Daily Archives: September 29, 2021

Eli Lilly partners with Care Access to increase trial diversity – OutSourcing-Pharma.com

Posted: September 29, 2021 at 7:19 am

Decentralized research organization (DRO) Care Access announced it has expanded its partnership with Eli Lilly in order to broaden the representation in its cancer research to increase participation of minority populations (such as Black, Hispanic, and LatinX people). The partnership reportedly will seek to increase inclusivity among oncologists, PIs, patients, and other groups.

Over the past decade, we have been committed to increasing enrollment of racially and ethnically diverse clinical trials, including educating physicians and patients about the importance of diversity and partnering with organizations dedicated to expanding representation, said Amy Davis, senior director of oncology clinical development with Lilly. This is critical for an illness like breast cancer in which women of color have been historically underrepresented in clinical trials. Our work with Care Access, an organization equally committed to increasing representation of minority group members in clinical trials, brings us one step closer to achieving these diversity goals.

Lilly will work with Care Access on its Phase III breast cancer study, dubbed eMonarcHER, which is evaluating the safety and efficacy of Abemaciclib (LY2835219) in participants with hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal receptor 2 positive, high-risk, early breast cancer who are taking hormone therapy after surgery. Cancer trials have historically under-enrolled patients from minority groups due to a number of possible obstacles, include geographical barriers, cultural differences, and a persistent distrust in health care.

By contrast, the eMonarcHER study has the stated goal of better engaging diverse groups of physicians and patients, in order to conduct research more fully representative of the US population. Additionally, according to the collaborators, the study has a more intentional focus on the recruitment of Black women with breast cancer, have a 40% higher mortality rate than white women.

Care Access representatives report that in order to boost enrollment, the organization will turn to members of its Patient Access team to establish and foster local community partners (including healthcare systems, physician groups, diversity-focused groups, advocacy groups, and community centers serving underrepresented minority populations.

According to Care Access, the partnership will build upon the two organizations previous work on COVID-19 trials, taking a three-pronged approach:

We have the unique ability to deliver quality care to patients in their own communities through our Sites on Demand program, creating more access and encouraging participation of all populations, said Ahmad Namvargolian, CEO of Care Access. While theres been a 40% decline in breast cancer deaths over the last 30 years, a stark mortality gap remains between Black women and Caucasian women; its absolutely critical for our industry to address these hollowing disparities.

We are confident in our ability to expand patient access to deliver lifesaving treatments to patients faster and are excited to partner with Lilly on eMonarcHER to increase representation in clinical trials for minority group members immediately and for decades to come, Namvargolian added.

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Reproductive Justice Leaders on the New Texas Abortion Law – ELLE.com

Posted: at 7:19 am

On Sept. 1, Senate Bill 8 went into effect, banning abortions in the state of Texas after about six weeks of pregnancy with nearly no exceptions, becoming the most restrictive abortion law in the nation. The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, failed to block the law, so even with a Democrat in the White House and a Democrat-led Congress, millions of women and transgender and non-binary people had their rights stripped away from them like a thief in the night. But for those who have been paying attention to the changing Court and as state-level lawmakers have consistently worked to restrict abortion access, especially over this past year, the news from Texas comes as little surprise. It was an onslaught years in the making, yet few heeded the warning.

Reproductive justice leaders on the front lines have long been sounding the alarm about conservatives consolidating power at the state level, leading to this years widespread attacks on abortion access and voting rights. Now, with the midterms fast approaching, we cant afford to lose voters to burnout and disillusionment. Instead, we have to listen to the leaders whove been working around the clock to ensure people have safe and destigmatized access to healthcare. We have to have a new, robust, mainstream conversation about reproductive justiceabout where we are failing and where we can still succeed. We have to ground people in the true stakes of this fight and make clear who will be most affected by these restrictive policies. Regardless of the outcome of any one election, we must always be out in the streets, participating in and advocating for the future we want.

To do so, ELLE.com brought together four Black and Latinx women whove all had a front row seat to the national struggle for abortion careand have been directly impacted themselves. Below, these healthcare consultants, advocates, and practitioners discuss the devastating effects of this Texas law and what we can do now to change course.

Angela Doyinsola Aina, MPH, co-founder and executive director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance: At the root of this racist, heteropatriarchal law is white supremacy. SB 8 not only prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy but also empowers individuals to sue anyone who aids or abets a person accessing an abortion, including doctors, staff, drivers, and other community members. We know that Black mamas, their families, and communities will face the most dire consequences as a result of these types of laws that restrict their fundamental rights to comprehensive reproductive and maternal healthcare.

All of a sudden, your friends and family are debating the morality of abortion on your timeline or in your group chats, sometimes not knowing they too know someone who has had an abortion.

