No Agenda Episode 589 - "Guards Gates Guns"

That seems to be the indignant conclusion of somecritics after the rock icon played roles in advertisements for Chrysler and Chobani Yogurt that ran during last night's Super Bowl. Needless to say, this is nothing new to Dylan: Fans have been calling him a sellout since at least 1965, when he famously went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. Of course, a Chrysler commercial isn't Dylan going electric (though the absurdist Chobani ad might be equivalent to Dylan going whimsical). Nonetheless, Dylan's decision to work with Chrysler shouldn't be viewed as a sell-out so much as one of the most overtly political acts he's committed in years.

In fact, Dylan, despite his considerable reputation as a political provocateur, hasn't willingly played the role since the mid-1960s. As Joan Baez, his occasional singing partner and girlfriend during that period, noted in "No Direction Home," Martin Scorcese's 2005 documentary on Dylan's early career, the folk legend was far less political -- and perhaps sincere -- than his songs sometimes suggested:

''Thirty-some years, whenever I go to a march or a sit-in, or a lie-in or a be-in or a jail-in people'd say 'Is Bob coming?' I'd say, 'He never comes, you moron.' You know, 'When are you going to get it? Never did, probably never will.' And so I think '... I think he couldn't have written songs like the ones he wrote if he didn't feel generally, I think, sort of, for the underdog. But I think that he didn't want to be the guy people were going to go to.''

Not surprisingly, then, barring a few notableexceptions (and his defiant so-called Christian period), politics and protest have been largely absent from Dylan's music for most of the last 50 years. Those exceptions, however, have been interesting, including the 1983 "Infidels" record, which included ''Neighborhood Bully,'' a Zionist defense of Israel, and ''Union Sundown,'' an angry requiem for American manufacturing:

Well, this silk dress is from Hong KongAnd the pearls are from JapanWell, the dog collar's from IndiaAnd the flower pot's from PakistanAll the furniture, it says 'Made in Brazil'Where a woman, she slaved for sureBringin' home 30 cents a day to a family of 12You know, that's a lot of money to herWell, it's sundown on the unionAnd what's made in the U.S.A.Sure was a good idea'Til greed got in the way''

It's a catchy lyric and a killer groove but -- like many protest songs -- it doesn't offer the listener much beyond poetic indignation, much less a road map to make things better.

Enter Fiat-owned Chrysler. For the last three years, the company has promoted itself as ''imported from Detroit,'' emphasizing its American roots in commercials that offer longing glances at winsome American landscapes. Dylan's Super Bowl commercial is very much in that tradition, interspersing iconic clips of the singer-songwriter with images of highways running through the Mojave Desert and other American landscapes. Meanwhile, his raspy voice intones a monologue that offers an optimistic, forward-thinking update on ''Union Sundown,'' three decades later:

So let Germany brew your beer. Have Switzerland make your watch. Let Asia assemble your phone. We will build your car.

If, as Dylan's songs and nostalgia seem to suggest, he badly wants a renaissance in American manufacturing (and the lifestyles it enabled), then there's simply no better way to accomplish that -- not even another protest song -- than hawking Chryslers (and Cadillacs) to Americans, even if -- ultimately -- the profits (and losses) from those Chryslers are destined for Italy. Most of the jobs, however, remain in the United States. Indeed, Dylan's decision to align himself so closely with American autoworkers and the car company that employs them (after all, he says, ''we'' will build your car) might be the most political two minutes he's recorded since the mid-1960s heyday that, in the wake of the ad's airing, his critics claim he has betrayed.

(Adam Minter, the Shanghai correspondent for the World View blog, is the author of "Junkyard Planet," a book on the global recycling industry. Follow him on Twitter.)

To contact the writer of this article: Adam Minter at shanghaiscrap@gmail.com.

To contact the editor responsible for this article: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net.

Bob Dylan - Most patriotic

Budweiser [belgian] Hero worshipping

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Investigate 911 SECURITY BREACH

All-seeing eye displayed on Nike shirt by Malcolm Smith, Super Bowl MVP | Intellihub News

9/11 truther: How I sneaked into Super Bowl XLVIII -- and hijacked the postgame show | NJ.com

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:23

Once I got past the final gate and into the stadium, I was dumbfounded." - Matthew Mills, who crashed a Super Bowl news conference

EAST RUTHERFORD -- The Brooklyn man arrested after he interrupted Super Bowl XVIII MVP Malcolm Smith's postgame news conference didn't start Sunday looking to make it onto national TV and, ultimately, into handcuffs.

Matthew Mills, an 30-year-old independent journalist from Brooklyn, told NJ.com his aim was just to get close to MetLife Stadium -- which had layers of security in what's supposed to be the most secure sporting event in the United States -- so he could conduct some fan interviews.

Then the self-described 9/11 truther saw an employee bus at Secaucus Junction and hopped aboard.

Around Mills' neck was an old credential from a festival he covered, a rectangular badge that, at quick glance, didn't look too dissimilar from the ones issued to media members, team employees and others who worked the Super Bowl.

He also used a common refrain whenever hassled by security, which is supposed to verify each credential or ticket with a barcode along with putting attendees through other security screenings.

"I just said I was running late for work and I had to get in there," Mills said. "It was that simple."

Mills said he got through multiple layers of security using that bogus story.

"I didn't think that I'd get that far," Mill said. "I just kept getting closer and closer. Once I got past the final gate and into the stadium, I was dumbfounded."

After the game concluded, Mills walked into the media tent, where players and coaches were brought for interviews.

"I just saw my opportunity to get my word out there and I took it," Mills said.

Mills grabbed the microphone as Smith began to talk to reporters and said the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were "perpetrated by people in our own government."

"Check his press pass," Smith said with a smirk after the initial shock wore off.

He didn't have one. Mills didn't even have a ticket. Still, he was able to get his message out to a national audience as ESPN and other outlets showed the presser live.

Mills was quickly ushered off the dais by a public relations representative and eventually arrested. Mills left the area without a struggle and was charged with trespassing. He was released a couple hours later on his own recognizance.

But Mills' gate-crashing leaves people wondering: With all of the millions spent on security, how safe is the Super Bowl anyway?

An NFL spokesman has referred all questions to the New Jersey State Police, the law enforcement agency that oversees the Meadowlands.

An NJ State Police spokesman gave NJ.com Mills' name, but didn't immediately return a message inquiring about how Mills was able to get into MetLife.

Mills is affiliated with WeAreChange, an organization whose aim is "confronting prominent and powerful people with the tough questions the mainstream media doesn't want to ask."

9/11 conspiracy theorist snuck past Super Bowl security to interrupt postgame show | The Verge

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:21

The NFL's layers of security at Super Bowl XLVIII proved vulnerable to an expired festival pass and some social engineering. During MVP Malcolm Smith's postgame appearance, independent journalist and conspiracy theorist Matthew Mills rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone, exhorting viewers to investigate the truth about 9/11. Mills wasn't just hijacking a press conference, though: he had infiltrated a stadium that law enforcement hoped would be all but impenetrable. Before the event, police and the FBI had set up multiple layers of security in an attempt to identify potential terrorists, mixing plainclothes agents into the crowd and setting up hundreds of temporary security cameras in Midtown Manhattan to catch suspicious activity at Super Bowl events.

Mills tells NJ.com that he initially wasn't even looking to slip into into the stadium itself, just to get close enough to conduct fan interviews. Then, however, he saw a bus meant to ferry staff to the Super Bowl. He then apparently boarded the bus using an old badge from a festival, keeping security from looking too closely by telling them he was late and needed to get in quickly. Finally, he found himself at the media tent where Smith was being interviewed. "I just saw my opportunity to get my word out there and I took it," he says. His on-air message warned that 9/11 was "perpetrated by people within our own government." We Are Change, an independent media group whose issues include the supposed 9/11 cover-up, describes Mills as a former intern.

NJ.com reports that Mills was arrested and charged with trespassing, but was released a couple of hours after crashing the stage. Mills, for his part, says he's "dumbfounded" by how far he got. But for all the Super Bowl's security, its sheer size makes it difficult to police effectively. Last year, two Savannah State University students taped themselves sneaking into the Super Bowl, attributing their success partly to the distraction of Beyonce's halftime performance.

Super Bowl MVP Wears Illuminati Eye During Press Conference

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Miliraistic, even Bruno Mars halftime

Flea: Red Hot Chili Peppers mimed Super Bowl song - One News | TVNZ

Chili Peppers join Milli Vanilli on Wall of Shame

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Senators try to sack NFL's non-profit status - Washington Times

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Heroin/Fentanyl

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Heroin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:45

