance blanket waivers and releases were unenforceable as to the Article 9 sale because a banks duty to conduct a commercially reasonable sale is not waivable by [certain] contract terms and that an agreement provision attempting to expunge a commercial reasonableness requirement is per se manifestly unreasonable. While the lenders argued there was no advance waiver in this case, the court disagreed because the consent and the release were drafted and executed before the foreclosure sale. Thus, the court concluded that the lenders could not hide behind the consent and the release to avoid a review of the commercial reasonableness of the pre-bankruptcy foreclosure sale.

With respect to the other state law claims (civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty), the court declined to dismiss them, finding they could be avoided as fraudulent transfers. While KIND did not specifically seek to avoid the consent and release in its pleadings, the court found that KIND did seek to avoid the pre-petition foreclosure sale, and the consent and release were integral to that transaction. The court found, if appropriate, it could collapse multiple transactions into one integrated transaction. If the prepetition foreclosure sale was ultimately avoided, the consent and release would also be avoided. Accordingly, the court denied the lenders motion to dismiss as it related to the Article 9 violation claim, and deferred ruling on the appropriateness of dismissing the other state law claims. The court did state that, if the lenders ultimately prevailed in their defense to the fraudulent transfer claim, the civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty claim would be dismissed.

The case is KIND Operations, Inc. v. Cadence Bank, N.A. (In re PA Co-Man, Inc.), No. 21-ap-2061 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. Sept. 19, 2022). KIND is represented by Bernstein-Burkley, P.C. Cadence Bank, N.A. is represented by Riemer & Braunstein LLP and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC. Bank Hapoalim B.M. is represented by Herrick Feinstein LLP and Dentons Cohen & Grigsby, P.C. The order is available here.

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Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Court Finds That Consent and Release Do Not Protect Against Wrongful Foreclosure Claim - JD Supra

Bloomberg Tax Introduces New Portfolio Addressing Employee Benefits and Bankruptcy – PR Newswire

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Tax & Accounting today announced the release of a new Tax Management Portfolio, Employee Benefits in Bankruptcy. Authored by James D. Newell, William H. Schorling, and Mark Pfeiffer of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, and Matthew D. Clyde of Cozen O'Connor, P.C., the Portfolio addresses the interplay of benefits and bankruptcy law.

The Portfolio offers guidance for the frequent instances in which the goals of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) are in conflict with the goals of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the Bankruptcy Code). While ERISA is designed to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private pension plans for the benefit of their participants and to provide for the timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, the Bankruptcy Code is designed to provide a fresh start to honest but unfortunate debtors unable to pay their obligations.

This Portfolio addresses the impact of insolvency and bankruptcy on the termination of pension and welfare benefit plans and the treatment of pension and welfare benefit plans and claims in bankruptcy. The interplay of benefits law and bankruptcy has resulted in significant litigation. The Portfolio addresses the court decisions, especially when the courts have disagreed.

"We are proud to develop one of the industry's most comprehensive and up-to-date portfolios to provide direction regarding the intersection of bankruptcy and pension law," said author James Newell. "While the two areas are often in conflict, the new portfolio delivers practitioners of the legal and tax industries with the timely information needed to make informed decisions that maximize the returns to their clients."

"When the economy falters, more employers may choose or be forced into bankruptcy," said Heather Rothman, vice president of analysis & content, Bloomberg Tax & Accounting. "The expert guidance provided by the authors of this Portfolio gives tax practitioners the information they need to understand obligations and options related to ERISA plan benefits and plan termination in and outside of the bankruptcy arena."

To schedule a Bloomberg Tax product demonstration, visit http://onb-tax.com/TENl50LbPsl.

About Bloomberg Tax & Accounting Bloomberg Tax & Accounting provides practitioner-driven research and technology solutions that deliver timely, strategic insights to enable smarter decisions. From our unparalleled Tax Management Portfolios to technology designed to streamline the most complex planning and compliance scenarios, we deliver essential news and analysis, practical perspectives, and software that help tax and accounting professionals around the globe mitigate risk and maximize business results. For more information, visitBloomberg Tax.

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Bloomberg Tax Introduces New Portfolio Addressing Employee Benefits and Bankruptcy - PR Newswire

Alex Jones claims bankruptcy: How will Sandy Hook families get paid? – Grid

As a jury in Connecticut Wednesday announced damages totaling nearly $1 billion against conspiracy theory-spreader Alex Jones, the far-right personality proclaimed his poverty.

Aint going to be happening, aint no money, Jones asserted on his livestream.

Few believe that, of course. One expert testified in an earlier trial that Jones and his companies were worth between $130 million and $270 million. Still, Jones and his lawyers have taken extraordinary steps in an apparent effort to obfuscate the amount and location of his wealth, leading many to wonder if the plaintiffs in the Sandy Hook defamation cases will ever see even a fraction of the judgment they fought for years to win in court, assuming it holds after post-trial motions and appeals.