Ana Lucia Carmelo, MPH, healthcare consultant, public health advocate, and proud Peruvian immigrant: We know that abortions continue to happen even when they are not legal, and these type of bans disproportionately impact the underserved. It can be easy to feel hopeless, and events like this are especially triggering for people who have had abortions. All of a sudden, your friends and family are debating the morality of abortion on your timeline or in your group chats, sometimes not knowing they too know someone who has had an abortion. That being said, I always think about the quote by Mariame Kaba, Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair. After allowing myself time to get informed and feel my feelings, I looked for ways to get involved: donating to Texas abortion funds, amplifying messages from activists and community organizers on the ground in Texas, and vocalizing my support for abortion access.

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Cynthia Adriana Gutierrez, first-generation Nicaraguan Salvadoran and reproductive justice organizer: My personal experience of having an abortion at 22 years old has been at the forefront of how I approach this work. At the time of my abortion, I left an abusive relationship, was experiencing housing insecurity, lacked a steady income to support myself, and was living with a substance use disorder. Then, I learned I was pregnant. It was all too much to bear, and having an abortion was the best decision for me. I have no regrets and no shame around it. Being an abortion storyteller with We Testify, an organization meant to foster the leadership of people who had abortions, has transformed my work.

Chanel Porchia, founder of Ancient Song Doula Services: The stories of my grandmother having multiple miscarriages before having my mother, my sister having a child as a teenager and seeing how she was treated within her care, my own reproductive health experiences from my early 20s, into motherhood, and now into perimenopause. How was I made to feel in every instance of my care? Was it centered in informed consent? Did my grandmother have room to not feel shame when talking about her reproductive struggles? These questions were and continue to be foundational [for me] in centering the voices of others in their reproductive health choices.

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Ana Lucia Carmelo, MPH, healthcare consultant, public health advocate, and proud Peruvian immigrant: A major failure that comes to mind is the need to find a perfect victim. Folks really emphasized the fact that the Texas law would impact rape and incest victims, especially children. But why does support and empathy have to be conditional? I understand that part of it is to get folks who would not otherwise support abortions to see the worst case scenario of the law, but ultimately that perpetuates the stigma around abortions and makes folks continuously have to justify why they chose to have one. If we only agree with abortion in these worst case scenarios, we are saying that people only deserve bodily autonomy, empathy, and access to abortions once their bodies have been violated. We cannot be content with the bare minimum of legality without critically considering what care, empathy, and access look like for people who get an abortion.

If we only agree with abortion in these worst case scenarios, we are saying that people only deserve bodily autonomy, empathy, and access to abortions once their bodies have been violated.

Cynthia Adriana Gutierrez, first-generation Nicaraguan Salvadoran and reproductive justice organizer: When it comes to speaking on reproductive justicethe human rights framework centering people of color in ensuring we all are able to decide if, when, and how to grow families free from violence and coercionand abortion access, we must always prioritize people with lived experiences. We are the experts of our own lives and are the most qualified to shut down false narratives. I hope the Court listens to us. Its shameful that BIPOC women who have abortions are not prioritized in the national conversation. There needs to be a more intentional attempt to include the voices of abortion storytellers with disabilities, parents, those who are undocumented, and queer, trans, and gender non-conforming folks.

Chanel Porchia, founder of Ancient Song Doula Services: Through the intentional silencing of our voices due to a lack of uplifting community-based organizations that directly work with those most impacted. When policymakers, organizations, and others dont center those most impacted, we already know that the agenda was never set in our favor, but rather continues to center privilege and access through the white gaze. Organizations like SisterWeb, Ancient Song, Mamatoto Village, Birthmark Doulas, Kindred Space LA and more have been working tirelessly to center their communities, and that directly comes from listening and meeting people where they are, not where we think they should be.

Black women and our Latinx sisters are no longer asking to be heard, and out of necessity, we are now formulating our own standards of care.

Angela Doyinsola Aina, MPH, co-founder and executive director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance: Black and Latinx women have long been ignored, along with their reproductive rights advocacy work. The fact that theres a long history of reproductive coercion, obstetric violence, and denial of quality care experienced by Black and Latinx women in the U.S. is a further injustice. Black women and our Latinx sisters are no longer asking to be heard, and out of necessity, we are now formulating our own standards of care. That is what the Black Mamas Matter Alliance is about. We have created a space and network that centers Black mamas rights to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice.