HeroinSystematic (IUPAC) name(5ˆé±,6ˆé±)-7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol diacetateClinical dataAHFS/Drugs.comentryPregnancy cat.Not yet classified, but studies have shown a risk of abnormalities, hepatitis, malnutrition, and many other effects.[1]Legal statusProhibited (S9)(AU)Schedule I (CA)Class A (UK)Schedule I (US)Dependence liabilityHighRoutesInhalation, Transmucosal, Intravenous, Oral, Intranasal, Rectal, IntramuscularPharmacokinetic dataBioavailability ... >Opiate&Opioids>Heroin^http://www.idaat.org/files/documents_file-4.pdf^"Heroin". Mahalo.com. Mahalo.com Incorporated. Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^"Heroin". Drugs Forum. SIN Foundation. Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^Sheryl Ubelacker (12 March 2012). "Medically prescribed heroin more cost-effective than methadone, study suggests". thestar.com (The Toronto Star). Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^"Heroin Legal Status". Vaults of Erowid. Erowid.org. Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^"HEROIN, THE POPPY". Addiction Recovery Expose. Randolph Online Solutions Inc. Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^"Heroin". NACADA. NACADA. Retrieved 27 May 2012. ^"Documentation of a heroin manufacturing process in Afghanistan. BULLETIN ON NARCOTICS, Volume LVII, Nos. 1 and 2, 2005" (PDF). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved 20 October 2010. ^http://www.crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/IDDR/2003_04/iddr_0304_heroin.pdf^Nazemroaya, Mahdi Darius (17 October 2006). "The War in Afghanistan: Drugs, Money Laundering and the Banking System". GlobalResearch.ca. Retrieved 22 October 2006. ^McGirk, Tim (2 August 2004). "Terrorism's Harvest: How al-Qaeda is tapping into the opium trade to finance its operations and destabilize Afghanistan". Time Magazine Asia. Retrieved 22 October 2006. ^"World failing to dent heroin trade, U.N. warns". Cnn.com. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2012. ^technatica. "Afghanistan Heroin". Orwelltoday.com. Retrieved 20 July 2012. ^Andrew North (10 February 2004). "The drugs threat to Afghanistan". BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2013. ^Gall, Carolotta (3 September 2006). "Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan". New York Times '' Asia Pacific. Retrieved 22 October 2006. ^Declan Walsh (30 August 2007). "UN horrified by surge in opium trade in Helmand". Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2012. ^Eric C. Schneider, Smack: Heroin and the American City, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, chapter one^ ab"War Views: Afghan heroin trade will live on.". Richard Davenport-Hines (BBC). October 200q. Retrieved 30 October 2008. ^"Govt may relax 'death penalty' clause under Narcotics Act". Hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 12 October 2013. ^"Haji Bagcho Sentenced To Life in Prison on Narco-Terrorism, Drug Trafficking Charges '' Funded Taliban, Responsible for Almost 20 Percent of World's Heroin Production, More Than a Quarter-Billion in Drug Proceeds, Property Forfeited". The Aiken Leader. Retrieved 7/6/2012. ^ ab"Haji Bagcho Convicted by Federal Jury in Washington, D.C., on Drug Trafficking and Narco-terrorism Charges '' Afghan National Trafficked More Than 123,000 Kilograms of Heroin in 2006". US Department of Justice. Retrieved 7/6/2012. ^ ab"Haji Bagcho Sentenced to Life in Prison on Trafficking/Narco-Terrorism Charges". Surfky News. Retrieved 7/6/2012. ^ abFoster, Zachary. "Haji Bagcho, One of World's Largest Heroin Traffickers, Convicted on Drug Trafficking, Narco-Terrorism Charges". War on Terrorism Online. Retrieved 7/6/2012. ^ abcTUCKER, ERIC (12 June 2012). "Afghan heroin trafficker gets life in US prison". Associated Press. Retrieved 7/6/2012. ^"2007 WORLD DRUG REPORT". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved 26 July 2012. ^European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (2008). Annual report: the state of the drugs problem in Europe. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. p. 70. ISBN 978-92-9168-324-6. ^United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2008). World drug report. United Nations Publications. p. 49. ISBN 978-92-1-148229-4. ^Nutt, D; King, LA; Saulsbury, W; Blakemore, C (2007). "Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse". Lancet369 (9566): 1047''53. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60464-4. PMID 17382831. ^Kimber, Jo; Dolan, Kate; Wodak, Alex (2005). "Survey of drug consumption rooms: service delivery and perceived public health and amenity impact". Drug and Alcohol Review24 (1): 21''4. doi:10.1080/09595230500125047. PMID 16191717. ^http://www.idaat.org/files/newsletters_file-8.pdf^Lancashire Constabulary-Harm Reduction in the Community page 7^Parkyn, John (5 March 1982). "Articles about John Belushi '' Sun Sentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved 31 December 2011. ^"Chris Farley's Death Laid to Drug Overdose". New York Times. 1998-01-03. Retrieved 2014-01-14. ^Gabriel, Trip (8 May 1994). "Fast-Lane Killer: A special report.; Heroin Finds a New Market Along Cutting Edge of Style". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2013. ^http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/as-del-lay-dying/Content?oid=1109931 'As Del Lay Dying'], Chicago Reader, Kim "Howard" Johnson, 3 April 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2010.^"Addicted Downey Jnr jailed". BBC News. 6 August 1999. ^'Been up. Been down. Now? Super.', New York Times, David Carr, 20 April 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2014^"Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight' leery of Artie Lange high jinks". Daily News (New York). 16 June 2009. ^Jamieson, Alastair (23 September 2009). "Mackenzie Phillips: incest and heroin claim from Mamas and Papas founder's daughter". The Daily Telegraph (London). ^Hasted, Nick (6 September 1998). "Interview: Tom Sizemore '' Saving Tom Sizemore". The Independent (London). ^Almasy, Steve (16 July 2013). "Coroner: Mix of heroin and alcohol killed 'Glee' star". CNN. ^Goodman, J. David (2 February 2014). "Philip Seymour Hoffman, Actor, Dies At 46". New York Times. ^Cavna, Michael (19 April 2013). "Kevin Smith's 'Super Groovy' movie helps co-star Jason Mewes on his road to recovery". Washington Post. ^Janelle Oswald (9 December 2007). "The Real American Gangster". voice-online. Retrieved 8 March 2008. "She spent five years in prison for aiding her husband's narcotic smuggling trade. Having to get used to the public life again after living like a 'ghost' since her release, the making of her partner's life on the big screen has brought back many memories, some good and some bad." ^Vallely, Paul (10 September 2005). "Gia: The tragic tale of the world's first supermodel". The Independent (London). Retrieved 12 May 2009. ^http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/^Martin, Henry; Waters, Keith (25 January 2008). Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years. Cengage Learning. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-495-50525-9. Retrieved 26 August 2012. ^Guardian newspaper 28 June 2012^See, e.g., Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994, at 241. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.^"Philip Anselmo Opens Up About His Heroin Addiction, Pantera's Breakup". Blabbermouth.net. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2013. ^Ramone, Dee Dee. "Overdoses at age 50". NY Times. Retrieved 3 January 2014. ^Slovack, Hillel. "Remembering Hillel Slovack". Retrieved 2 January 2014. ^Keidis, Anthony. "Biography". Retrieved 2 January 2014. ^Allmusic Bio. "John frusciante Bio". ^Pfaff, Kristen. "Hole Bassist Overdose". Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 January 2014. ^Sweeting, Adam (9 July 2004). "I died. I do remember that". The Guardian (London). ^Brown, Peter. The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. McGraw-Hill, 1983. New American Library, 2002. 331.^Matthew Bates (December 2008). "Loaded '' Great heroin songs of the rock era" (PDF). pp. 26''27. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2008. ^Liner notes, Music Bank box set. 1999.^Slate Tribute to Jim Carroll. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/obit/2009/09/death_of_a_poet.html. Retrieved 2 January 2014. ^"Manchild in the Promised Land". Race Matters. 6 February 2002. Retrieved 20 July 2012. ^"William S Burroughs: Revealing the man within? '' Features '' Films". The Independent. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2012. ^Carroll, Jim. "NY Times Obituary". Retrieved 2 January 2014. ^ abJulian PalaciosSyd Barrett and Pink Floyd: Dark Globe. Plexus, 12 October 2010. 2010. ISBN 9780859654319. Retrieved 19 January 2012. ^http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-100227141.htmlFurther readingDiary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley (1922)Junkie by William S. Burroughs (1953) ISBN 0-14-200316-6Heroin (1998) ISBN 1-56838-153-0Heroin Century (2002) ISBN 0-415-27899-6This is Heroin (2002) ISBN 1-86074-424-9The Heroin User's Handbook by Francis Moraes (paperback 2004) ISBN 1-55950-216-9The Little Book of Heroin by Francis Moraes (paperback 2000) ISBN 0-914171-98-4Heroin: A True Story of Addiction, Hope and Triumph by Julie O'Toole (paperback 2005) ISBN 1-905379-01-3The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rockstar by Nikki Sixx (2007) ISBN 978-0-7434-8628-6Heroin: The Myths and the Facts by Richard Ashley (1972), St. Martin's Press, Library of Congress No. 72-89417"The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin" by Maxim W. Furek, M. (2008), i-Universe. ISBN 978-0-595-46319-0Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda, by Gretchen Peters, publ. Thomas Dunne Books (2009)Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). Traders of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B006GMID5KExternal linksInternational Chemical IdentifierInChI=1/C21H23NO5/c1-11(23)25-16-6-4-13-10-15-14-5-7-17(26-12(2)24)20-21(14,8-9-22(15)3)18(13)19(16)27-20/h4-7,14-15,17,20H,8-10H2,1-3H3/t14-,15+,17-,20-,21-/m0/s1InChIKey=GVGLGOZIDCSQPN-PVHGPHFFBLCASRN=561-27-3PIN=diacetylmorphine

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Ace of Spades and Hearts are TOP NOTCH

TMZ ace of spades heroin

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:19

Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Celebrity News | TMZ.com

Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead Sunday in a New York City apartment of an apparent drug overdose ... TMZ has learned authorities found a needle in his arm.Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the actor was found Sunday morning inside a Greenwich apartment ... and they're still on scene investigating.Our sources say ... Hoffman was found in his bathroom in his boxer shorts, with a needle sticking out of his left arm. We're told police found 10 glassine envelopes -- 2 of the envelopes had heroin ... the others presumably were empty. One of the envelopes had "Ace of Spades" written on it, and another had an ace of hearts symbol -- such symbols and words are often markers from people who make heroin -- to brand it.Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Hoffman was supposed to pick up his kids at 9 AM Sunday but didn't show -- which was unusual for him. A playwright and a friend became concerned, came over and found the actor alone in the apartment.Details surrounding his death are unclear ... but the actor had struggled with drug problems ... most recently checking himself into a rehab facility for heroin back in May. TMZ broke the story of Hoffman going to rehab. We were told he did it as a preventative measure because he was getting close to a major relapse. A source involved in Hoffman's treatment now tells TMZ ... the actor said at the time he was on the brink of becoming a heroin IV user and wanted to nip it in the bud before that happened.As we previously reported ... Hoffman had been clean for 23 years but fell off the wagon in 2012.It appears Hoffman's last interview was at the Sundance Film Festival with XiXi Yang from PopStopTV for his movie "A Wanted Man."Hoffman's family released a statement saying, "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support."Law enforcement sources tell us his autopsy will take place Monday.

WWE Diva Nikki Bella is about to become the hottest real estate agent ever ... but don't worry wrestling fans, she's not quitting her day job.Nikki's been taking prep classes at a San Diego real estate school to get prepare for the licensing exam -- and her classmates say she was super down to earth.We're told Nikki has no intention of leaving wrestling anytime soon ... she's just trying to make some extra dough on the side during breaks.Everyday she's hustlin'.

Say this for Justin Bieber ... at least he shares ... even when it comes to strippers' boobs -- as seen in this photo of Justin and his pal Khalil Sharieff sucking on one breast each during a recent party.According to sources with direct knowledge ... the stripper, who came fully-loaded with giant fake breasts and a classy rainbow-colored Playboy tattoo, was hired to "perform" for Justin and his pals during a party at an L.A. recording studio. During the festivities, Justin and Khalil decided to get a taste of the action ... at the same time ... with Justin taking a love-bite out of the left mammary for good measure. Sources at the party say the stripper looked old enough to be Justin's mother ... maybe that explains the urge to breast-feed.

Woody Allen is about to come out swinging against his adopted daughter, who accused him of molesting her when she was a little girl.Woody's rep just said Woody is about to explain why Dylan Farrow is a liar, when she claims he abused her when she was 7 ... among other things, allegedly taking her in the attic and sticking his face in her crotch.The rep says, "Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful. He will be responding very soon."Stay tuned.

Woody Allen fumbled with his phone on his way out of a Knicks game Saturday night ... pretending a photog was not asking him about his adopted daughter's claims he molested her when she was a little girl.Woody was leaving Madison Square Garden with his wife Soon Yi and daughter Manzie Tio ... just hours after Dylan Farrow unloaded on him ... claiming when she was just 7 he took her to their attic and violated her by -- among other things -- burying his head in her crotch.Woody mutters something to his family as the photog persists, but never acknowledges him. So far, none of Woody's co-stars have reacted to Dylan's latest, detailed accusations.

Woody Allen's daughter claims the director sexually assaulted her as a child ... on multiple occasions ... and says Hollywood should be ASHAMED of itself for praising him at the Academy Awards. In an open letter published in the New York Times, Dylan Farrow goes into horrific detail about the alleged abuse suffered at the hands of the man who adopted her. "When I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me."In the letter, Farrow says Allen's abuse didn't end there:"I didn't like it when he would stick his thumb in my mouth. I didn't like it when I had to get in bed with him under the sheets when he was in his underwear. I didn't like it when he would place his head in my naked lap and breathe in and breathe out."Farrow claims she would try to hide from Allen, but he would always find her. As she got older, Farrow claims the abuse took a huge toll on her mental health -- and she was so messed up, she developed an eating disorder and even cut herself. FYI -- back in 1992, Dylan's mother, Mia Farrow, reportedly accused Allen of sexually assaulting Dylan ... and he was investigated ... but prosecutors decided not to pursue charges because Dylan was too "fragile" to endure a trial. At the time, Allen denied the allegations ... saying Mia was simply bitter about his affair with Soon-Yi Farrow Previn (another adopted daughter ... who he later married.)In her letter, Dylan then goes after several Hollywood stars who have praised Allen throughout the years:"What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?""Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse."As for Woody ... he refused to comment on the New York Times story -- but has always maintained his innocence.

Beyonce -- last year's Super Bowl performer -- surprised the crowd at Jay Z's concert last night in New York ... when she hit the stage to jam out with her husband on their latest song.The whole thing went down at DirectTV's "Super Saturday Night" party on the eve of the big game -- and last year's halftime entertainer pulled off the surprise performance without a hitch.The halftime show this year will be put on by Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.Hopefully Flea keeps his word and doesn't drop trou.

Justin Bieber may not skate on his DUI charge ... but he made up for it by creating a new dance on wheels last night in NYC.Justin hit up the annual "Leather & Laces" party Saturday night at the Liberty Theatre in NYC ... and created a spectacle of himself by doing kickflips to a Sage the Gemini song.Two things: Thing 1 -- Are you get the feeling Bieber is obsessed with making a spectacle of himself?Thing 2 -- Who the hell allowed him to bring him in a skateboard?!? Much less, skateboard inside.

A man sitting in a car with a loaded rifle, a machete and a container of gasoline was arrested Friday in New York ... after authorities determined he was planning to kill George W. Bush. 44-year old Benjamin Smith was taken into custody by the Secret Service and charged with threatening to kill Dubya -- after his mother blew the whistle on him.According to reports ... Smith's mother called cops on Thursday saying her rifle was missing and her son had left a note in the house saying, "I'm going to work for George W. Bush and the Pentagon. I have to slay a dragon and then Barbara Bush is mine."The prosecuting attorney said she believes Smith was talking about Bush's daughter, not his wife.Bush and his family were in NYC at the time ... but it's unclear how close the suspect got to him. Smith allegedly yelled "Bush will get his" as he was taken into custody.A lawyer for Smith says the note and outbursts do not constitute a "true threat."

Lindsay Lohan has FOUND her precious fur coat ... and it's all because of a member of the Seattle Seahawks. We broke the story ... Lindsay claimed her $75,000 fur went missing at 1 Oak early Thursday morning. Turns out ... it was a 2-piece fur and Lindsay claims she left one piece in the club. 1 Oak reportedly said Lindsay was full of it and did not lose anything inside their club.But now Lindsay says she got the coat back, thanks to Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice, who was at Lindsay's table. We're told after Lindsay left the club, Rice noticed she had left the garment behind and took it home for safe keeping. He contacted Lindsay the next day and her people picked it up.If you wonder why Rice was clubbing until the wee hours of the morning just days before the Super Bowl ... he won't be playing. He's on the injured reserve list.