The families could collect Jones current assets and future earnings, as long as theyre willing to pay attorneys to chase down and untangle his financial dealings, financial dispute experts told Grid.

It becomes a cat-and-mouse exercise, said James E. Berger, a partner at DLA Piper and an expert in judgment enforcement and asset recovery. The legal tools available to plaintiffs can sometimes be plodding and slow, but the statutory tools are in place to ensure that a judgment creditor can find whats out there.

The familys attorneys seem plenty willing to try.

We are going to chase Alex Jones to the ends of the earth, Joshua Koskoff, an attorney representing the Sandy Hook families, told MSNBC.

Some assets would seem easy to spot. For instance, Jones owns five houses in the Austin, Texas, area worth a combined $7.5 million, Forbes reported. Early this year, as the defamation trials neared, Jones transferred one of these homes, with an estimated worth of over $3.5 million, to his wife, Erika Wulff Jones, according to reporting by the New York Post.

But Jones has tied up much of his wealth in a complex knot of entities, financial transactions and bankruptcy proceedings. Jones primary corporate entity, Free Speech Systems, declared bankruptcy in July, a move widely interpreted as an effort to frustrate efforts to collect legal judgments against him. Also, Jones and his relatives have set up an alphabet soup of holding companies, some of which appear to exist only on paper, with opaque purposes. The families claim Jones has used the entities to shuffle money around and mask his true wealth.

A map of companies connected to Alex Jones, their owners, and select financial transactions. Sources: Court filings; OpenCorporates. (Grid; Saul Loeb/ Getty)

As well, Jones has reportedly moved millions into a family trust and repeatedly refused to comply with court-ordered discovery about the transactions, further complicating efforts to understand his financial status.

Until bankruptcy proceedings for Free Speech Systems are sorted out, assets connected to Jones or his companies will be virtually untouchable by the families. But those companies and their financial activities will come under increased scrutiny by the families attorneys and investigators.

Hes going to have to maintain his lifestyle, and in order to do that, you have to have access to money, said Christopher Weil, managing partner at Mintz Group, an investigative firm that specializes in global asset tracking. Thats the interesting piece here paying attention to what he does and what kinds of fingerprints he leaves.

Youll find the assets, even if its a painstaking process, said Berger. Whenever you have a high-profile judgment debtor who is very well known, there are likely to be both public sources of information and people who may be willing to talk, all of which can be very helpful to investigators.

Weil concurred. A lot of people will probably be willing to speak, its just about finding them.

The historic judgment against Jones is the result of Jones years of claims that the shooting was a false flag. Regardless of the amounts Jones ultimately pays out, experts agreed the judgment will likely follow Jones and his businesses for the rest of his life.

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez has authorized increased scrutiny of Jones companies due to their lack of candor during the bankruptcy proceedings.

In a subpoena filed the same day as the Connecticut verdict, the trustee overseeing the Free Speech Systems bankruptcy demanded information from several of the companies controlled by Jones and his family members; from Jones father, David Jones; from a company controlled by his sister, Marleigh Jones Rivera; and from Jones personal trainer and associate Patrick Riley.

Riley has come under recent scrutiny in the case because of a $400,000 payment and transfer of warehouse operations to his company, Blue Asension [sic] Logistics. The trustees subpoena came in response to the court directing them to investigate Free Speech Systems books.

Jones and his attorney, Norman Pattis, did not respond to a request for comment, but Jones has denied the fraud allegations to other publications. Jones and his attorneys have claimed there is nothing unusual about the companies he has set up and that any recent transfers of money were for Jones estate planning.

Sensing opportunity, Jones used the verdict as an opportunity to shake his proverbial tin cup at his online followers, promising them their donations were shielded from paying out his awards.

The money you donate does not go to these people, it goes to fight this fraud, and it goes to stabilize the company, Jones said on his show Wednesday as the judgments against him were read aloud. As of Monday, Jones donation page had over $230,000 donations, with more flowing every couple of minutes.

Not so fast, said lawyers with whom Grid spoke.

The Sandy Hook families may be entitled to future earnings of Free Speech Systems. Theres a catch: Pursuing future earnings could tie the size of their payouts to the success of the InfoWars empire. The families may not find that tolerable.

The bankruptcy court could also order the company to liquidate its assets, which would then go to the families and any other creditors, according to Avi Moshenberg, an attorney representing the families in the bankruptcy case in Texas.

Jones is transparent about his strategy to counter the families collection efforts: delay, appeal, frustrate.

For hundreds of thousands of dollars, I can keep them in court for years, I can appeal this stuff, we can stand up against this travesty, against the billions of dollars they want. Its a joke, Jones told his audience last Wednesday.

Perhaps, say experts. But keeping that strategy going can be harder than it sounds.