Ana Lucia Carmelo, MPH, healthcare consultant, public health advocate, and proud Peruvian immigrant: A lot of people currently live in places where Roe v. Wade exists merely in statute; an abortion is not an attainable reality for them due to costs, lack of nearby facilities, or poor quality care. The possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned is concerning, especially for BIPOC, but legalizing abortion is only one piece of what it would mean to make abortion accessible and destigmatized. Putting meaning behind phrases like abortion is healthcare or my body, my choice rests on complete access to affordable, dignified, and empathic reproductive healthcare. There is so much about how healthcare works in this country that is related to who we are, what we look like, and where we live. In my own experience getting an abortion at Planned Parenthood, it became clear to me just how impersonal abortion care can be, even in a progressive city like New York: the metal detectors upon entering, the lack of Spanish translators, the shuttling back and forth between rooms with no explanation, the open concept recovery rooms with no privacy, the constant mispronunciation of my name. A hyper-focus on protecting Roe v. Wade without considering the consistent access and quality issues that exist disregards the lived experience of so many people who have had an abortion. We need to protect the right to abortion, yes, but we also need to ensure that abortions are humanized, dignified, and accessible to any person that wants one.

Chanel Porchia, founder of Ancient Song Doula Services: The entire conversation needs to change to understand that reproductive healthcare access in the United States is an embarrassment, to say the least, and needs to be addressed on a systemic level. When we continue to separate the full spectrum of care that individuals need at certain points in their reproductive life, of course it is Black, brown, and Indigenous peoples who feel the burden. Black, brown, and Indigenous birthing people and those seeking reproductive health services access deserve to be seen, heard, and loved.

Ana Lucia Carmelo, MPH, healthcare consultant, public health advocate, and proud Peruvian immigrant: Collectively, I believe the single most important or impactful thing we can do to shift the tide of abortion access is to pass universal healthcare. Radically reimagining healthcare is such an important aspect of access. We have examples where a different world is possible: free COVID-19 vaccines for everyone, for instance. This is on policymakers, but we have seen that they have no impetus to make progress without pressure from us.

Reproductive healthcare access in the United States is an embarrassment, to say the least, and needs to be addressed on a systemic level.

Cynthia Adriana Gutierrez, first-generation Nicaraguan Salvadoran and reproductive justice organizer: There are so many ways you can get involved, such as driving people to their appointments, making sure they have gas money, helping out with childcare or translations, and offering your home to folks who are traveling for multi-day procedures. And of course, continue donating to Texas abortion funds: La Frontera Fund, Lilith Fund, Texas Equal Access Fund, West Fund. You can donate to all of them at once here.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Pregnant people face ‘severe risk of severe disease’ from COVID-19. That’s not motivating them to get vaccinated. – USA TODAY

Posted: at 7:19 am

CDC: Pregnant women with COVID-19 more likely to be hospitalized

Breaking from their earlier guidance, the CDC now says pregnant women with COVID-19 are at higher risk than non-pregnant women.

USA TODAY

While new data shows overall racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations are improving,federal numbers show pregnant Black people are the least vaccinated compared to those expecting in other races.

In general, vaccination rates among those who are pregnant have been low, with only 18% receiving a dose, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

But therate is even lower among those who are Black: Just 15% are fully vaccinated andonly 13% have received at least one dose, according to the CDC.

Black women experience disproportionate rates of maternal complications and mortality, and pregnant women are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, leaving them especially vulnerable without immunization.

Women giving birth while having COVID-19 had significantly higher rates of ICU admission, intubation, ventilationand death, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In August alone, 21 pregnant people died of COVID-19, according to the CDC.

Stay connected: Subscribe to Coronavirus Watch, your daily update on all things COVID-19 in the USA

During a COVID-19 White House briefing Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted the statistics andexplained a vaccine's safetyfor pregnant women.

Across other racial groups, the reported rates of vaccinations among pregnant people are more promising: About a quarter of Hispanic or Latinos have gotten a vaccine, a third of whites, and 45% of Asians the highest of any racial group.

Indigenous, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and other races made up 30% of vaccinated pregnant people.

Scientists have said vaccines are safe to be taken at any time while pregnant or breastfeeding for both mother and baby.

In response to a reporters question during the briefing, Walensky stressed the vulnerabilities of pregnant people and their babies, as well as the importance and safety of getting the shot while pregnant.

We are fortunate now to have extraordinary safety data with all of these vaccines. We know that pregnant women are at increased risk of severe disease, of hospitalization and ventilation. They're also at increased risk for adverse events to their baby, she said.

The director said studies have also shown vaccine antibodies could also potentially protect the baby.

She pointed to extraordinarily low rates of vaccinations among pregnant people across the board, and the extremely low rate among those who are Black.

This puts them at severe risk of severe disease from COVID-19, she said. We absolutely have the data that demonstrates the overwhelming benefit of vaccine and really very little safety concerns at all.