George Zimmerman's celebrity boxing match will be held in a secret location FILLED with security --and it's all being done to protect George from vengeful foes.We're told there will only be 100 people present. Some will be "celebrities" and reporters. The promoter is worried if the venue becomes public ... someone will do to George what he did to Trayvon.The event will be seen online ... through a paid subscription. As we previously reported ... both the Game and DMX wanna go toe-to-toe with Trayvon Martin's killer in March.Stay tuned.

The Hawaiian estate where "Magnum PI" peeled out his red Ferrari and squabbled with Higgins ... is now on the market for just over $15 million -- Ferrari not included.The oceanfront spread on Oahu covers 3 acres ... with a 8,921 sq. ft mansion that includes 5 bedrooms and 5 baths. Bonus property: a boat house, tennis courts, and a separate bath house.The home was the setting for Robin's Nest -- a private club and guest house where Tom Selleck's character lived for all 9 seasons of the show.The $15,750,000 asking price also gets you access to that awesome lagoon where Magnum went swimming. Now here's the greatest Hawaiian private detective theme song of all time ...

Robert Schimmel's widow is mishandling money from the late comedian's estate ... according to Schimmel's daughter who's accusing her of cheating the children out of their inheritance. Schimmel -- who had 5 kids -- was in the middle of a divorce from his 2nd wife, Melissa, when he was killed in a car accident in 2010. His daughter Jessica Katz fired off a letter to Melissa's attorney ... accusing Melissa of failing to pay his children money owed to them. The letter's not long on details, but she claims at least 2 of the kids are owed $25,000 each. Jessica wants Melissa to no longer have control of the estate purse strings.The attorney for Schimmel's estate tells TMZ ... Bob racked up huge medical bills before he died, and those creditors have to be paid off first before the heirs can collect any money.

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Afghanistan war diary: the ace of spades | UTSanDiego.com

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:22

Cpl. Zackery Wallis, a fire team leader with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at his patrol base in the ''Fish Tank'' area of Sangin.

SANGIN, Afghanistan '-- Cpl. Zackery Wallis returned to base after a security patrol earlier in his tour and dropped his heavy body armor on the ground. Later when he picked up the gear he found a playing card underneath, an ace of spades. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines have been fighting since October in Sangin, a Taliban stronghold said to be the deadliest area of Afghanistan for NATO coalition troops. Wallis and the rest of the 1st squad from India Company's 1st platoon were engaged in a firefight on that patrol, but no Marines were injured or killed. The ace of spades became their good luck charm. ''I've had it ever since,'' Wallis said.

As the battalion closes out its tour in Sangin, Wallis' ace of spades is looking battle worn. The ink has faded from the grimy playing card. But the 23-year-old fire team leader plans to tattoo the image onto his body after he leaves Afghanistan. In the interim, Wallis and the corpsman, HM3 Royce Burgess, made a sign they hung at the entrance to the mud-walled rooms of their patrol base. ''We all die one day,'' they wrote on a scrap of wood, alongside a drawing of a skull and the ace of spades. ''It's just a reminder that anything can happen,'' Wallis explained.

The Marines at war in Sangin have stashed talismans and motivational messages and personal memorials all around them. ''Complacency kills,'' reads one written in large blue chalk letters scrawled inside a gaudy narco-villa out in the wadi, where Weapons Company Marines live. Another painted onto a sheet of plywood near the FOB Jackson sleeping bunkers in the town center says: ''the key to immortality is living a life worth remembering.''

This is my fifth media trip to a war zone, and Nelvin Cepeda, the San Diego Union-Tribune photographer I am traveling with, is on his seventh. We hadn't seen quite so much writing on the wall at the patrol bases we visited in Helmand province last summer. ''These are poet Marines,'' Nel observed. Cpl. Clancy Cheek, a 21-year-old machine gunner we met in northern Sangin, said ''you write your own page in history here.''

Whether it is words written in a journal or the memory of a friend or something they tuck into their flak jackets before heading into battle, these things they carry in hand or mind have helped the Marines finish what has been a very difficult mission in Sangin. Over at Patrol Base Fires in the violent ''green zone'' of tree-lined fields flanking the river, Sgt. Philip McCulloch keeps a picture of his girlfriend in his shirt pocket, and a rifle shell from the 21-gun salute that honored his friend Sgt. Jason Peto killed Dec. 8.

Along with his own dog tags, one from a buddy who died, and a cross, Lance Cpl. John Torres kept a ring hanging from his neck that his girlfriend gave him before he left Camp Pendleton. He learned she had moved on when he saw a picture of her kissing another man. When Torres got in touch with her he said: ''My friends were dying here. I was going through some horrible s*,'' and you couldn't even write me a Dear John letter? ''And my name's John!'' Torres fumed. Now that the girl is gone, he still wears the ring. It's gotten him through countless firefights alive. Taking it off now might break his luck. But on that last flight out of Sangin, he plans to hurl it out the back of the helicopter. ''I'm going to leave it in Afghanistan,'' he said. The thought seemed to cheer him.

Facebook is actually the Gateway drug to opioids

-----------------------------------------------------

Narcan from Chad

Ha! If only Narcan were so simple! It is a pretty amazing drug. It

really does turn people back on pretty much instantly. Of course, when

people get "bounced" back that hard with Narcan they almost always puke

and are generally pissed and sometimes go into immediate withdrawal

which can include seizures. Not fun. I generally administer the absolute

minimum dose to keep them breathing. Of course I can monitor things like

blood oxygen levels and exhaled end-tidal CO2 which is helpful. The

sedated junkie is sooooo much easier and safer to manage than the

full-power junkie.

Also.. the half-life of Narcan is usually much less than most opiates.

This means that people wake up, the narcan wears off before the opiates

do and they go back to OD'd.

Of course, things get more complicated with a polypharm OD... The

Meth-Heroin combo is fairly common. In the case of the Meth-head who

freaks out and needs to come down right-fucking-now. He may choose to

medicate his whacked-out meth mind with whatever available central

nervous system depressant he has handy. Heroin is good at this. It's

cheap and it's prolific. So-ah.... meth-head shoots heroin to come down

and goes nighty-night. Then, when Joe Jingle-ass paramedic gets called

because Methman turns blue and hits him with the full-monty dose of

Narcan, Meth head awakens, completely redecorates the back of the

ambulance with vomit exorcist-style, and because the meth is still

active under all that heroin, becomes the incredible hulk.

And then you're puke-wrestling the incredible hulk all by yourself in

the back of a 6ft x 8ft box. This is not good. This is why I prefer the

sedate junkie.

This is one of the great ironies of our time. People use medicine which

they become addicted to and when they are rejected by the system that

turned them into addicts, they turn to street drugs as medicine.

Naloxone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:11

NaloxoneSystematic (IUPAC) name(1S,5R,13R,17S)- 10,17-dihydroxy- 4-(prop-2-en-1-yl)- 12-oxa- 4-azapentacyclo [9.6.1.01,13.05,17.07,18] octadeca- 7(18),8,10-trien- 14-oneClinical dataAHFS/Drugs.commonographPregnancy cat.B (USA)B1 (Aus)Legal statusPrescription Only (S4)(AU)RoutesIV, IMPharmacokinetic dataBioavailability2% (Oral, 90% absorption but high first-pass metabolism)MetabolismLiverHalf-life1-1.5 hExcretionUrine, BiliaryIdentifiersCAS number465-65-6 YATC codeV03AB15PubChemCID 5284596IUPHAR ligand1638DrugBankDB01183ChemSpider4447644 YUNII36B82AMQ7N YKEGGD08249 YChEBICHEBI:7459 NChEMBLCHEMBL80 YSynonyms17-allyl- 4,5ˆé±-epoxy- 3,14-dihydroxymorphinan- 6-oneChemical dataFormulaC19H21NO4 Mol. mass327.37 g/molO=C4[C@@H]5Oc1c2c(ccc1O)C[C@H]3N(CC[C@]25[C@@]3(O)CC4)C\C=CInChI=1S/C19H21NO4/c1-2-8-20-9-7-18-15-11-3-4-12(21)16(15)24-17(18)13(22)5-6-19(18,23)14(20)10-11/h2-4,14,17,21,23H,1,5-10H2/t14-,17+,18+,19-/m1/s1 YKey:UZHSEJADLWPNLE-GRGSLBFTSA-N Y

N (what is this?) (verify)Naloxone is an opioidantagonist[1] drug developed by Sankyo in the 1960s.[2] Naloxone is a drug used to counter the effects of opiateoverdose, for example heroin or morphine overdose. Naloxone is specifically used to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system. Naloxone is also experimentally used in the treatment for congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), an extremely rare disorder (1 in 125 million) that renders one unable to feel pain, or differentiate temperatures. It is marketed under various trademarks including Narcan, Nalone, and Narcanti, and has sometimes been mistakenly called "naltrexate". It is not to be confused with naltrexone, an opioid receptorantagonist with qualitatively different effects, used for dependence treatment rather than emergency overdose treatment.

Pharmacodynamics[edit]Naloxone has an extremely high affinity for ˆéº-opioid receptors in the central nervous system. Naloxone is a ˆéº-opioid receptor competitive antagonist, and its rapid blockade of those receptors often produces rapid onset of withdrawal symptoms. Naloxone also has an antagonist action, though with a lower affinity, at ˆé†- and ˆé¥-opioid receptors.

Chemistry[edit]Naloxone is synthesized from thebaine. The chemical structure of naloxone resembles that of oxymorphone, the only difference being the substitution of the N-methylgroup with an allyl (prop-2-enyl) group. The name naloxone has been derived from N-allyl and oxymorphone.

Administration[edit]Naloxone is most commonly injected intravenously for fastest action, which usually causes the drug to act within a minute, and last up to 45 minutes. It can also be administered via intramuscular or subcutaneous injection. Finally, a wedge device (nasal atomizer) attached to a syringe may be used to create a mist which delivers the drug to the nasal mucosa,[3] although this solution is more common outside of clinical facilities. Naloxone is used orally along with Oxycontin Controlled Release, and helps in reducing the constipation associated with opioids. Enteral administration of Naloxone blocks opioid action at the intestinal receptor level, but has low systemic bioavailability due to marked hepatic first pass metabolism.[4]

Counteracting opiate overdose and addiction[edit]Naloxone is included as a part of emergency overdose response kits distributed to heroin and other opioid drug users, and this has been shown to reduce rates of fatal overdose.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Prescribing naloxone should be accompanied by standard education that includes preventing, identifying, and responding to an overdose; rescue breathing; and calling the emergency services.[14] Naloxone should be prescribed if the patient is also prescribed a high dose of opioid (>100 mg of morphine equivalence/day), is prescribed any dose of opioid accompanied by a benzodiazepine, or is suspected or known to use opioids non-medically.[15] Projects of this type are under way in many US cities, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Chicago and the states of New Mexico, New York as well as in Canada in certain cities such as Toronto.[16][17][18] CDC estimates that US programs for drug users and their caregivers prescribing take-home doses of naloxone and training on its utilization are estimated to have prevented 10,000 opioid overdose deaths.[17] Healthcare institution-based naloxone prescription programs have also helped reduce rates of opioid overdose in North Carolina, and have been replicated in the US military.[19][20] Nevertheless, scale-up of healthcare-based opioid overdose interventions is limited by providers' insufficient knowledge and negative attitudes towards prescribing take-home naloxone and by sluggish federal government response.[21][22] Programs training police and fire personnel in opioid overdose response using naloxone have also shown promise in the US and there is increasing effort to integrate opioid fatality prevention in the overall response to the overdose crisis.[22][23][24][25][26]

Pilot projects were also started in Scotland in 2006. Also in the UK, in December 2008 the Welsh Assembly Government announced intention to establish demonstration sites for 'take home' Naloxone.[27] While naloxone is still the standard treatment in emergency reversal of opioid overdose, its clinical use in the long-term treatment of opioid addiction is being increasingly superseded by naltrexone. Naltrexone is structurally similar but has a slightly increased affinity for ˆé†-opioid receptors over naloxone, can be administered orally, and has a longer duration of action.

Enteral naloxone has been successfully used in the reduction of gastritis and esophagitis associated with opioid therapy in mechanically-ventilated acute care patients.