Its very easy to build complex structures. Its very hard to maintain them, explained Weil of the Mintz Group. What we find is that the people who have helped maintain these things have to be paid. They have to be induced to continue to operate the [businesses]. If money is drying up, if theres a big award out there, that will cause problems, Weil said. Peoples professional and personal interests wont align anymore.

Thanks to Lillian Barkley for copy editing this article.

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Alex Jones claims bankruptcy: How will Sandy Hook families get paid? - Grid

English rugby in turmoil with Wasps close to bankruptcy – The Associated Press – en Espaol

The financial crisis gripping English rugby deepened Wednesday when Wasps, one of the nations most storied clubs, said it was likely to enter into administration because of its debts.

This comes a week after another top-flight club, Worcester Warriors, was placed in compulsory liquidation as it is pursued for unpaid tax.

Both teams would be automatically relegated to the second-tier Championship for going into administration a form of bankruptcy protection, according to Rugby Football Union regulations.

Wasps, a two-time European champion and six-time English champion, has been an ever-present in the Premiership since the competition began 25 years ago and had some of Englands top players like Lawrence Dallaglio and Simon Shaw. Its current squad contains a number of England internationals, including Jack Willis, Joe Launchbury and Jacob Umaga.

Wasps has pulled out of its Premiership match against Exeter that was scheduled for Saturday.

The club said it has insufficient cash at this time to continue to fund operations until a solution can be found to secure its long-term financial future.

Wasps has a debt of 35 million pounds ($38.65 million) stemming from its relocation to Coventry in central England from London in 2014. That debt needs repaying or refinancing and the club has been looking to get in insolvency experts in to help with their financial issues.

However, said a statement from Wasps Holdings Limited, it has become clear that there is likely to be insufficient time to find a solvent solution for the companies within the group, and it is therefore likely that they will enter into administration in the coming days with a view to concluding deals shortly thereafter.

Wasps said it will continue to look for new investment until the very last opportunity.

While these are challenging times, the club said, we remain confident that new owners will be found that will allow the clubs and businesses within the group to move forward.

Wasps also has a womens rugby team and a netball team that will be affected by the financial problems, which were exacerbated by rugbys shutdown during the pandemic that hit all clubs in the pocket and required the British government to intervene with a rescue package.

Players and staff at Worcester have had their contracts terminated amid its financial problems, with the club owing Britains tax authority about 6 million pounds ($6.8 million).

Owners Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham have been accused of asset-stripping the Warriors, whose mens team has been in the Premiership since 2015.

___

More AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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English rugby in turmoil with Wasps close to bankruptcy - The Associated Press - en Espaol

Inventor-turned-medical student thinks good design just might be the key to improving health care – Medical University of South Carolina

Most sixth graders dont know what they want for lunch, much less what they want to be when they grow up. But first-year MUSC College of Medicine student Joshua Kim wasnt like most sixth graders. While most of his friends were playing video games or watching their hometown Chicago White Sox win the World Series, Kim was reading up on a pediatric neurosurgeon named Ben Carson.

In particular, it was Carsons work separating conjoined twins that most fascinated a then 11-year-old Kim. So, for his year-end class project, he dressed up in scrubs and latex gloves and gave his report on Carson. And a flame was lit.

Kims father, a successful podiatrist with a passion for his work, had already piqued an interest in the middle schooler, so it was practically inevitable that he would be drawn to medicine.

During high school, Kim never wavered on his dream of following in Carsons footprints by becoming a pediatric surgeon, but an undeniable talent for making things with his hands took him on a few detours along the way.

I always wanted to figure out how things work and make the next big thing, he said.

In high school, he taught himself how to build jet-powered rockets. (Yes, you read that right.) In undergraduate school at Northwestern University, he made a fully functioning Ironman suit so detailed that you would have sworn it came from the Marvel Studios props department. And thats when an idea was formed: What if he was able to combine his love of building things with his passion to heal?

I feel like I was always balancing this duality between medicine and design. It just took me a while to realize I didnt have to choose one or the other, he said.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Kim was accepted to the Segal Design Institutes Engineering Design Innovation Masters Program at Northwestern University. It was there that he took his creations to the next level. There was the gadget to help people who were recovering from strokes, the device to speed up the time a cancer patient spent going through radiation, the pediatric-focused injection device that aimed to decrease anxiety caused by getting a shot.

I saw just how powerful human-centered and empathetic design could be in the health care field, he said. And I just wanted to keep making more things to help.

With the ink still wet on his diploma and a prestigious job offer already in hand, he was poised for his next big move. But a professor asked Kim if, before making any career decisions, hed do him one favor and meet with a former colleague of his first. So Kim sat down with MUSC oncologist, David Mahvi, M.D., and a fork in the road quickly appeared.

It was just immediately evident that he saw the world through a different lens, Mahvi said. He looked at things from a design standpoint, which is so refreshing in the medical field. He just came at things from a totally different angle.