Dr. Pam Oliver, a physician in obstetrics and gynecology and executive vice presidentat North Carolina's Novant Health, said the low rate sounds an alarm to build better health care provider relationships with Black women.

"As a Black female OB-GYN committed to reducing disparities, equitable access to care, there's a little bit of sadness, and concern," she said. "What this says is that we have a significant hill to climb to both get the trust of Black women in general but especially during pregnancy so we can really protect them with the vaccine."

Without an 'ounce of empathy':Their stories show the dangers of being Black and pregnant

Oliver said many women encounter misinformation surrounding the vaccine and pregnancy on social media, leading to doubts. To fight the misinformation, she said clinicians need to patiently engage with women's questions, validate their emotions and then reassure them with science.

"Pregnancy is aprecious time. It's also atime that a lot of women have fear," she said. "It is natural to have questions... so let's talk about what we know, let's put it in perspective."

Oliver also said exploring other reasons, such as whether Black women are delaying prenatal care, is another important step in getting more vaccinated.

Massachusetts General Hospital obstetrician and gynecologist and Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Andrea Edlow said the low rate is another complicated manifestationofsystemic racism. She also questionedwhether people have barriers getting to prenatal visits.

Pregnant women 'didn't have the data' until now: COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, even for babies, study shows

But even if they do get to a prenatal appointment, logistical problems like vaccine storage could make it difficult for clinicians to administer the shot on the spotwithout wasting what remains in the vial.

Edlow also cited the lack oftrust in maternal health care which could be, in part, due to the historicgynecological abuses on Black women, she said, as well as high rates of Black maternal mortality.

"There's a lot of reasons why Black women in this country have a complicated relationship with childbirth, and have some fearfulness of prenatal care, potentially going to hospitals," she said. "It's definitely something people bring up."

Edlow, whose lab researches maternal obesity and fetal development,said sending trusted community health workers into their own communities to dispel fears and answer questions isessential "to be caught up."

"We have to do this work with communities of color," she said. "We need to meet people where they are."

During the White House briefing, officials cited a Kaiser Family Foundation report released Tuesday that showednarrowing vaccination disparities between white people and Black and Hispanic people.

Among the surveyed adults, the foundation said 73% of Hispanic people,70% of Black people and 71% of white people reported receivingat least one dose.

The administration's COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force director, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, referenced those rates along withsimilar percentages ina Pew Research Center survey and the CDC'sNational Immunization Survey.

'My daughter doesn't get to know her mother': Woman dies from COVID days after giving birth

More: US Health and Human Services unveils action plan to address 'maternal morbidity,' reduce racial disparities

"That's the result of intentional work to address those barriers, to address those concerns,"Nunez-Smith said. "We've made important progress in increasing vaccination rates and in decreasing vaccination inequities. These numbers represent much more than simply time passing. They tell the story of an all of society effort to get us to where we are today."

After noting the progress,"We know there is work still to be done," she said.

"We, of course, continue to see new hospitalizations and deaths from COVID that we can prevent," she said. "We just need to have the strength and the commitment to one another to ... keep fighting and to finish the job."

Black and Hispanic people also make up larger shares of recent vaccinations over the past two weekscompared to their shares of the population. According to theKaiser foundationanalysis, among vaccines administered in the past two weeks, 23% have gone to Hispanic people and 14% to Black people.

"These recent patterns suggest a narrowing of racial gaps in vaccinations at the national level, particularly for Hispanic and Black people, who account for a larger share of recent vaccinations compared to their share of the total population," the analysis found.

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@usatoday.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.

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Pregnant people face 'severe risk of severe disease' from COVID-19. That's not motivating them to get vaccinated. - USA TODAY

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Public Campus Ministry Makes a Difference in the ‘Silicon Valley of Taiwan’ – Adventist Review

Posted: at 7:19 am

September 28, 2021

By: Baek Joon, Northern Asia-Pacific Division, and Adventist Review

In 2019, Public Campus Ministries (PCM) was established at Hsinchu Seventh-day Adventist Church in northern Taiwan, thanks to two PCM missionaries sent to serve in the area. The Hsinchu area is called the Silicon Valley of Taiwan. The city is known as Hsinchu Science Park, the countrys hub of high-tech industry.

The city, with a population of 480,000, has two universities, Tsinghua University and National Chiao Tung University, which rank second and third in the country. The education and living standards of the people in Hsinchu are high compared to the rest of Taiwan.

The Korean cultural wave known as Hallyu is booming among young people in Taiwan. Going with this trend, since 2018 the church has held Korean language classes to attract young people to church. In 2019, the Korean class received approval as an official club from Tsinghua University. Many students at the university have shown interest in the club, and some of them have come to the church.