The combination oxycodone/naloxone is used for the prophylaxis of opioid-induced constipation in patients requiring strong opioid therapy under the trade name Targin and in the Netherlands under Targinact.[28]

Beyond treatment for overdose, a variant of Naloxone called (+)-naloxone is showing promise as a way of treating opioid-related addiction.[29] By binding to the body's TLR4 immune receptors, substances like heroin no longer produce the dopamine needed to generate substance addiction yet retains the pain-relieving effect of these drugs. This means that if both morphine and (+)-naloxone are taken simultaneously, a patient will receive the necessary analgesic effect of the morphine but avoid the potential for addiction. Such usage is still awaiting clinical testing.

Preventing opioid abuse[edit]Naloxone is used as a secondary chemical in the drug Suboxone. Suboxone and Subutex were created to help opiate-addicted patients detox. Suboxone contains four parts buprenorphine and one part naloxone, while Subutex contains only buprenorphine. Naloxone was added to Suboxone in an effort to dissuade patients from injecting the tablets. Supposedly, the naloxone would throw the user into precipated withdrawals, or at the very least, blocking buprenorphine's abusable effects. However, given that buperenorphine has a higher affinity for opioid receptors than naloxone, naloxone is not a hindrance, it neither causes precipated withdrawals nor blocks the user's 'high'. In fact, buprenorphine has a higher affinity for opioid receptors than almost all opioids including heroin.

Oral or sublingual administration affects only the gastrointestinal tract, and has the added benefit of helping to reverse constipation and lowered bowel motility caused by chronic medical use, or abuse, of a variety of opioids. Because of possible side effects of naloxone in some patients, chemical detox can begin with Suboxone's sister drug, Subutex, which does not contain naloxone. It is common for Suboxone film to be used in all cases unless pregnancy is a concern.

Depersonalization disorder[edit]A 2001 Russian study has shown that naloxone can be used to treat depersonalization disorder. According to the study: "In three of 14 patients, depersonalization symptoms disappeared entirely and seven patients showed a marked improvement. The therapeutic effect of naloxone provides evidence for the role of the endogenous opioid system in the pathogenesis of depersonalization."[30]

Side-effects[edit]Possible side effects include: change in mood, increased sweating, nausea, nervousness, restlessness, trembling, vomiting, allergic reactions such as rash or swelling, dizziness, fainting, fast or irregular pulse, flushing, headache, heart rhythm changes, seizures, sudden chest pain, and pulmonary edema.[31][32]

Naloxone has been shown to block the action of pain-lowering endorphins which the body produces naturally. The likely reason for this is that these endorphins operate on the same opioid receptors that naloxone blocks. Naloxone is capable of blocking a placebo pain-lowering response, both in clinical and experimental pain, if the placebo is administered together with a hidden or blind injection of naloxone.[33] Other studies have found that placebo alone can activate the body's ˆéº-opioid endorphin system, delivering pain relief via the same receptor mechanism as morphine.[34]

Legal status[edit]Patent status[edit]The patent for naloxone has expired. It is available in generic forms.

Prescription status[edit]In the US, naloxone is classified as a prescription medication, though it is not a controlled substance.[35] While it is legal to prescribe naloxone in every state, dispensing the drug by medical professionals (including physicians or other licensed prescribers) at the point of service is subject to rules that vary by jurisdiction.[21][36] Naloxone distribution programs utilize licensed prescribers to distribute the drug, sometimes relying on ''standing orders'' mechanisms[20][37] to increase scale-up.

Shortage and Pricing[edit]Naloxone has been periodically under FDA shortage designation since 2001 and was recently re-verified as being in shortage due to a manufacturing delay.[38] Twenty-one out of 48 naloxone prescription programs surveyed in 2010 reported they had experienced challenges in obtaining naloxone in the months leading up to the survey, mainly due either to cost increases that outstripped allocated funding or the suppliers' inability to fill orders.[17] The approximate cost of a 1 ml ampoule of naloxone in the United States is estimated to be significantly higher than in most Western countries; on average, the price for naloxone supply has increased precipitously in recent years.[20]

Identification[edit]The CAS number of naloxone is 465-65-6; the anhydrous hydrochloridesalt has CAS 357-08-4 and the hydrochloride salt with 2 molecules of water, hydrochloride dihydrate, has CAS 51481-60-8.

See also[edit]References[edit]^Sirohi, S; Dighe, SV; Madia, PA; Yoburn, BC (August 2009). "The relative potency of inverse opioid agonists and a neutral opioid antagonist in precipitated withdrawal and antagonism of analgesia and toxicity". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics330 (2): 513''9. doi:10.1124/jpet.109.152678. PMC 2713087. PMID 19435929. ^US Patent 3254088 - Morphine Derivative^"Journal of Emergency Nursing". ^(PMID 10601678 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE])^Dettmer K, Saunders B, Strang J. (April 2001). "Take home naloxone and the prevention of deaths from opiate overdose: two pilot schemes". BMJ322 (7291): 895''896. PMC 30585. PMID 11302902. ^Maxwell S, Bigg D, Stanczykiewicz K, Carlberg-Racich S. (2006). "Prescribing naloxone to actively injecting heroin users: a program to reduce heroin overdose deaths". J Addict Dis25 (3): 89''96. doi:10.1300/J069v25n03_11. PMID 16956873. ^Seal KH, Thawley R, Gee L, et al. (2005). "Naloxone distribution and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for injection drug users to prevent heroin overdose death: a pilot intervention study". J Urban Health82 (2): 303''311. doi:10.1093/jurban/jti053. PMC 2570543. PMID 15872192. ^Strang J, Powis B, Best D, et al. (1999). "Preventing opiate overdose fatalities with take-home naloxone: pre-launch study of possible impact and acceptability". Addiction94 (2): 199''204. doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.1999.9421993.x. PMID 10396785. ^Galea A, Worthington N, Piper TM, et al. (2006). "Provision of naloxone to injection drug users as an overdose prevention strategy: early evidence from a pilot study in New York City". Addict Behav31 (5): 907''912. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.07.020. PMID 16139434. ^Strang J, Best D, Man L, et al. (2000). "Peer-initiated overdose resuscitation: fellow drug users could be mobilised to implement resuscitation". Int J Drug Policy11 (6): 437''445. PMID 11099924. ^Sherman SG, Gann DS, Tobin KE, et al. (2009). ""The life they save may be mine": diffusion of overdose prevention information from a city sponsored programme". Int J Drug Policy20 (2): 137''142. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.02.004. PMID 18502635. ^Tobin KE, Sherman SG, Beilenson P, et al. (2009). "Evaluation of the Staying Alive programme: training injection drug users to properly administer naloxone and save lives". Int J Drug Policy20 (2): 131''136. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.03.002. PMID 18434126. ^Pollini RA, McCall L, Mehta Sh, et al. (2006). "Non-fatal overdose and subsequent drug treatment among injection drug users". Drug Alcohol Depend83 (2): 104''110. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2005.10.015. PMID 16310322. ^Bowman S, Eisereman J, Beletsky L, Stancliff S, Bruce D. (May 2013). "Reducing the health consequences of opioid addicition in primary care". Am J Med126 (7): 565''71. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2012.11.031. PMID 23664112. In press^Lazarus P. (2007). Project Lazarus, Wilkes County, North Carolina: Policy Briefing Document Prepared for the North Carolina Medical Board in Advance of the Public Hearing Regarding Prescription Naloxone. Raleigh, NC. ^"OD Prevention Program Locator". Overdose Prevention Alliance. Retrieved 15 May 2012. ^ abc"Community-Based Opioid Overdose Prevention Programs Providing Naloxone '-- United States, 2010". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 2010. ^http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/09/09/toronto_naloxone_program_reduces_drug_overdoses_among_addicts.html^Albert S, Brason FW 2nd, Sanford CK, Dasgupta N, Graham J, Lovette B. (June 2011). "Project Lazarus: community-based overdose prevention in rural North Carolina". Pain Medicine. 12 Suppl 2: S77''85. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01128.x. PMID 21668761. ^ abcBeletsky L, Burris S, and Kral AH. (July 2009). "Closing Death's Door: Action Steps to Facilitate Emergency Opioid Drug Overdose Reversal in the United States". Center for Health Law, Policy and Practice, Temple University School of Law. Retrieved 2012-05-12. ^ abBeletsky L, Ruthazer R, Macalino GE, Rich JD, Tan L, Burris S. (January 2007). "Physicians' knowledge of and willingness to prescribe naloxone to reverse accidental opiate overdose: challenges and opportunities". Journal of Urban Health84 (1): 126''36. doi:10.1007/s11524-006-9120-z. PMC 2078257. PMID 17146712. ^ abBeletsky L, Rich JD, Walley AY. (2012). "Prevention of Fatal Opioid Overdose". JAMA308 (18): 1863''1864. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.14205. PMC 3551246. PMID 23150005. ^Beletsky L, Moroz E. "The Quincy Police Department: Pioneering Naloxone Among First Responders.". Overdose Prevention Alliance. Retrieved 15 May 2012. ^Lavoie D. (April 2012). "Naloxone: Drug-Overdose Antidote Is Put In Addicts' Hands". Huffington Post. ^Davis CS, Beletsky L. (2009). "Bundling occupational safety with harm reduction information as a feasible method for improving police receptiveness to syringe access programs: evidence from three U.S. cities". Harm Reduction Journal. ^2013 National drug control strategy. 2013. Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov//sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/ndcs_2013.pdf^"IHRA 21st International Conference Liverpool, 26th April 2010 - Introducing 'take home' Naloxone in Wales". Retrieved 9 March 2011. ^Simpson K, et al. (December 2008). "Fixed-ratio combination oxycodone/naloxone compared with oxycodone alone for the relief of opioid-induced constipation in moderate-to-severe noncancer pain". Curr Med Res Opin24 (12): 3503''3512. doi:10.1185/03007990802584454. PMID 19032132. Retrieved 2009-04-09. ^"Scientists Can Now Block Heroin, Morphine Addiction". Retrieved 2012-08-17. ^Nuller YL, Morozova MG, Kushnir ON, Hamper N (June 2001). "Effect of naloxone therapy on depersonalization: a pilot study". J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford)15 (2): 93''5. doi:10.1177/026988110101500205. PMID 11448093. ^http://www.drugs.com/sfx/naloxone-side-effects.html^http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3662194^Sauro, Marie D; Greenberg, Roger P. (Feb 2005), "Endogenous opiates and the placebo effect: A meta-analytic review", Journal of Psychosomatic Research58 (2): 115''120, PMID 15820838 ^http://www.jyi.org/news/nb.php?id=429^21 U.S.C.A. ßß801-904; see e.g., LA Rev Stat. Ann. ß40:964 (specifically excluding Naloxone from the schedule of controlled substances.)^Burris S, Beletsky L, Castagna CA, Coyle C, Crowe C, McLaughlin JM. (July 2009). "Stopping an Invisible Epidemic: Legal Issues in the Provision of Naloxone to Prevent Opioid Overdose". Center for Health Law, Policy and Practice, Temple University School of Law201 (2): 122''4. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1045881. PMID 1434381. ^Burris S, Beletsky L, Castagna CA, Coyle C, Crowe C, McLaughlin JM. (July 2009). "Stopping an Invisible Epidemic: Legal Issues in the Provision of Naloxone to Prevent Opioid Overdose". Drexel Law Review1: 273''340. Retrieved 2012-05-12. ^"Current Drug Shortages, US Food and Drug Administration". Retrieved 12 May 2012. External links[edit]

Naloxone Debate: FDA Hears Testimony About Making an Overdose Antidote Nonprescription | TIME.com

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:14

PhotoAlto/Eric Audras / Getty Images(Updated) ''Why didn't I know about this when my child was alive?'' That was the question raised over and over at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing on Thursday by parents whose families make up the terrible statistics on opioid overdose, which now kills some 15,000 Americans each year.

Parents testified at an open meeting called by the FDA to consider whether the lifesaving antidote to opioid overdose '-- a non-addictive, non-toxic drug called naloxone (Narcan) '-- should be made available over-the-counter, so that everyone can keep it in their first aid kit, just in case.

The meeting was sponsored by the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose director, Dr. Nora Volkow, has said that she supports making the drug available without a prescription.

(MORE: A Lifesaving Overdose Antidote Should Be Made More Widely Available)

The hearing was emotional and, at times, heated. Dozens of people talked about losing family members and friends, and testified to the power of naloxone to save lives. Joanne Peterson, who runs Learn to Cope, a program for family members of drug-addicted people, testified that within two weeks of starting naloxone distribution: ''We had a mom save a daughter and a father save a son.''

But what was most surprising about the meeting was the underlying sense of consensus. Whether or not the FDA changes the labeling on naloxone, which currently can be acquired only with a doctor's prescription, the majority of people who attended the hearing appeared to be in favor of wider access; some explicitly said that access needs to be expanded, or presented data that supports broader availability.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, which means that it attaches to and blocks receptors for opioid drugs like Vicodin and heroin in the brain and body. Because naloxone is more strongly attracted to the receptors than the opioids are, when it is given after an overdose, it displaces these drugs and reverses their effects.