So Mahvi offered him a job.

Within a month, Kim moved to Charleston and found himself working alongside Mahvi and Michael Yost, Ph.D. The task: leverage his unique skills and help create the Human-Centered Design Program at MUSC. The program would teach its students how to blend medicine, design and technology to make health care better. Kim lent his design expertise and passion for medicine to get the program up and running immediately.

Now in its third year, Kim designed a lot of the curriculum that exists in the program today. He even did a fair amount of teaching along the way.

When I came here, I literally had no teaching experience, he laughed. But now its something I really enjoy.

Well, enjoyed. Right now, Kim is on the other end learning right now. The first-year medical student has embarked on the second part of his master plan this time looking to add a hands-on element to his health care contributions.

The act of going to medical school and, in turn, temporarily stepping away from the Human-Centered Design Program something Mahvi always knew was something Kim aspired to do has proven bittersweet for both.

He has been really important to me, Kim said. He made me feel like I was one of his own kids that he was sending off to college.

Mahvis father-like pride is evident: Its crazy to think, but Josh became an educator within the Department of Surgery that transcended MUSC. He actually did Grand Rounds. Thats unheard of for somebody whos not a surgeon.

This means Mahvi is left with a gaping hole to fill in the program. Our hope is to bring him back one day so he can help us grow it even further, he said. I see him as this bridge between design and health care. There just arent that many people out there like him.

Kim shares his hopes.

I really hope I find time to come back and work with the program again. Marrying these two worlds together is so exciting, he said. Yes, Im in medical school right now, but Im always thinking ahead to whats next. Im a designer, a maker, a dreamer. Thats the core of who I am. So, Im always going to be thinking about innovation and how we can bring those innovations to life.

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Inventor-turned-medical student thinks good design just might be the key to improving health care - Medical University of South Carolina

Howard University College of Medicine Appoints Their First Black Woman Dean – The Hilltop Online

Pictured is the first Black woman to be appointed dean of Howard University College of Medicine, Dr. Andrea Hayes Dixon. Photo Courtesy of Howard University Hospital.

Andrea Hayes Dixon, M.D., FACS, FAAP is now the first Black woman to be appointed as Dean of Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM).

After the announcement of her appointment was made on Sept. 22 by Howard Universitys newsletter, The Dig, Hayes Dixon officially began her role on Oct. 3 as the new dean of HUCM. This addition increases the number of academic deans who are women at Howard University to 11.

This is one of Dr. Hayes Dixons many firsts, as she has a track record of making history. In 2006, she was the first Black woman to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon in the U.S. and became the first woman to serve as chair of the Department of Surgery at Howard in 2021.

Ill be able to use my knowledge and experience here at Howard College of Medicine because of all of the adverse circumstances that have happened to me that Ive overcome, Hayes Dixon said. And I can use those experiences to help other students and trainees overcome some of the things that they may be encountering.

Hayes Dixon has many plans shed like to implement for HUCM, such as adding more outstanding faculty to the college of medicine. What excites her the most, however, are her students. I think Howard medical students are a really important set of students. Many of them in fact this was the only medical school that they were admitted to and they are very motivated to do well, she said.

She is also excited to provide a special environment for students where they are able to think creatively with medicine. I believe research is the way we can change how we treat patients in the future and I would like to inspire the next generation of physicians to think outside the box as they say, to try to be able to provide cures for several illnesses that we dont even think are curable today, she said.

According to 2021 data by the Association of American Medical Colleges, a nonprofit organization focused on educating others on health, out of all of the deans at U.S. medical schools, 22 percent of them are women in permanent positions. 12 percent of deans in permanent positions at U.S. medical schools are in racial/ethnic groups that are underrepresented in medicine.

Representation is very important to Hayes Dixon for a multitude of reasons. Its really important for the healthcare system to have representatives from every race, religion and nationality. I think because when youre ill, youre very stressed and you want to be in the most comfortable environment possible, and if you see someone who looks similar to you, whos your physician, it makes you more relaxed and helps you get through whatever illness it is, she said.

Toni Jenkins, 28 year-old, third-year medical student at HUCM from Charlotte, North Carolina spoke on the importance of representation in the medical field.

Having different perspectives is essential in having appropriate health care and having good health outcomes if you cant connect with your patients then youre not going to give them the best care possible, Jenkins said.

Jenkins was excited to hear of Dr. Hayes Dixons appointment, but she thought it was usual for Howard to prompt historical firsts.

I think Howard is known to have many firsts. When we think of civil rights leaders, we think of the vice president of the United States [Kamala Harris]. Howard is just known to be kind of that platform for building people into those types of positions,.. so I feel like Dr. Dixons position as the first female dean at Howard College of Medicine is a first but its not uncommon for Howard to have firsts. Jenkins said.