Since early 2020, the Hsinchu church has struggled due to COVID-19. The situation has evolved over the last year and a half, and church gatherings have been prohibited from time to time. From May to July 2021, the church had to conduct worships online, with on-site worship becoming possible only by the end of July.

On August 21, 2021, a baptismal ceremony was held for the first time. Four young people were reborn. They had started attending the church earlier in the year. There were constant invisible battles in the candidates minds before their baptism, leaders said, but Gods grace was upon them when they finally decided to proceed.

Leaders shared that the ceremony was held at Taiwan Adventist College on a beautiful day. Two PCM missionaries, Seol Ah Park and Ji Soo Choi, actively led the new believers to Jesus Christ.

It has been three years since the Hsinchu church was planted, and currently, about 30 people gather every Sabbath, leaders said. Among them, 60 to 70 percent are college students and young office workers. We hope that they will grow as leaders who endeavor to deliver the gospel of God to many young Taiwanese who do not know Jesus.

About Public Campus Ministries

PCM is a service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its regional branches around the world. It envisions inspiring and transforming Seventh-day Adventist students into campus ambassadors through intentional mentoring and discipleship. To this end, PCM provides a ministry presence and nurturing environment for students, both on campuses and in local churches, utilizing communities of mentors who are committed to caring for, mentoring, and training the students.

The original version of this story was posted by the Northern Asia-Pacific Division.

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FEATURE-Besieged by seaweed, Caribbean scrambles to make use of the stuff – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 7:18 am

By Cassandra Garrison, Sarah Marsh and Jake Spring

PUERTO MORELOS, Mexico Sept 29 (Reuters) - As the sun rises in Mexicos Quintana Roo state, home to the white sandy beaches of Cancun and Tulum, Rear Admiral Alejandro Lopez Zenteno readies his sailors for another day of dragging rafts of brown seaweed to shore and out of view of cocktail-sipping tourists.

Zenteno heads the operation for the Mexican Navy, which coordinates with the state and local governments to protect an area visitor trade that was valued at more than $15 billion annually before the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to Quintana Roos tourism secretariat.

When it washes ashore, the plant - known as sargassum - turns black and emits a sewage-like stench so powerful it has been known to make travelers ill. It attracts insects and turns the areas famed turquoise snorkeling waters a sickly brown.

And it just keeps coming. Since 2011, seaweed here and across the Caribbean has exploded for reasons scientists suspect is related to climate change but dont yet fully understand.

In Quintana Roo alone, Mexicos Navy since March has removed more than 37,000 tons of sargassum -- more than the weight of three Eiffel Towers -- from beaches and surrounding waters.

"We dont expect this to end anytime soon, Zenteno said onboard a seaweed-clearing ship known as a sargacero, one of 12 deployed by the Navy.

Entrepreneurs across the region, meanwhile, are searching for ways to monetize the muck. Theyre experimenting with seaweed-based products including animal feed, fuel, construction material - even signature cocktails.

Sargassum is seen as a nuisance, said Srinivasa Popuri, an environmental scientist in Barbados with the University of the West Indies. He views the Caribbean as blessed with a resource that grows naturally and requires no land or other inputs to flourish.

Popuri is working on extracting substances from seaweed that could have applications for the pharmaceutical, medical and food industries.

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Whether such efforts prove viable remains to be seen. Commercializing seaweed can be challenging given the expense of collecting it.

Still, creativity is blossoming along with the seaweed.

SARGASSUM SOLUTIONS

One of the biggest potential uses lies in demand for so-called alginates, a biomaterial extracted from brown seaweed, which is a common ingredient in food thickeners, wound care and waterproofing agents for its gel-like properties.

The global market in 2020 was worth almost $610 million, a figure thats expected to grow to $755 million by 2027, according to consulting firm Global Market Insights.

Omar Vazquez, meanwhile, is building houses.

Vazquez, a nursery owner in the seaside town of Puerto Morelos near Cancun, for several years had used sargassum as a fertilizer. In 2018, he came up with the idea of turning it into a construction material. He said the resulting sargassum bricks, baked in the sun, allow him to build a house 60% cheaper than if he were to use traditional cement blocks.

Now dubbed Seor Sargazo by his neighbors, Vazquez said he has built and donated 10 such houses to local families in need. He hopes to turn his now-patented Sargablock material into a for-profit franchise.

Everyone was complaining that sargassum was stinky, sargassum is a problem. What I did was find a solution for it, said Vazquez, 45, showing Reuters around Casa Angelita, the first house he built with seaweed and which he named for his mother.