(MORE: Do DIY Antioverdose Kits Help?)

Opioid overdose kills by slowly stopping a person's breathing, so typically there is time to intervene '-- and often there are other people around when a drug user overdoses. Even though most opioid overdoses involve mixtures of drugs, not just opioids, naloxone is effective even in these cases, and it is not harmful if given in error. Even if used at doses 700 times higher than what is recommended, ''you will not see any adverse effects in opioid-naØve patients who are not in pain,'' testified anesthesiologist Greg Terman on Thursday.

Those who are in pain or who are dependent on opioids will suffer withdrawal symptoms, however. Pain will also return because naloxone blocks the pain-relieving effects of opioid drugs, but these symptoms are not life threatening. Terman noted that when you look in pharmacology textbooks, you'll see that naloxone has a very short list of side effects, ''in contrast to a dangerous drug like ibuprofen'' (Advil).

Among the more than two dozen members of the public who testified, only one '-- a representative from the American Society of Anesthesiologists '-- argued against making naloxone available without a prescription. He argued that a physician's direction is needed when using the drug.

(MORE: Should an Overdose Antidote Be Made More Accessible?)

Despite the widespread support for naloxone, however, there are significant barriers to change. For one thing, a drug company would need to submit an application to the FDA to change the status of the drug, which would require presenting a great deal of data. Alternatively, a citizen could petition the agency to make the drug available over-the-counter, but that procedure would take years longer than it would with a drug company involved, an FDA official said.

Since naloxone is off-patent, any company seeking over-the-counter approval would be able to market it exclusively for only three years; if it wanted to seek a longer period of exclusivity by patenting a new method of delivering the drug, that would require more data and more expense. The CEO of a start-up pharmaceutical company called Anti-Op, which would like to sell naloxone over-the-counter, estimated that the approval process would cost $10 to $20 million, an amount that could exceed the current market for the drug. With insurers and Medicaid unwilling to cover over-the-counter medications, and funding for naloxone programs currently extremely limited, how the drug would be paid for is also unclear.

Right now, only one manufacturer produces naloxone in the U.S. Not only is there currently a national shortage of the drug, its price has also risen dramatically.

(MORE: On Overdose Awareness Day, a Mother's Plea for Compassion)

The last panel of the daylong meeting was officially charged with debating the question of over-the-counter availability. Of its five members, only one opposed wider availability of naloxone. Dr. Edward Boyer, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, argued that making naloxone available without a prescription would actually ''increase mortality.'' He said that while the data supports its use to reverse heroin overdoses, overdoses of some long-acting prescription painkillers require medical attention because naloxone doesn't last as long as those drugs do and so people who are revived might just die later if they aren't taken to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, however, Dr. Alex Walley, assistant professor of medicine at Boston University, presented data that contradicted this argument. Walley said that a study of a Massachusetts naloxone-distribution program compared outcomes in 19 cities and towns that had all experienced at least five or more overdose deaths per year, some of which had naloxone-distribution programs. Communities with more than 150 people per 100,000 members of their population enrolled in the naloxone program saw a 50% reduction in overdose death rates compared with cities without such programs, while those with fewer than 150 per 100,000 participating saw a 27% reduction. Walley and Boyer had a charged exchange over the findings.

Moreover, a recent study published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report surveyed 188 naloxone-distribution programs in 15 states, which train drug users and their families and friends how to use the drug and call immediately for medical help. It found that 10,000 overdose reversals have been reported.

(MORE: Whitney Houston's Death: Hallmarks of a Battle With Addiction and Overdose)

Since 1996, when Dan Bigg of the Chicago Recovery Alliance started the first naloxone-distribution program in the nation, the drug has been given to more than 50,000 people. Few side effects have been reported and the rare cases in which the drug did not work occurred either in overdoses of other drugs or when the drug was given after the victim was already dead. Boyer criticized this research, however, because he said it doesn't provide information on whether people who are saved are more likely to overdose again and die later.

In a surprising vote of support, another panel member, Bertha Madras, a former deputy drug czar under President George W. Bush and a professor of psychology at Harvard, said she believed naloxone should be made more widely available, but that she wasn't currently convinced that expanded access should go as far as making the drug nonprescription. Though Madras has previously been quoted as opposing wider distribution, she said that she her comments had been misconstrued. ''Life comes first,'' she testified, arguing that naloxone should be widely distributed but should be integrated into programs to get revived drug users into treatment.

Summing up, Sarah Wattenberg, senior adviser for substance abuse policy in the office of the assistant secretary for health said, ''You have our attention. We understand that you want us to do more.''

(MORE: The Tolerance Effect: How Drinking May Have Really Killed Amy Winehouse)

As a grieving mother, Susan Gregory, who lost her son, Denny, at age 20 to overdose, put it: ''Any risk of naloxone is very minimal compared to death. '... Drug users deserve to live. If it was your child, mother, brother, sister, would you want naloxone in the house?'' I can't imagine any parent answering no.

Correction [April 23, 2012]:The original version of this story misstated that communities with more than 150 people enrolled in the Massachusetts naloxone program saw a 50% reduction in overdose death rates compared with cities without such programs, while those with fewer than 150 people participating saw a 27% reduction. The correct population measure is 150 people per 100,000 people in the population. The story has been updated to reflect the correction.

Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at@maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland'sFacebook pageand on Twitter at@TIMEHealthland.

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Fentanyl Stolen From Pharmacy, Vanvcouver Police Issue Warning

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Syria's brutal civil war opens door to drug trade - The Globe and Mail

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:38

Syria has become a major amphetamines exporter and consumer as the trauma of the country's brutal civil war fuels demand and the breakdown in order creates opportunity for producers.

Drugs experts, traders and local activists say Syrian production of the most popular of the stimulants, known by its former brand name Captagon, accelerated in 2013, outpacing production in other countries in the region such as Lebanon.

More Related to this Story The MV Cape Ray is preparing to leave Portsmouth, Virginia in about two weeks time, heading for the Mediterranean, where other nations' ships will deliver chemical weapons from Syria to be destroyed. The Pentagon gave reporters a tour Thursday. (Jan. 2) AP VideoVideoVideo: U.S. ship to destroy Syria's chemical weapons

Reports of seizures and interviews with people connected to the trade suggest it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues in Syria, potentially providing funding for weapons, while the drug itself helps combatants dig in for long, gruelling battles.

Most other economic activity in Syria has ground to a halt in the past two years due to the violence, shortages and international sanctions.

Consumption of Captagon outside the Middle East is negligible, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), but it is a significant drug in the Arab Gulf, and nascent markets were detected in North Africa last year.

Sitting at a crossroads in the Middle East, Syria has long been a transit point for drugs coming from Europe, Turkey and Lebanon and destined for Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf.

The breakdown of state infrastructure, weakening of borders and proliferation of armed groups during the nearly three-year battle for control of Syria has transformed the country from a stopover into a major production site.

Even before the conflict, Saudi Arabia received about seven tonnes of Captagon in 2010, a third of world supply, according to UNODC figures.

A member of a prominent drug trading family in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where much of that country's drug production and smuggling takes place, told Reuters that demand from the Gulf kingdom had increased since then, and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were also big consumers.

The trader said production in Lebanon fell 90 per cent in 2013 from two years earlier, and wholly attributed the drop to a shift in production to Syria. He said some production might also have moved to Syria from Turkey during the past year.

Khabib Ammar, a Damascus-based media activist, said Syrian fighters involved with the drugs trade were buying weapons with the money they made, though Reuters could not independently verify claims that Captagon profits were being used to fund either side of the conflict.

Syrian government forces and rebel groups each say the other uses Captagon to endure protracted engagements without sleep, while clinicians say ordinary Syrians are increasingly experimenting with the pills, which sell for between $5 and $20.

REGULAR SEIZURES

The drug was first produced in the West in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but by the 1980s was banned in most countries because of its addictive properties and no longer has a legitimate medical use. Its active ingredient, fenethylline, is metabolised by the body into the stimulants amphetamine and theophylline.

Lebanese psychiatrist Ramzi Haddad said the drug had the typical effects of a stimulant. ''It gives you a kind of euphoria. You're talkative, you don't sleep, you don't eat, you're energetic,'' he said.

Production is cheap and simple, requiring ''only basic knowledge of chemistry and a few scales'', he added. Syrian and Lebanese authorities regularly seize homemade laboratories used to make the pills.

National drug control offices in the region also report Syria's increasing role in the trade.

Colonel Ghassan Chamseddine, head of Lebanon's drug enforcement unit, told Reuters the pills are hidden in trucks passing from Syria to Lebanese ports where they are then shipped to the Gulf.

''It comes from Syria. Most of the Captagon production is there, according to our information,'' he said.

Official figures show Lebanon seized more than 12.3 million Captagon pills in 2013. Chamseddine said most of that came from a few large busts in the Bekaa Valley, which borders Syria. One seizure of 5.3 million pills implicated a Syrian family that he said has been smuggling drugs for 10 years.

The Lebanese trader said the main players in Lebanon's Captagon trade are established families in the Bekaa who started off smuggling hashish and cocaine decades ago. They either produce the pills themselves or provide the materials and equipment to partners inside Syria and then help smuggle the pills out of the country, he said.

Turkish authorities have also identified a rise in Captagon production in Syria. In May, they seized 7 million pills en route to Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi media. The head of Turkey's anti-drug-trafficking directorate said the pills were made in Syria with materials from Lebanon, but he couldn't confirm a connection to rebels there.

Dubai police also reported making a seizure of a record 4.6 million Captagon pills in December.

MUTUAL DENIALS

Syrian state media regularly mention Captagon pills as one of the items government forces seize alongside weapons when they capture rebel fighters or raid their bases.

A drug control officer in the central city of Homs told Reuters he had observed the effects of Captagon on protesters and fighters held for questioning.

''We would beat them, and they wouldn't feel the pain. Many of them would laugh while we were dealing them heavy blows,'' he said. ''We would leave the prisoners for about 48 hours without questioning them while the effects of Captagon wore off, and then interrogation would become easier.''

The opposition retorts that the government is aiming to sully its reputation and say it is the pro-government 'shabiha' gunmen that run the Captagon trade.

Opposition activist Ammar said consumption was limited to government supporters and fighters who use the cover of the revolution to pursue lucrative criminal activities.

''These days, the criminals and addicts do whatever they want,'' he said. ''They've increased because of hunger, poverty and lack of work.''

A psychiatrist named George said he treated Captagon users at his clinic in the government stronghold of Latakia.

''The use of Captagon and other pills increased after the revolution even among civilians because of psychological and economic pressures,'' he said.

He said the government exaggerated the drug's prevalence among opponents, but added that it was likely both the shabiha and rebel Free Syrian Army were users, ''especially when they are assigned night duty or other long missions''.

A resident of the central city of Homs said the use of Captagon and hashish had become widespread and open in the past year in his neighbourhood, an area populated mostly by Alawites, the same Muslim sect that President Bashar al-Assad belongs to.

''It's young people in general, and most of them are in the National Defence Force and shabiha organizations,'' he said.

For the President and Poison Gas - WikiLeaks

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:46

From WikiLeaksDonald Rumsfeld And Poison Gas

by Stephen Kerr; February 27, 2003

Take a glimpse into the future being prepared for the people of Iraq.

Farah is one of hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming out of American Occupied Iraq. She is enraged and humiliated and she is grieving. Her brother was buried when their apartment was bombed during the 'shock and awe'. She can't find her mother. Her father died in the first Gulf War. Farah is alone with her bitterness, and half a million Iraqis walking down a highway into Jordan.

Farah is 15 years old.

As she rushes towards the temporary refugee camp, she cannot contain her anger or her tears. The hungry refugees riot when a shipment of food arrives as they have not eaten in two weeks. US forces cannot control the unexpected rage of the hungry Iraqis. Farah surges towards the US troops who don their gas masks. From 150 feet overhead an American Predator UAV sprays the angry people with a fine mist of Fentanyl gas, and within 5 minutes those who had been raising their fists are struggling to keep their eyes open. Farah falls into a drugged stupor. Others fall on top of her in the panic. She vomits bile. And then Farah stops breathing.

This horrific scenario is being planned by Donald Rumsfeld, the culmination of his long struggle to remove a 'straightjacket' from the Pentagon. That straightjacket is called the Chemical Weapons Convention, (CWC) the international treaty that outlaws chemical warfare and chemical weapons, as well as the act of planning to use them.

According to Rumsfeld, ''General Franks has a plan that addresses a host of very unpleasant contingencies, and there are a lot of things that can go wrong, that can be unpleasant'...''

It may seem strange that the man who demands the complete disarmament of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons would actively plan to use them himself.