Roger A. Mitchell Jr. M.D. is a full tenure professor and chairman of pathology for Howard University College of Medicine. He believes that the future of leadership in medicine is enhanced with Hayes Dixon becoming the dean at HUCM.

[Howard University] College of Medicine started in 1868 and since then we have not had a female woman who is the dean and so I think its monumental. Then her as a person you know, I think shes pragmatic and shes thoughtful. Shes a strong physician and pediatric surgeon, but on top of that she has 20 years of experience with a basic science molecular lab. So I think you know shell be a huge asset to the college of medicine. Mitchell expressed.

Alicia Edwards, 29 year-old, second-year medical student at HUCM from Savannah, Georgia finds the appointment of Hayes Dixon to be affirming for her journey through medical school.

Im really excited, I came to Howard because I wanted to see representation. I wanted to see myself in medicine. I wanted to just see that, so its a constant reminder that I can do it too, she said.

Hayes Dixon succeeds former dean Hugh Mighty, who has served as dean of HUCM since 2015. Mighty expressed excitement for the appointment of Hayes Dixon in a statement on Howard Universitys newsletter The Dig.

This is an exciting moment in the history of the College of Medicine as we look forward to the continued rise of the University in training the next generation of medical leaders and providers, he said.

Hayes Dixon expressed that her appointment will be one of many in changing the trajectory of leadership in medicine.

I think you know that maybe not just my appointment but my appointment in addition to many other female deans appointments across the country will really change how medical education is viewedthis historic position will allow not only other black female doctors who want to be deans but also the majority population to really understand that we can lead as well if not better than others in the position before. Hayes Dixon said.

Hayes Dixon studied religion at Dartmouth College, a private university in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she earned her bachelors degree. She also attended the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where she earned her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.).

She previously worked as surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at University of North Carolina (UNC) Childrens Hospital. She was also a professor of pediatric surgery and surgical oncology at UNC. Hayes Dixon is also a researcher and has been leading a basic science laboratory for about 20 years according to Dr. Mitchell, which focuses on rare sarcomas and maintains clinical research efforts.

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Howard University College of Medicine Appoints Their First Black Woman Dean - The Hilltop Online

Study Finds Unexpected Protective Properties of Pain | Harvard Medical School – Harvard Medical School

The work details the steps of a complex signaling cascade, showing that pain neurons engage in direct cross talk with mucus-containing gut cells, known as goblet cells.

It turns out that pain may protect us in more direct ways than its classic job to detect potential harm and dispatch signals to the brain. Our work shows how pain-mediating nerves in the gut talk to nearby epithelial cells that line the intestines, said study senior investigator Isaac Chiu, associate professor of immunobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS. This means that the nervous system has a major role in the gut beyond just giving us an unpleasant sensation and that its a key player in gut barrier maintenance and a protective mechanism during inflammation.

Our intestines and airways are studded with goblet cells. Named for their cup-like appearance, goblet cells contain gel-like mucus made of proteins and sugars that acts as protective coating that shields the surface of organs from abrasion and damage.

The new research found that intestinal goblet cells release protective mucus when triggered by direct interaction with pain-sensing neurons in the gut.

In a set of experiments, the researchers observed that mice lacking pain neurons produced less protective mucus and experienced changes in their intestinal microbial composition an imbalance in beneficial and harmful microbes known as dysbiosis.

To clarify just how this protective cross talk occurs, the researchers analyzed the behavior of goblet cells in the presence and in the absence of pain neurons.

They found that the surfaces of goblet cells contain a type of receptor, called RAMP1, that ensures the cells can respond to adjacent pain neurons, which are activated by dietary and microbial signals, as well as mechanical pressure, chemical irritation or drastic changes in temperature.

The experiments further showed that these receptors connect with a chemical called CGRP, released by nearby pain neurons, when the neurons are stimulated. These RAMP1 receptors, the researchers found, are also present in both human and mouse goblet cells, thus rendering them responsive to pain signals.

Experiments further showed that the presence of certain gut microbes activated the release of CGRP to maintain gut homeostasis.

This finding tells us that these nerves are triggered not only by acute inflammation, but also at baseline, Chiu said. Just having regular gut microbes around appears to tickle the nerves and causes the goblet cells to release mucus.

This feedback loop, Chiu said, ensures that microbes signal to neurons, neurons regulate the mucus, and the mucus keeps gut microbes healthy.

In addition to microbial presence, dietary factors also played a role in activating pain receptors, the study showed. When researchers gave mice capsaicin, the main ingredient in chili peppers known for its ability to trigger intense, acute pain, the mices pain neurons got swiftly activated, causing goblet cells to release abundant amounts of protective mucus.

By contrast, mice lacking either pain neurons or goblet cell receptors for CGRP were more susceptible to colitis, a form of gut inflammation. The finding could explain why people with gut dysbiosis may be more prone to colitis.