The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Cancun found a tastier use for sargassum. For a time, it served up a cocktail made with tequila, vinegar, sugar, rosemary and a syrup derived from sanitized seaweed.

Some businesses are nervous about relying on a resource with variable supply: Theres no way to know how much might grow in a year.

Others are concerned that large-scale harvests for business initiatives might lead to sea turtles and other endangered creatures being scooped up indiscriminately.

Still other efforts are waiting on scientific testing for safety. In Jamaica, entrepreneur Daveian Morrison is building a processing plant to scale up his experiments, including turning seaweed into charcoal for people to burn in lieu of firewood. He said his recipe for animal feed made from the protein-rich plant proved a hit at a local goat farm, but it needs more testing to ensure the seaweed doesnt contain dangerous levels of arsenic or other harmful substances.

In Barbados, a University of the West Indies research team is distilling sargassum along with waste from a rum distillery to make methane, which can be turned into compressed natural gas to power transportation across the island.

There is this beautiful coincidence that the ocean is producing all this biomass, said Legena Henry, a renewable-energy lecturer at the university. She said shell soon be converting her own car to run on the fuel, with the hopes of a wider rollout next June.

SEAWEED EXPLOSION

Sargassum is most famously found in the Sargasso Sea in the north Atlantic, where the seaweed has been documented for hundreds of years. How it traveled south to the tropical Atlantic is unclear.

Some scientists have theorized that the intense 2010 hurricane season may have carried a bit of it to the central western Atlantic, planting the seeds for a new sargassum belt that now stretches nearly 9,000 kilometers.

That seaweed explosion might just reflect the system going over some tipping point, said biologist Joseph Montoya at Georgia Tech University. We don't know.

Also unclear is why the Caribbean sargassum blooms have grown to such monstrous masses. Scientists say climate change, water pollution, Amazon deforestation and dust blowing in from the Sahara Desert are all likely factors.

New research published in May in the journal Nature Communications points to another suspect: Major rivers - including notably the Amazon - are pumping more human sewage and agricultural runoff into the ocean, where the nutrients are likely fertilizing the sargassum.

The University of South Florida has been tracking sargassum since 2011 and it recorded a significant uptick in 2015. In May, a record 18 million metric tons were detected by satellite in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. Thats up nearly 6% from the previous May record set in 2018, and up more than 800% from levels seen a decade ago, according to Chuanmin Hu, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida.

Mexicos coastline is especially vulnerable, thanks to an ocean current swirling in the western Caribbean Sea that pulls sargassum towards the nations beaches. A July 21 map by the Sargassum Monitoring Network of Quintana Roo, a non-governmental organization, showed that 28 of the states 80 beaches were experiencing an "excessive" amount of sargassum, the most severe grade.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Puerto Morelos, Jake Spring in Brasilia and Sarah Marsh in Havana; editing by Katy Daigle and Marla Dickerson)

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FEATURE-Besieged by seaweed, Caribbean scrambles to make use of the stuff - Yahoo Finance

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World’s First Underwater ‘Space Station’ Is Coming To This Caribbean Island – Caribbean and Latin America Daily News – News Americas

Posted: at 7:18 am

By NAN Travel Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 28, 2021: As more and more focus shifts to climate change and rising sea levels, the worlds first underwater space station is coming to the Caribbean.

Renowned aquanaut, ocean explorer and environmentalist Fabien Cousteau of Proteus Ocean Group, will launch his project, PROTEUS, in Curacao.

It is conceived as the underwater version of the International Space Station; it will be a platform for global collaboration amongst the worlds leading researchers, academics, government agencies, and corporations to advance science to benefit the future of the planet.

PROTEUS is being promoted as the worlds most advanced underwater scientific research station and habitat to address humanitys most critical concerns: medicinal discoveries, food sustainability, and the impacts of climate change.

PROTEUS is envisioned to be more than four times the size of any previously known underwater habitat, and will feature state-of-the-art labs, sleeping quarters, and a moon pool. PROTEUS will include the first underwater greenhouse, allowing inhabitants to grow fresh plant life for food, marking a unique approach to address some challenges that come with underwater living, such as not being allowed to cook with open flames. The habitat will be sustainably powered by hybrid sources including wind and solar. It will include a full-scale video production facility to provide continuous live streaming for educational programming, and delivery of augmented and virtual reality to collaborators world-wide.

Cousteau was recently on the island to conduct a site mapping with a team of 4 experts from Map the Gaps and R2Sonic.

Cousteau and Proteus Ocean Group are working with Map the Gaps and R2Sonic to map the entire marine-protected area, covering a total surface area of 1,482 acres of reef and 1,077 acres of inner bays, in Curaao.