But it's not.

Hold your breath, and grab your gas mask, because on Wednesday February 5th while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Donald Rumsfeld revealed just how the Pentagon plans to deal with a hostile and armed Iraqi population, of ''between one and seven million civilians with semi-automatic rifles, rocket launchers and other military weapons.''

Congressman Meehan quizzed the Secretary of Defence, '''...assuming for a moment that our troops do have to engage armed civilians in the streets of Baghdad, are there any plans currently to use 'non-lethal technologies' to disarm and disperse?''

For those who have never heard of a misnomer called the 'non-lethal weapon,' a short primer.

The United States military has been busy transforming powerful synthetic opiates such as Fentanyl into an aerosol chemical weapon that knocks troublesome civilians unconscious. They have also developed improved stink bombs that target specific ethnic groups with something called 'US Government Standard Bathroom Odour,' and other noxious smells.

No kidding.

A US German NGO, the Sunshine Project has revealed how The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, (JNLWD) working with scientists at Penn State University's Marine Corps Research facility and the US Army Edgewood Biological and Chemical Center have been researching and developing a chemical weapon similar to that which killed 20% of those who were exposed to it at the Palace of Culture Theatre in Moscow in October 2002. A trail of declassified documents Donald Rumsfeld would rather not discuss clearly illustrates the process, and you can find some of them on the website of the Sunshine Project at www.sunshine-project.org .

Fentanyl, a powerful sedative drug is used as a surgical anesthetic and is also known as Sublimaze, increasingly a street drug of abuse. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that JNLWD has transformed this narcotic and others such as Ketamine (Special K) into a new 'non-lethal' weapon which will ''put everyone in a room to sleep, combatants, and non combatants,'' according to a JNLWD commander. Another document identifies ''hungry refugees, unwilling to wait'' for the distribution of emergency food as a target for these new 'non-lethal' chemical weapons.

And according to Defence Department Directive 3000.3, the 'non-lethal' part of the weapon isn't 100%.

So Congressman Meehan wanted to know if America had any plans for the hostile use of Fentanyl or other novel gasses on Iraqi civilians, though he didn't put it quite that way.

After and long pause, and the standard reminder about how Saddam Hussein ''lies about every single thing he says,'' Rumsfeld made a startling admission; the United States is planning for the use of gas against any Iraqis who resist the American invasion, and has already employed such illegal weapons in the War on Terror. Rumsfeld knows the law is not on his side. He admitted as much when he stated ''With respect to the use of non-lethal riot agents I regret to say that we are in a very difficult situation. There is a treaty that the United States signed [the Chemical Weapons Convention www.opcw.org ]'' Rumsfeld pauses, then '' '...let me put it this way, absent a Presidential waiver'... in many instances our forces are allowed to shoot somebody and kill them, but they are not allowed to use a non-lethal riot control agent.''

No they are not allowed. The CWC outlaws the hostile use of chemistry, and in the case of 'non-lethal' riot control agents, forbids states ''from using riot control agents as means of warfare.''

The laws of armed conflict are quite clear that weapons systems and the soldiers who employ them must discriminate between soldiers and civilians. Chemical weapons can't tell the difference, which is one major reason why they're illegal. A second reason was aptly demonstrated last October by Russian Special Forces at the Palace of Culture Theatre, who summarily executed 50 Chechen hostage takers, after the sedative gas put them to sleep. US troops employed tear gas in Vietnam to similar effect.

But Donald Rumsfeld wants to remove the ban on chemical weapons, the better to police the Pax Americana.

''We are doing our best to live within the straightjacket of that has been imposed on us on this subject [the Chemical Weapons Convention] that we can write things [rules of engagement for employing chemical weapons] in a way that people [US troops] can understand them and function and not break the law, and still in certain instances be able to use non-lethal riot agents,'' he said.

And in 'certain instances,' Rumsfeld inferred that the American government is already playing by these new rules of engagement, on which Rumsfeld stated that he had spent ''at least an hour and a half,'' in one week with General Richard Myers.

''There are times when the use of non-lethal riot agents is perfectly appropriate...when transporting dangerous people in a confined space, in an airplane for example, when there are enemy troops in a cave in Afghanistan and you know that there are women and children in there with them, and they are firing out at you, and you have the task of getting at them, and you'd prefer to get at them without also getting at women and children, and non-combatants,'' said Rumsfeld, hesitating several times.

This deeply cynical statement obscures the reality that it is precisely non-combatants who may not be targeted by weapons under international law. The Geneva Convention explicitly states that "The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character," thus the civilian population may not be drugged against their will with an indiscriminate chemical weapon to allow US troops to 'sort the wheat from the chaff' as contemplated in US military planning papers, and admitted by Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld pretends to speak up for the rights of the women, children and civilian freedom fighters he plans deliberately to gas with a toxic substance. This is consistent with the published opinions of a think tank with which he is closely associated, The Center for Security Policy, (www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/ ) whose motto is ''Peace through Strength.''

According to the CSP, ''the Geneva Convention is not a suicide pact.'' On the Geneva Convention, the CSP opines that armed civilians are '''...not soldiers; they are illegal combatants, not entitled to the protections of the Convention. Breaking down this distinction -- as the human rights groups wish to do -- would have the effect of legitimatising terrorists and giving them more incentives to hide among civilians and go after civilian targets.'' The entire briefing is called ''Worried about civilian casualties in the War on Terror? Don't allow terrorists to masquerade as non-combatants.''

The above gross misrepresentation of the legal rights of civilians under the Convention has been transformed from right wing fantasy into the explicit policy of the American government.

Thus the conclusion can be drawn that the Iraqi civilian militia, armed with guns to defend their country from an illegal American invasion and occupation, will not be afforded their legally required protections under international law, according to the Bush regime, which now openly plans to gas these resisters.

But the Chemical Weapons Convention stands in Rumsfeld's way and in the way of those whose interests Rumsfeld has long represented: the military industrial complex.

Scraps of paper

On Tuesday, April 8, 1997, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations met in Washington DC, to discuss the ratification by the United States of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The meeting opened with fine sounding words from the chairman, Senator Jesse Helms, who stated, "I believe today is the first time that three distinguished, former U.S. Secretaries of Defense have ever appeared together before a Senate committee to oppose ratification of an arms control treaty. And if ever a treaty deserved such highly respected opposition, it is the dangerous and defective so-called Chemical Weapons Convention."

The three men who had come together to oppose the CWC were James Schlesinger, Caspar Weinberger and Donald Rumsfeld.

Dick Cheney couldn't be there, but that didn't stop him from sending his best wishes, explained Senator Helms. "Secretary Cheney's schedule precluded him from being here in person today. But he has asked Secretary Schlesinger to read into the record Secretary Cheney's strong opposition to Senate ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention."

Cap, Jim, Dick, and Donald were not alone, as Senator Helms made pains to point out. "These distinguished Americans are by no means alone. More than 50--more than 50--generals, admirals, and senior officials from previous administrations have joined them in opposing the Chemical Weapons Convention, and if that does not send a clear signal on just how dangerous this treaty really is, I cannot imagine what would."

Back in 1997, signatories like Richard Pearle, Frank Gaffney, Douglas Feith and Donald Rumsfeld were on the political fringe, and they spoke with more candour than they do today.

This is what the assembled epaulets and their Republican masters found so ''dangerous and defective.''

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) forbids ''any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals. This includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced in facilities, in munitions or elsewhere.''

''Each State Party to this Convention undertakes never under any circumstances:

(a) To develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone;

(b) To use chemical weapons;

Of course the three respected men had their reasons to oppose a genuine multilateral process to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons.

Helms offered a preview of their way of thinking. "The Chemical Weapons Convention will'...increase rogue regimes' access to dangerous chemical agents and technology while imposing new regulations on American businesses, exposing them to increased danger of industrial espionage and trampling their constitutional rights. Outside of the Beltway, where people do not worship at the altar of arms control, that is what we call ``A bum deal.' We have been hearing a lot of empty rhetoric from the proponents of the treaty about 'banning chemical weapons from the face of the earth.''

Then it was Mr. Schlesinger's turn to take a whack. He grounded his arguments in a certain reading of world history.

''The German decision to refrain from using poison gas came not for humanitarian reasons, not for reasons of the treaty, [the Geneva Convention] which German diplomats might well have described as 'a scrap of paper,' but out of concern for the threat of devastating retaliation by the Western allies.''

But Schlesinger had to admit that sometimes the behaviour of 'western allies' left a lot to be desired.

''Iraq has been and is a signatory to the Geneva Convention. In the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's, Iraq used poison gas as a way of stemming the ``human wave' attacks of the Iranians. What was our reaction and the reaction of other Western powers at that time? In brief, it was to avert our gaze.'

The 1980s were all about looking after number one and realpolitik was the order of the day in foreign policy, as Schlesinger recalled.

''After all, Iraq provided protection in the Gulf against the Ayatollah's Iran. For what were regarded as sound geopolitical reasons, we failed to take action to sustain the existing prohibition on the use of poison gas by a signatory--despite Iraq's blatant violation of the Geneva Convention.''

A violation facilitated by Donald Rumsfeld, (seated beside Schlesinger) who as Ronald Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East, normalized relations with Iraq based on higher orders, in the form of the Pentagon's NSDD114, which stated that the United States would regard "any major reversal of Iraq's fortunes as a strategic defeat for the West." Chemical weapons '' sold to Iraq by US corporations at a profit - ensured victory over militant Islam, the Geneva Convention be damned.

Schlesinger, dropping his earlier allusions to Nazi Germany, then revealed how force still speaks louder than some 'scraps of paper.'

''What are the lessons learned from these episodes? Treaties alone will do little. To prevent the use or the manufacture of chemical weapons requires a structure for deterrence backed by real capabilities. Above all, enforcement will depend upon the will to take action'...'' he said. Such words ring in the ear today'... from the White House.

Schlesinger had political reasons for opposing the Chemical Weapons Convention. The first reflected the symbiotic relationship between the Pentagon and manufacturers of tear gas, pepper spray, and sedative drugs.

''Non-lethal chemicals are necessary for crowd control, for peacekeeping, for rescuing downed pilots and the like. In the negotiations on the Convention, we were pressed to ban non-lethal chemicals along with lethal chemicals. President Bush, under pressure from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated prior American policy and indicated that use of riot control agents would not be banned.''

Chemical weapons are produced to be used for the benefit of the political order. Banning non-lethal chemicals could force the US government into a difficult position, according to Nixon's former Secretary of Defense.

''I trust that the Senate will'...insist that the use of tear gas will not be banned either in peace or war. Otherwise, we may wind up placing ourselves in the position of the Chinese Government in dealing with the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. The failure to use tear gas meant that that government only had recourse to the massive use of firepower to disperse the crowd.''

Rumsfeld's 'unappealing position' '' lobbyist for the death industry With Schlesinger's toxic thoughts setting the tone of the occasion, Donald Rumsfeld took centre stage and read out part of the Convention's Preamble, only to mock it.

''"The States parties to this convention, determined to act with a view to achieving effective progress toward general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control, including the prohibition and elimination of all types of weapons of mass destruction..' he read.

''That is a goal that can only be described as monumentally ambitious. More to the point, it is not clear to me that that is today the agreed policy of the U.S. government or even that it is realistic. The history of mankind suggests that the achievement of 'complete disarmament' is not a likely prospect, and the idea of 'strict and effective international controls' to assure compliance with 'complete disarmament' is, to put it mildly, a stretch,'' he editorialised.

Rumsfeld then considered it far more probable that the Chemical Weapons Convention was a threat to the civil rights of Americans.

''It [the CWC] will jeopardise U.S. citizens' constitutional rights by requiring the U.S. government to permit searches without either warrants or probable cause.'' At the time, Rumsfeld was a board member of Empower America, (www.empoweramerica.org ) a far right think tank which '''...is devoted to ensuring that government actions foster growth, economic well-being, freedom and individual responsibility.'' Empower America supports the USA Patriot Act, which allows the US government to search the homes of Americans without a warrant. They oppose affirmative action. They are big on missile defence. They want George W Bush to attack Iraq hard and fast, without just cause, and Rumsfeld confessed his allegiance to these values when he revealed exactly whose civil rights and 'economic well-being' so concerned him.

''It [the CWC] will impose a costly and complex regulatory burden on U.S. industry. As many as 8,000 companies across the country may be subjected to new reporting requirements entailing uncompensated annual costs of between thousands to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars per year to comply.''

The CWC requires that chemical manufacturers of 'dual use' chemicals with potential military applications report to the UN organization which oversees the treaty, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, (OPCW).

But reality forced Rumsfeld to take the side of the 'little guy' as he urged the USA not to sign.