When researchers gave pain-signaling CGRP to animals lacking pain neurons, the mice experienced rapid improvement in mucus production. The treatment protected mice against colitis even in the absence of pain neurons.

The finding demonstrates that CGRP is a key instigator of the signaling cascade that leads to the secretion of protective mucus.

Pain is a common symptom of chronic inflammatory conditions of the gut, such as colitis, but our study shows that acute pain plays a direct protective role as well, said study first author Daping Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Chiu Lab.

The teams experiments showed that mice lacking pain receptors also had worse damage from colitis when it occurred.

Given that pain medications are often used to treat patients with colitis, it may be important to consider the possible detrimental consequences of blocking pain, the researchers said.

In people with inflammation of the gut, one of the major symptoms is pain, so you might think that wed want to treat and block the pain to alleviate suffering, Chiu said. But some part of this pain signal could be directly protective as a neural reflex, which raises important questions about how to carefully manage pain in a way that does not lead to other harms.

Additionally, a class of common migraine medications that suppress the signaling of CGRP may damage gut barrier tissues by interfering with this protective pain signaling, the researchers said.

Given that CGRP is a mediator of goblet cell function and mucus production, if we are chronically blocking this protective mechanism in people with migraine and if they are taking these medications long-term, what happens? Chiu said. Are the drugs going to interfere with the mucosal lining and peoples microbiomes?

Goblet cells have multiple other functions in the gut. They provide a passage for antigens proteins found on viruses and bacteria that initiate a protective immune response by the body and they produce antimicrobial chemicals that protect the gut from pathogens.

One question that arises from our current work is whether pain fibers also regulate these other functions of goblet cells, Yang said.

Another line of inquiry, Yang added, would be to explore disruptions in the CGRP signaling pathway and determine whether malfunctions are at play in patients with genetic predisposition to inflammatory bowel disease.

Co-authors included Amanda Jacobson, Kimberly Meerschaert, Joseph Sifakis, Meng Wu, Xi Chen, Tiandi Yang, Youlian Zhou, Praju Vikas Anekal, Rachel Rucker, Deepika Sharma, Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps, Glendon Wu, Liwen Deng, Michael Anderson, Samantha Choi, Dylan Neel, Nicole Lee, Dennis Kasper, Bana Jabri, Jun Huh, Malin Johansson, Jay Thiagarajah, and Samantha Riesenfeld.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01DK127257, R35GM142683, P30DK034854, and T32DK007447); the Food Allergy Science Initiative; the Kenneth Rainin Foundation; and the Digestive Diseases Research Core Center under grant P30 DK42086 at the University of Chicago.

Jacobson is an employee of Genentech Inc.; Chiu serves on scientific advisory boards of GSK Pharmaceuticals and Limm Therapeutics. His lab receives research support from Moderna Inc. and Abbvie/Allergan Pharmaceuticals.

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Study Finds Unexpected Protective Properties of Pain | Harvard Medical School - Harvard Medical School

Following in the Medical Footsteps of St. Luke and Padre Pio – National Catholic Register

As he assists doctors at a Missouri hospital as a medical scribe, Benedictine College senior Joe Roberts, 22, is getting experience that will help him become an emergency physician. Along with working in emergency medicine, he hopes to one day use his faith and knowledge of Catholic bioethics to help a hospital system more fully embrace the culture of life.

Roberts graduates from the Atchison, Kansas, college next spring and probably wont wait to start his formal medical training until a proposed Catholic-focused medical school opens on the Benedictine campus in 2026. But hes not ruling out attending the St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine because he loves the idea of training faithful doctors who share his hopes for medicine.

I do think [the proposed school] is going to transform medicine, said Roberts, who is from Littleton, Colorado. The hope for medicine to change, I think, comes with schools like this and students, like my classmates and myself, who want to really just go back to how medicine should be and thats to heal and restore relationships.

If plans to establish the St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine continue to go forward its initial step was last month its students will be the first in the world to receive training as osteopathic medical doctors with a grounding in Catholic theology and bioethics in the model of St. Pios care. The Kansas college already has a well-recognized nursing school.

Catholicism and the practice of medicine in faith are integral, part and parcel, to the medical school, said Dr. George Mychaskiw, the proposed schools founding president and CEO and an osteopathic physician who specializes in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology.

This is a medical school that is unapologetically and joyfully Catholic, that will stand for the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death, and will put forth the clear Catholic position on the morality of certain practices of medicine, added Mychaskiw, who is based at the Ochsner-LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The proposed school will be an independent, licensed, accredited, governed and financed entity co-located on the campus of Benedictine College. While it seeks funding and accreditation, the school has already received the support of Benedictine and Church leaders, the student and Atchison communities and Catholic osteopathic physicians.

The medical school completes the vision of Catholic Healthcare International (CHI) to expand St. Pios legacy of faith and health care in the United States, an effort named Casa USA, after the 1,000-bed hospital the saint founded that opened in 1956 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.