Map the Gaps is a non-profit organization formed of maritime mapping professionals, students and industry partners committed to growing awareness and increasing diversity in ocean mapping. R2Sonic provides technologically advanced multibeam echosounders that deliver high quality of data. In this project R2Sonic is dedicated to help collect the hydrographic data and share it so that all of us can learn more about our underwater terrain.

Together, these organizations will provide vital data and a deeper knowledge base to benefit Curaao, by enabling sustainable conservation measures. It will also provide critical information for the site of the first PROTEUS, which is planned to be located off of the Island of Curaao, at a depth of 60 feet (3 atmospheres), in a marine-protected area.

As our life support system, the ocean is indispensable to solving the planets biggest problems. Challenges created by climate change, rising sea levels, extreme storms and viruses represent a multi-trillion-dollar risk to the global economy, stated Cousteau. Surprisingly, despite the ocean representing over 99% of our worlds living space, only 5% has been explored to date. PROTEUS, contemplated as the first in a network of underwater habitats, is essential to driving meaningful solutions that protect the future of our planet. The knowledge that will be uncovered underwater will forever change the way generations of humans live up above.

As an island recognized worldwide for its pristine oceans and diverse marine life, we are honored to have Curaao as home to PROTEUS. We fully support the team involved in this project and are committed to the vision and partnership, serving as stewards for the environment, commented Hugo Clarinda, Deputy Director of the Curaao Tourist Board. This is an impressive and important project for science, the world and the future of our fragile eco-system, full of immense riches yet to be discovered. Curaao is passionate about the health of our oceans and will continue to be advocates of this type of research and projects of this magnitude.

Sithree van Heydoorn, the Minister of Education commented: The site mapping is an exciting next step in the building of PROTEUS which will allow for unprecedented access to a deeper understanding of the ocean. Through its development, well be able to learn more about the marine biodiversity of Curacao on a local level and further educate the community on the human-ocean connection.

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World's First Underwater 'Space Station' Is Coming To This Caribbean Island - Caribbean and Latin America Daily News - News Americas

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‘Overwhelmed by old challenges’, Caribbean leaders say COVID-19 has forced a new battle for the survival of their nations – UN News

Posted: at 7:18 am

Saint Lucia: A near-impossible balancing act

Philip Joseph Pierre, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth EconomyofSaint Lucia,said his nationsuffersfromserious challengesdue toits small sizeandvulnerability to natural disasters and climate change.While strugglingtofindsolutions forthoseexisting problems,Saint Luciawas hitwith COVID-19.

We are now being inundated by the new, while still being overwhelmed by the old,he statedin his pre-recorded address to theannual high-level debateof the UN General Assembly.

Thepandemic forced last years debate to be held almost entirely virtually,butthe 2021 session is being held in a hybrid format, combining in-person and virtual participation.

Mr. Pierre saidsmall island nations like Saint Luciacontinue to contend with the near-impossible balancing act of preserving lives and livelihoods amid the insidious twists and turns of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thisincludes pushing backagainstmisinformationabout thevirus andwhat he called vaccineapartheidthat has seen some countries stockpile vaccines, while othercountries watch helplessly as COVID-related deaths continue to rise for want of a jab.

At the same time,Mr. Pierresaidthepandemicseemsto haveslowed down everything but the deterioration of our beloved planet earth.COVID-19grabs the headlines,butit is a fact that the pandemic emerged at a time when theworld was already on an unsustainable path to achievethe2030[Development]Agendaand the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

With less than a decade left to achieve the 2030 Agenda,thePrime Minister notedthatthe UNDecade ofActionrequires urgent solutions towardssalvaging our global living quarters.

It can be argued that theCOVID-19 pandemic and the climate change challenge confront us with an intermeshed problem of symptom as cause and cause as symptom, he said.It provides us with a harsh and timely reminder thathuman health and planetary health are linked.

The cost of meeting these challenges and undertakinghealth or climateresilience activities, isway beyondthe financial reach of small islands, he lamented.As such, he appealed forcontributionstowards recovery efforts andfor all nationsto pay their commitments to theAdaptationandMitigationFunds.

Prime Minister of the Bahamas,Phillip Edward Davis, alsocalled for equitable distribution of vaccines, including to small island developing States, which are not manufacturers. It is also important to make safe treatments and therapeutics accessible and to designate them as public goods, he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made abundantly clear what many of us have always known to be true: we are all in this together, he told the Assembly in his in-person address.

We must collaborate to end the COVID-19 pandemic and address public health issues. We must cooperate to mitigate the effects of climate change. Access to development financing must be adequate and fair. Lagging response on any of these issues will have dire consequences for the global economy, the Prime Minister said.