''Small and medium sized companies will be spared the costs and the risks to their proprietary information which would result from U.S. participation. You know, big companies seem to get along just fine with big government. They have the ability, with all their Washington representatives, to deal effectively with bureaucracies.''

Rumsfeld knows this from long experience, having been the CEO of several major pharmaceutical companies. But in 1997 he was up against the express desires of the US chemical industry, armed only with straw man arguments.

The CWC was supported by the Chemical Manufacturer's association, representing 193 corporations and accounting for 90% of America's chemical production. The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturer's Association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization all supported US ratification of the Convention, as did the US President, Bill Clinton, whom the Republicans were busy plotting to impeach in 1997.

Yet Rumsfeld seemed pained by the difficulty of his position for two reasons. ''First is the issue of not supporting the President. As I indicated, my inclination has always been to try to do that. However, we know the Constitution did not grant sole authority to the President of the United States in the area of foreign policy,'' he testified in front of the Senate Committee.

Rumsfeld has since had a change of heart on the powers of the executive branch, but his continued support for chemical weapons is hard to hide. ''Certainly in this case, being positioned as appearing to favour chemical weapons, is also not an appealing position,'' he complained.

Yet it is the position Donald Rumsfeld has consistently chosen. His assistance to the Iraqi government in the 1980s, helping Saddam Hussein acquire chemical and rocket technologies, used to massacre Kurds and Iranians did not stop him from making the following statement.

''The use of various gases during World War I led to the Geneva Protocol of l925, which banned first use of chemical weapons in war. Despite that high standard, that ban has not been observed, witness Iraq's use of such chemicals.''

Then Rumsfeld revealed for whom he was talking all this trash.

''I might just point out that the Aerospace Industries Association has stated its strong concern about the treaty, and I hope that since they have said that they have not changed their mind. But they have said it would unnecessarily jeopardise our Nation's ability to protect its national security information and proprietary technological data." And the AIA has a lot of data to protect. Several of its corporate members sold military technology to Iraq, including Dupont, Honeywell and Rockwell, all prominent contributors to the Republican war chest.

An Aerospace Industry Association document obtained by this reporter states that America must "accept its responsibility for security of the world, (''hegemony'').'' The words 'Pax Americana' appear on the same page as the words 'famine' and 'global health degeneration.'

Together with war, famine, plague, and the cynicism of Donald Rumsfeld, the aerospace industry has gone global. In 1990, according to the AIA, exports accounted for 29.1% of US aerospace industry sales. By 2000, they had increased to 41%. The share of aerospace industry sales coming from the US Department of Defence fell to 36% from 45% in the same period. The goal of the AIA is to increase sales of weapons systems and aircraft which have fallen as a share of US GDP. A mysterious sales category called 'other' accounted for 18.4% of revenue in 2000, up barely 1% in ten years.

Civil aviation sales, a big deal in 2000, look less attractive with swathes of the commercial airline industry swimming in red ink in 2003.

The mass murder is in the math. Without war to boost sales and drive demand for new acquisition programmes, the future looks bad for aerospace. But Donald Rumsfeld and the military industrial complex have some other calculations to make, before the globalized gas attack for American corporate hegemony can begin.

A major problem then, as now are weapons inspectors and the precedent that strict international arms control treaties like the Chemical Weapons Convention would set for the 'security' of the Pentagon's state and corporate secrets, not to mention the incriminating evidence which could see Mr. Rumsfeld off the Hague, where he might entertain Slobodan Milosevic with idle chit chat about 'scraps of paper.'

Rumsfeld testified "I was told yesterday by an individual who is knowledgeable that the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, for example, personnel from there were involved in one of the mock inspections conducted by the U.S. government. They evaluated the inspection results and some weeks later, from outside the facility, using modern technology, were capable of coming away with classified information and proprietary information from the inspection. So I don't think that it would be wise for us to underestimate the risk that would exist to classified information, to a company's proprietary information.''

Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and other military labs are today busy working on new, so-called 'non-lethal' chemical and other weapons. Their endorsement for them, and recommendation for their development, can be found on the website of the National Academies of Science at www.nas.edu . But in order to put us off the scent of sleeping gas, Donald needed, and still needs a big distraction.

So he reminded the Congressional Committee of that other imminent threat to American liberty, a few of the countries which now comprise the Axis of Evil, waiting in the wings, even back in 1997.

"Countries identified by the United States as possessing chemical weapons that have not signed the CWC, let alone ratified it; include Libya, Syria, Iraq, and North Korea. Certainly these countries are among the most likely to use chemical weapons against our citizens, our soldiers, and our allies," he testified under oath.

No such country has ever attacked America with chemical weapons. Of course Rumsfeld left out Iran, which America's ally Iraq so attacked, with his help.

Attacking the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons '' first step to war on Iraq In 2000, the Director-General of the OPCW, Jos(C) Bustani called on the ''Arab states still to join the Chemical Weapons Convention to do so and for Israel to ratify the Convention.''

Bustani had big ambitions.

''Mr. Bustani said he hoped the leaders of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Yemen and the UAE would join the CWC as a significant step towards a comprehensive regional peace,'' according to the OPCW.

But Bustani's peaceful aspirations would soon run up against Donald Rumsfeld's desire for secrecy and full spectrum dominance, for which new chemical weapons are critical, chemistry and medicine being part of the spectrum.

''In his speech Mr. Bustani also welcomed the successful start of inspections by the OPCW of chemical industry plants in the United States, a development he described as "of critical importance." "

But the tough and impartial inspection regime of the CWC would not survive the Bush presidency.

As the April 29, 2002 deadline for the USA to destroy all its chemical weapons production facilities drew near, the US Government called an extraordinary and illegal meeting to dismiss Jose Bustani.

US Undersecretary of State John Bolton smeared his reputation, accusing him of ''financial mismanagement, bias and ill considered initiatives.''

It was a foretaste of the kind of vague accusation that passes for a causus belli in the Bush White House.

But Jose Bustani had some parting words.

''I could have been just a figurehead, as some Member States wanted. Instead I have chosen, as the Convention requires, to take my responsibilities seriously, amongst other things by being actively involved in the everyday work of the Organisation. I refused to defer to those individuals who some Member States want to be in charge.''

Bustani certainly referred to Donald Rumsfeld, the Bush regime's most fervent opponent of arms inspections, and the new Secretary of Defence.

''I am now accused of being biased. What is bias for some, is in reality my commitment to ''equal treatment for all''. I insist that the scope of access for our inspectors should be the same in all countries. I also insist that States Parties cannot pick and choose those areas which inspectors may or may not verify. I insist that the verification effort, in full accordance with the Convention, should be aimed at inspectable facilities, rather than at certain countries.''

The Bush government has decided not to pursue Iraq's chemical weapons through the CWC, but rather through UN Security Council Resolution 1441, in an arena where it maintains a veto, and is able to politicize the process, purchase its support with arms deals, and substitute false sound bites for the facts. Bustani wanted to disarm Iraq under the CWC, as he wanted to disarm America of chemical weapons.

But the Bush government had targeted Iraq for a demonstration of its 'real capabilities,' not membership in the CWC.

''I am blamed for seeking Iraq's membership of the CWC, even though this effort is in full accordance with the decisions of the UN Security Council, and with the mandate issued to me by all of you, to ensure the Convention's universality WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Does dissatisfaction with my actions mean that the universality of the Convention should include some countries, but not others, not Iraq, for example?'' demanded Bustani in April, 2002.

Bustani's words put the dishonest remarks of Donald Rumsfeld on February 12, 2003 in their proper context. Rumsfeld threw cold water on a French proposal for more weapons inspections in Iraq, saying "If you need to have inspectors to see whether or not Iraq is cooperating, one or two will do that. If you think you need inspectors to try to cover a country the size of France, then you need thousands and thousands of them."

It took thirteen inspectors to demonstrate the hypocrisy of Donald Rumsfeld to the world, if any doubt remained.

On February 23rd, citizen weapons inspectors organized by Rooting Out Evil (www.rootingoutevil.org ) attempted to inspect the Edgewood chemical weapons facility just north of Washington. While this reporter looked on, access was denied to British, Canadian, Danish and Italian members of Parliament, a leader of a major trade union, an Islamic leader and the Director of the Sunshine Project.

Their letter to Donald Rumsfeld requesting unfettered access to American chemical weapons sites has still not been answered.

Source: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=3148

KOLKOL in SYRIA-Report: Syria Crossed Chemical Weapons "Red Line," But West Got Cold Feet - All News Is Global

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Sun, 02 Feb 2014 22:51

HOMS '' On December 23, the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its opponents in Homs, sources in western intelligence services told Le Monde.

Throughout 2012, Western countries had warned Syria that if it crossed this ''red line,'' it would face an international military intervention. Now, these same countries are denying or minimizing the impact of the attack last month, ''to avoid getting involved,'' claim our sources.

The Syrian regime used ''an incapacitating but non-lethal chemical weapon that remains unknown due to lack of samples,'' according to our contacts. The substance was mounted upon ''four rockets, which were fired.'' The incident led to a ''strong international reaction, particularly from Russia toward Damascus. We are now confident that the Syrian regime will not do this again.''

Since Dec. 23, Syrian activist networks have been relaying testimony from Homs inhabitants and doctors who are convinced that chemical weapons were used in the Al-Bayyada neighborhood, where a battle was raging between government forces and rebels. According to witnesses, the gas killed several people and poisoned dozens of others. Videos were posted on the Internet showing people with severe nausea, breathing problems, vomiting or choking. The problem with this information is that it can't be verified and the fact that it comes from anti-Assad sources leaves room for interpretation.

In Paris, the spokesperson for the French foreign ministry, Philippe Lalliot answered our questions by saying ''We checked the information closely, and especially the videos that were circulating. We cannot confirm the use of combat gases or lethal chemicals.'' No clear denial, more like the expression of cautious reserve.

In Washington, on Jan. 16, the U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, gave the same response as her French counterpart: ''We looked into the allegations that were made and the information that we had received and we found no credible evidence to corroborate or to confirm that chemical weapons were used.'' Nuland was reacting to an article published the day before in the online edition of Foreign Policy magazine. It revealed the content of a diplomatic cable sent a week earlier by the American consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner.

In this document, Kilner, who was tasked by the State Department to investigate the attack, concluded that Damascus probably used Agent 15, an incapacitating nerve gas. Nuland did not deny the authenticity of the document, but played down the report. (On Tuesday, Foreign Policy posted a follow-up story on the matter)

Vast chemical arsenal

On Aug. 20, President Barack Obama declared that the use or loss of control over chemical weapons in Syria would be a ''red line'' and that there would be ''enormous consequences.'' On Aug. 23, British Prime Minister David Cameron stated that he shared the same view. On the Aug. 27, French President Franßois Hollande added that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would mean a ''legitimate direct intervention.''

The nature of Obama's ''consequences'' was never defined, though. The distinction between lethal and non-lethal chemical weapons was never specified either. The Pentagon reckoned that 75,000 troups would be needed to secure Syrian chemical stocks.

The chemical arsenal in Syria has been described as the biggest in the Middle East, with stocks of mustard and sarin gas and the powerful VX nerve agent. Experts disagree on the presence of ''Kolokol-1,'' an incapacitating agent used by the Russian Special Forces during the hostage crisis in the Dubrovka theatre in October 2002 in Moscow.

In December 2012, the Obama administration raised alarm bells regarding possible signs of imminent use of chemical weapons in Syria (assembly of launching weapons). It had received information from Israeli authorities, who had already threatened to declare war if there was proof of chemical weapons transfers to extremist groups such as Hezbollah.

On Dec. 11,, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta told the press that relevant intelligence had ''really kind of leveled off.'' The reason, according to a recent New York Times article, was ''a remarkable show of international cooperation,'' that included Russia and Iraq, to avert a crisis. Every time there was an alert regarding chemical weapons, Russia claimed to be able to guarantee Damascus' control of its stocks, with a standing threat to withdraw its support.

According to our sources in Western intelligence services, Syrian chemical weapons stocks were moved early December to a more secure storage location. Mark Fitzpatrick from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said that the Assad regime, ''on the edge of overthrow,'' has been escalating, to the point where it fired Scud missiles on its own people. This expert hypothesizes that Assad might have thought that using ''a non-lethal chemical weapon would be more ''acceptable'' to Westerners than a lethal one.

Another hypothesis can be drawn. The U.S.-Russian pressure on Damascus to stop using chemical weapons was a polite warning '' the Superpowers will remain silent as long as Syria never uses its chemical arsenal again.

U.S. outfitting ship to destroy Syria chemical weapons agents at sea - Los Angeles Times

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Sun, 02 Feb 2014 21:47

The U.S. cargo ship Cape Ray in Portsmouth, Va. Destroying Syrian chemical'... (Thoralf Doehring / AFP/Getty'...)