Also part of Casa USA are plans for a prayer campus and hospital replicating St. Pios Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for the Relief of Suffering) that will include a home for the brain injured and a center for religious liberty for medical professionals. The other facilities are being developed in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan.

St. Pio focused on relieving suffering while acknowledging its redemptive, salvific and emotional and spiritual aspects, said Jere Palazzolo, CHIs founder and president and a hospital administrator who lives in St. Louis.

Padre Pio, the well-known Capuchin friar who bore the stigmata for 50 years until his 1968 death, saw each patient individually, which aligns with the more holistic osteopathic philosophy, Mychaskiw said, adding that he hopes the school will train as many as 180 compassionate doctors per year.

We need faithful Catholic physicians taking the good news to people who need it most, he said, people the American health system forgot about.

The schools founding comes as the number of students attending the 38 U.S. accredited osteopathic medical schools has grown 77% over the past decade, according to a 2022 report by the America Osteopathic Association (AOA).

Osteopathic doctors, or D.O.s, use the same conventional medical tools including x-rays, pharmaceutical drugs and surgery as M.D. or allopathic doctors, but have a different philosophical focus on more holistic health and prevention on all parts of a person, including their mind, body and emotions, according to WebMD. Osteopathic doctors also use a system of physical manipulations and adjustments in diagnosis and treatment, and 57% work in primary care, according to the AOA study.

Overall, there are 178,259 osteopathic physicians and students in the United States, according to the AOA study. By comparison, a 2019 report from the American Association of Medical Colleges revealed there are 620,520 active M.D. doctors.

The idea to establish a Catholic medical school near a faithfully Catholic U.S. college campus came around 2009, as CHI was seeking approval from leaders of Padre Pios hospital for the Casa USA idea.

In a conversation with CHI for an informational brochure, Cardinal Raymond Burke mentioned the importance of training faithful doctors. The St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering will train generations of physicians who understand and foster life, from conception to natural death, who love as Jesus loved and who are faithful to the magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, he commented this summer. It is a noble and just cause. Cardinal Burke is one of CHIs episcopal advisers and incumbent patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Mychaskiw read about the Casa USA plan and the goal of starting a medical school and contacted Palazzolo. Mychaskiw, an Eastern Rite Catholic, was interested in founding a faithful Catholic osteopathic medical school using the model he developed while founding four independent medical schools in proximity to larger college or university campuses.

The other medical schools, including Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, focus on areas of societal need for physicians, he said.

After approaching several other faithful Catholic schools, Mychaskiw and Palazzolo chose Benedictine. The colleges president, Stephen Minnis, immediately saw the synergy between the college and the proposed medical school, Palazzolo said.

A faithful Catholic medical school named for St. Pio, a patron saint of healing, will form physicians to maintain their faith and relate it to the practice of medicine in a secular society, Minnis said. It also will offer quality medical education as well as a focus on Catholic medical ethics and other Church teaching not offered at secular schools.

It also adds another level of prestige to the colleges reputation for success and excellence, Minnis said, noting also that the independent medical schools marketing efforts will also build awareness of Benedictine.

The medical school will automatically admit qualified Benedictine students, and Minnis said he expects an increase in the colleges enrollment of biology, chemistry and pre-med majors.

Not all Catholic medical schools in North America include faith in their programs, but the St. Pio medical school will be the only medical school in the world that is in accordance with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, explained Mychaskiw, referring to Pope St. John Paul IIs 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. In addition, the proposed school also will offer significant coursework in Catholic bioethics, theology of the body and theology of suffering, and students will receive spiritual direction in their own faith tradition.

Students will be taught clearly the Catholic moral positions on abortion, euthanasia and other practices, Mychaskiw underscored, adding that he is working with Benedictine to enable students to receive a masters degree in Catholic bioethics along with a medical degree from the medical school.

After the first two years of clinical education, students will train in the National Christian Clinical Network of hospitals and clinics, with doctors who are practicing, faithful Catholics, and complete rotations at the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in Italy.

The medical school also will work with Catholic health-care systems to develop residency programs in the areas most relevant to Catholic ethical concerns, including OB-GYN, psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine areas, Mychaskiw said.

The proposed medical school will cost at least $70 million, Mychaskiw said. Another $50 million will be needed for a building.

Benedictine Colleges commitment to renewing and transforming American culture through its education and formation makes it an ideal location for the medical school seeking to form future Catholic physicians, said Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of Kansas City, Kansas.

Today more than ever, we need a Catholic medical school committed to providing future doctors with scientific and academic excellence, high-quality training in medical ethics anchored in Catholic moral principles, and sound spiritual formation, he said.