Even as his country was dealing with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Prime Minister reminded the Assembly that just two years agothis month, the Bahamas had been devastatedby Hurricane Dorian,one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, and the physical and emotional wreckage are still with us.

He lamented his countrys sense of foreboding in the wake of the storm, saying: Every rainfall is a reminder of the horror. How can we continue to do nothing in the face of such tragedy? To any leader who still believed there was enough time to address climate change, he said I invite you to visit Abaco and Grand Bahama, where the devastation wrought by Dorian is now part of the countrys landscape.

So, we are not here to call for measured steps. We are here to say that big, radical change is the only response that can save our country. We are out of time, Mr. Davis declared, urging states to raise their ambitions and make real commitments to cut emissions at COP26 in Glasgow. We dont want that conference to be like the preceding 25, he said, calling for states not to agree to the same promises that wont be kept.

There must be real progress on bridging the gaps in investment and access to technology and skills, especially in the areas of climate mitigation and adaptation, he said, emphasizing the need for more innovative financing and debt solutions, including for climate adaptation swaps.

He went on to point out the increasing gap in global financing for meeting the SDGsby 2030, estimated at $2.5 trillion in 2019, and reiterated his countrys support for the inclusion of a multidimensional vulnerability index in the decision-making of international financial institutions and the international donor community.

Like his Bahamian counterpart, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston A. Browne, also concentrated his address on the pandemic and climate change, which he called the two overarching issues that confront mankind.

Beginning with COVID-19, he echoed others who spoke of the lack of a coherent response to ending the crisis, including vaccine inequity.

He stressed that developing countries were not seeking handouts, and many had paid into a global system that promised early access to vaccines, however, selfish nationalism forced many to rely on vaccine charity.

No country wanted to beg for vaccineswe were ready to pay, said Prime Minister Browne, yet most jabs manufactured by major pharmaceutical companies were bought or contracted and hoarded by a few wealthy nations.

If, at the onset of the pandemic, developing countries had been given access to proper COVID-19 vaccinesand medical supplies, globally, we would be in a better place, he asserted.

Calling inoculation discrimination, wrong, unjust, and patently unfair, Mr. Browne& advocated for equitable vaccine distribution at affordable prices and less expensive COVID testing.

Vaccines are a global good; they should not be a commodity for profit at the expense of human life, he said.

Noting that climate change has already had catastrophic consequences on some small island States, the Prime Minister called for global solidarity and firm commitments to reduce global temperatures below 1.5 degrees and provide quality financing and climate technologies to save our planet.

Pointing out that industrialized countries have an obligation to assist the States most affected by climate change because they created a problem in the first instance, Mr. Browne signalled that the development funding assistance for small islands developing States should not be seen as a gift or charity but as a form of climate reparations to compensate for past climate damage.

Full statementhere.

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'Overwhelmed by old challenges', Caribbean leaders say COVID-19 has forced a new battle for the survival of their nations - UN News

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More Caribbean countries added to the U.S.’s Level 4 listings – Travel Weekly

Posted: at 7:18 am

Caribbean countries added to the CDC's and the U.S. State Department's Level 4 advisory on Sept. 21 include Antigua and Barbuda as well as Bermuda, due to the rise in Covid cases on those islands.

The Level 4 "very high" classification is the most severe travel warning that the U.S. currently hands to countries. The CDC advisory warns that people should avoid traveling to locations with a Level 4 classification and, if they must travel, they should be fully vaccinated.

The advisory updates do not offer any legally binding way to prevent travelers from heading to a destination.

The CDC assesses Covid-19 risk based on each destination's new cases and new-case trajectory. The level is raised if a destination reports more than 500 new cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days or more than 500 cases if the population is smaller than 100,000.

Close to 90 destinations are now listed at the Level 4 highest risk category, among them Caribbean islands Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Haiti, St. Maarten, the Bahamas, Dominica, Aruba, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barts, St. Martin, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba and the British Virgin Islands.

Bonaire is the newest addition to the Level 3 "high" category, joining Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The category means that between 100 and 500 cases have been reported in the past 28 days.

The Dominican Republic is the only Caribbean country on the Level 2 "moderate" list while Montserrat, Saba and Statia are classified as Level 1 "low" risk.

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Besieged by seaweed, Caribbean scrambles to make use of the stuff – Financial Post

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Reuters

Cassandra Garrison and Sarah Marsh and Jake Spring

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PUERTO MORELOS As the sun rises in Mexicos Quintana Roo state, home to the white sandy beaches of Cancun and Tulum, Rear Admiral Alejandro Lopez Zenteno readies his sailors for another day of dragging rafts of brown seaweed to shore and out of view of cocktail-sipping tourists.