Lester Ruppersberger, a retired osteopathic OB-GYN doctor from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, called the future graduates of the proposed school the future of health care in the U.S. They will learn early in their careers the ethical and moral truths about issues such as contraception, which he learned only after 20 years of practice, said Ruppersberger, who served as the Catholic Medical Associations 2016 president.

To know that these medical schools are starting out upfront philosophically and spiritually with being dedicated to the teachings of the Church, bodes well for the future, he said, adding, Any hospital that is modeled after the Casa in [Italy], that hospital will also subscribe to the same principles, and you will know which physicians will protect the lives of patients and not do abortions and not participate in physician-assisted suicide.

Brendan Rhatican, an osteopathic physician in his second year of residency in Lexington, Kentucky, said he also would have benefitted from courses on faithful bioethics in medical school but instead had to learn about them on his own. The need for them in medicine is great because secular bioethics are philosophically and anthropologically bankrupt, he said.

Christianity has so much to offer bioethics and medicine, said Rhatican, who is specializing in radiology in part because other specializations may pressure him to violate his conscience. I just feel like the time is so right for it, when no one can stop from making ethical decisions, but [many dont know] how to think about even the most basic ethical dilemmas, and the Church has so much to offer.

An unapologetically Catholic medical school will not be without critics, Palazzolo predicted, but it could revolutionize health care.

The medical school completes this whole concept that we have, the whole mission, because it allows us to bring faithfully trained physicians out into the community around the world, he said. Its going to be the grassroots. Theyre going to go out into the community, into the hospitals and have that influence that this is the way that Catholic health care should be provided and delivered.

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Following in the Medical Footsteps of St. Luke and Padre Pio - National Catholic Register

Loan Forgiveness and Med School Debt: What About Me? – Medscape

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Hi. I'm Art Caplan. I run the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.

Many of you know that President Biden created a loan forgiveness program, forgiving up to $10,000 against federal student loans, including graduate and undergraduate education. The Department of Education is supposed to provide up to $20,000 in debt cancelation to Pell Grant recipients who have loans that are held by the Department of Education. Borrowers can get this relief if their income is less than $125,000 for an individual or $250,000 for married couples.

Many people have looked at this and said, "Hey, wait a minute. I paid off my loans. I didn't get any reimbursement. That isn't fair."

One group saddled with massive debt are people who are still carrying their medical school loans, who often still have huge amounts of debt, and either because of the income limits or because they don't qualify because this debt was accrued long in the past, they're saying, "What about me? Don't you want to give any relief to me?"

This is a topic near and dear to my heart because I happen to be at a medical school, NYU, that has decided for the two medical schools it runs our main campus, NYU in Manhattan and NYU Langone out on Long Island that we're going to go tuition free. We've done it for a couple of years.

We did it because I think all the administrators and faculty understood the tremendous burden that debt poses on people who both carry forward their undergraduate debt and then have medical school debt. This really leads to very difficult situations which we have great empathy for about what specialty you're going to go into, whether you have to moonlight, and how you're going to manage a huge burden of debt.

Many people don't have sympathy out in the public. They say doctors make a large amount of money and they live a nice lifestyle, so we're not going to relieve their debt. The reality is that whoever you are, short of Bill Gates or Elon Musk, having hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt is no easy task to live with and to work off.

Still, when we created free tuition at NYU for our medical school, there were many people who paid high tuition fees in the past. Some of them said to us, "What about me?" We decided not to try to do anything retrospectively. The plan was to build up enough money so that we could handle no-cost tuition going forward. We didn't really have it in our pocketbook to help people who'd already paid their debts or were saddled with NYU debt. Is it fair? No, it's probably not fair, but it's an improvement.

That's what I want people to think about who are saying, "What about my medical school debt? What about my undergraduate plus medical school debt?" I think we should be grateful when efforts are being made to reduce very burdensome student loans that people have. It's good to give that benefit and move it forward.

Does that mean no one should get anything unless everyone with any kind of debt from school is covered? I don't think so. I don't think that's fair either.

It is possible that we could continue to agitate politically and say, let's go after some of the healthcare debt. Let's go after some of the things that are still driving people to have to work more than they would or to choose specialties that they really don't want to be in because they have to make up that debt.

It doesn't mean the last word has been said about the politics of debt relief or, for that matter, the price of going to medical school in the first place and trying to see whether that can be driven down.

I don't think it's right to say, "If I can't benefit, given the huge burden that I'm carrying, then I'm not going to try to give relief to others." I think we're relieving debt to the extent that we can do it. The nation can afford it. Going forward is a good thing. It's wrong to create those gigantic debts in the first place.

What are we going to do about the past? We may decide that we need some sort of forgiveness or reparations for loans that were built up for others going backwards. I wouldn't hold hostage the future and our children to what was probably a very poor, unethical practice about saddling doctors and others in the past with huge debt.

I'm Art Caplan at the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Thank you for watching.

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Loan Forgiveness and Med School Debt: What About Me? - Medscape