WASHINGTON '-- The Pentagon is outfitting a 647-foot cargo ship with high-tech equipment in an effort to safely destroy hundreds of tons of lethal chemical weapons agents that were collected in Syria after a deadly gas attack this summer sparked an international outcry.

Two specially developed hydrolysis machines, which use water or bleach to neutralize the chemicals that produce nerve gases, have been installed aboard the Cape Ray at the U.S. naval base in Norfolk, Va., officials said Thursday.

The system should be able to eliminate Syria's VX and sarin stockpiles and chemical components in 45 to 90 days, the officials said. No chemicals will be dumped at sea.

With Syria engulfed in civil war, moving the deadly material to the U.S. naval ship over the next month may be the biggest challenge.

Plans call for trucking the arsenal from a series of collection sites to the Syrian port of Latakia, where it will be loaded into 150 Teflon-lined shipping containers. Pentagon planners fear that even a heavily guarded convoy could be attacked en route to Latakia by insurgents battling President Bashar Assad's forces.

"Obviously, it's a challenging environment," said a U.S. official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

After poison gas rockets hit rebel-held suburbs of east Damascus on Aug. 21, killing more than 1,000 people, according to U.S. officials, Assad agreed to surrender his stockpiles to international chemical weapons inspectors and thus avoid a threatened retaliatory attack led by the U.S. military.

Over the last few months, the teams have dismantled or destroyed Syria's chemical weapons production facilities and warheads, but they now must get rid of bulk liquid chemicals that are mixed to form the nerve gases.

Destroying the material at sea was chosen as a last resort when no country agreed to do it on land. Norway has offered to ferry the sealed containers from Latakia to an as-yet-unnamed port outside Syria, where they will be transferred to the Cape Ray, the officials said.

The U.S. officials refused to say if the Cape Ray would stay in the Mediterranean Sea while the destruction process was underway or would sail elsewhere. They also refused to discuss what security would be provided.

No U.S. government personnel will be in Syria to assist with the operation and no U.S. military forces will be involved in protecting the Syrian trucks as they transport the chemical agents to Latakia.

Under a timetable established by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is working with the United Nations to carry out the disarmament, the most dangerous material must be removed from Syria by the end of this year. Under a U.N. Security Council resolution, the entire stockpile must be destroyed by mid-2014.

The Pentagon has offered use of the ship to the Hague-based organization, which has not formally accepted the offer but is expected to shortly.

The modified ship is expected to undergo a sea trial this month and be ready to sail early next year.

It also is being outfitted with an analysis lab and a protective system that includes a large tent to prevent hazardous material from escaping the hold if an accident occurs. Workers now being trained will wear protective suits.

The Pentagon has used hydrolysis machines to help destroy parts of its own once-vast chemical weapons stockpile, although never before on a ship. The machines eliminate 99.9 % of the chemical agents, creating a liquid byproduct that is considered hazardous waste but has a low level of toxicity, according to one of the U.S. officials.

The liquid will be stored aboard the Cape Ray, which will be manned by about 60 Defense Department civilians and contractors, until arrangements can be made to destroy it at a commercial waste treatment facility.

Most of Syria's agents are in liquid bulk form that need to be mixed to produce a usable weapon, officials said, making it easier to neutralize them instead of destroying them through incineration, a process that would have to occur on land.

The Cape Ray is owned by the U.S. Maritime Administration, a federal agency that maintains a reserve fleet of ships that can be leased to help the Pentagon transport vehicles and other equipment during hostilities or in other emergencies.

david.cloud@latimes.com

chemical warfare | Technology and Security

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Sun, 02 Feb 2014 21:46

The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria is seen in this October 8, 2012 handout image courtesy of DigitalGlobe

By Stephen Bryen

News reports from Algeria tell us that the hostage siege at the Ain Amenas Gas Plant in the Sahara is now over, but the final list of casualties remains uncertain. So far we know that the operation resulted in the escape or release of some 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners. Current information says that 23 hostages are confirmed dead; another 25 bodies, presumed to be hostages, have so far been found in buildings. There are probably more deaths as a number of vehicles were struck by Algerian Air Force helicopters and destroyed, and these vehicles are said to have been carrying both hostages and terrorists. The Algerians report that ''all'' 32 terrorists were killed.

There has been serious criticism of the Algerian Army and Special Forces raid and claims they did a poor job resulting in an excess of civilian deaths. From information so far that is available, about 6% (six percent) of the hostages died during the operation. Possibly the number will rise, but it is unlikely to exceed 10%.

Is this a bad result or a good result?

In October, 2002, Chechen terrorists took over the Dubrovka theater in Moscow. There were some 850 hostages trapped in the theater and around 40 to 50 Chechen terrorists. The Russians tried to negotiate, over the course of a number of days, with the Chechens but no solution was found. Meanwhile the Chechens had executed a few of the hostages for various reasons.

On October 26 Russian Special Forces flooded the theater with a chemical agent, pumping it in through the ventilation system. Following this the Russian forces poured into the building and killed all the terrorists. Of the hostages 117 died as a result of the gas.

The incapacitating agent has never been officially identified but it is something called by the Russians Kolokol-1. Kolokol-1 is likely a morphine derivative that is aerosolized and based on fentanyl. The actual compound is 3-methylfentanyl.

In evaluating the Russian operation it can be seen that the number of civilian casualties was particularly high ''roughly 15%. Many of the hostages, when freed, required urgent medical treatment. There is an antidote for Kolokol-1, but it must be administered quickly to work.

Poison gases intended to maim or kill are regarded as chemical agents and are banned under the Geneva Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Kolokol-1 straddles the fence of legality, because while it is not intended to kill, it is a potent substance (1,000 times stronger than morphine) and, as the Moscow theater case shows, can be quite lethal.

Physically, the Moscow theater episode occurred in a closed building that was barricaded and filled with 40 or 50 heavily armed killers equipped with explosives, automatic weapons, grenades and RPG's. If the Russian Special Forces had operated in the same way as the Algerian forces, and attacked with conventional arms, it is likely that the death count may have been higher than it was because of the lack of space to pick out targets. Perhaps other weapons, such as stun grenades, may have helped; but it is unlikely to have been effective given the mass of people and the determination of the Chechens.

If comparisons are used, the Algerians did ''better''(6% to 10% versus 15%) than the Russians. Of course, the physical space of operations was markedly different.

Just last month the U.S. Consul in Turkey reported in a ''secret'' cable (which was leaked) that the Syrians used chemical weapons in Homs on December 23rd. The chemical weapon identified is called by the Syrians Agent 15 and, in fact, it is a CX-level incapacitating agent that causes some temporary sickness and disorientation. The agent is probably 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate, which is a compound related to atropine (which itself is an antidote for nerve gas). This compound is ''controlled'' under the Chemical Weapons Convention although Syria is not a signatory to the convention. States who signed the convention should have destroyed chemical weapons and weapons manufacturing by last year, but Level 2 materials are not actually required to be destroyed. (Level 2 or Schedule 2 chemicals supposedly have legitimate small-scale applications. Manufacture must be declared and there are restrictions on export to countries which are not CWC signatories.)

The issue of incapacitating agents is not resolved under the Convention and most countries have them, including the U.S. Probably for this reason the State Department was encouraged to not denounce the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons in Homs.

Would a more effective incapacitating agent have been better than the military assault carried out by the Algerians? It is far from clear, but it may be that more research into less lethal, but more effective, incapacitating agents that can work in open areas rapidly and effectively would make sense (especially if the lethal characteristics of such materials can be mitigated). Of course this means that chemically based incapacitating agents can be an important element in future counter terror operations. While there is no public discussion as yet, research in this area seems warranted and urgent.

No one should fault either the Russians or the Algerians for standing up to a terrorist attack and doing their best under extremely difficult circumstances. Perhaps in future they will have even better tools and such incidents will result in fewer casualties.

Moscow theater hostage crisis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Sun, 02 Feb 2014 21:40

The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya.[1] They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. The siege was officially led by Movsar Barayev. After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian Alpha Group forces pumped an unknown chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it.[1]

During the raid, all 40 of the attackers were killed by Russian forces, and about 130 hostages died due to adverse reactions to the gas (including nine foreigners).[2] All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants.[3][4] The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed, but Moscow insisted it had little room for maneuver, as they were faced with the prospect of 50 heavily armed rebels prepared to kill themselves and their hostages.[5] Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. However, some reports said the drug naloxone was successfully used to save some hostages.[6]

Initial siege[edit]The hostages were seized on October 23 at the House of Culture (DK) of State Ball-Bearing Plant Number 1 in the Dubrovka area of Moscow about four kilometres south-east of the Moscow Kremlin.[7] During Act II of a sold-out performance of Nord-Ost a little after 9:00 PM, some 40''50 heavily armed and masked men and women drove in a bus to the theater and entered the main hall firing assault rifles in the air.[8]

The black and camouflage clad Chechens[9] took approximately 850''900 people hostage, including members of the audience and performers, among them an MVD general. The reaction of spectators inside the theater to the news that the theater was under terrorist attack was not uniform: some people remained calm, some reacted hysterically, while others fainted. Some performers who had been resting backstage escaped through an open window and called police; in all, some 90 people managed to flee the building or hide.

The militant leader told the hostages that the attackers (who identified themselves as a suicide squad from "the 29th Division"[10]) had no grudge against foreign nationals (about 75 in number from 14 countries, including Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States) and promised to release anyone who showed a foreign passport.

Demands[edit]The gunmen were led by Movsar Barayev, nephew of slain Chechen rebel militia commander Arbi Barayev, and threatened to kill the hostages unless Russian forces were immediately and unconditionally withdrawn from Chechnya. They said the deadline was one week, after which they would start killing the hostages.[11]

A videotaped statement was acquired by the media in which the gunmen declared their willingness to die for their cause. The statement contained the following text:[12]

''Every nation has the right to their fate. Russia has taken away this right from the Chechens and today we want to reclaim these rights, which Allah has given us, in the same way he has given it to other nations. Allah has given us the right of freedom and the right to choose our destiny. And the Russian occupiers have flooded our land with our children's blood. And we have longed for a just solution. People are unaware of the innocent who are dying in Chechnya: the sheikhs, the women, the children and the weak ones. And therefore, we have chosen this approach. This approach is for the freedom of the Chechen people and there is no difference in where we die, and therefore we have decided to die here, in Moscow. And we will take with us the lives of hundreds of sinners. If we die, others will come and follow us'--our brothers and sisters who are willing to sacrifice their lives, in Allah's way, to liberate their nation. Our nationalists have died but people have said that they, the nationalists, are terrorists and criminals. But the truth is Russia is the true criminal.''According to the Kremlin's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky, "When they were told that the withdrawal of troops was unrealistic within the short period, that it was a very long process, the terrorists put forward the demand to withdraw Russian troops from anywhere in the Republic of Chechnya without specifying which area it was". The hostage-takers demanded termination of the use of artillery and air forces in Chechnya starting the next day (Russian forces ceased using heavy weapons until September 28), a halt to the notorious zachistka ("mopping-up") operations, and that President of RussiaVladimir Putin should publicly declare that he was striving to stop the war in Chechnya. By the time of the hostage-taking, the conflict in the embattled republic was killing an average of three federal troops daily.[13]

Cell phone conversations between the hostages trapped in the building and their family members[14] revealed that the hostage-takers had grenades, mines and improvised explosive devices strapped to their bodies and had deployed more explosives throughout the theater.[15] Russian negotiators and special forces were unable to be certain at the time, but prior to the siege while the explosives were being prepared, an FSB agent who had infiltrated the Chechen Jihadist shipping network had sabotaged many of the devices with drained batteries and insufficient accelerator or booster charges for the main charges to detonate.[citation needed] The militants used Arabic names among themselves, and the female terrorists wore Arab-style burqa clothes which are highly unusual in the North Caucasus region.[16]

Chechnya's Muslims, Mufti Akhmad-Khadzhi Shamayev said he had no information about who the attackers were and condemned attacks on civilians. The pro-Moscow Islamic leader of Chechnya also condemned the attack.[17]

All hostages were kept in the auditorium and the orchestra pit was used as a lavatory.[18] The situation in the hall was nervous and it frequently changed depending on the mood of the hostage-takers, who were following reports in the mass media. Any kind of misinformation caused hopelessness among the hostages and new aggression among their captors, who would threaten to shoot hostages and blow up the building; however, no major disasters took place during the siege. The gunmen had let members of the audience make phone calls.[9] One hostage used her mobile phone to plead with authorities not to storm the auditorium,[17] as truckloads of police and soldiers accompanied by armored vehicles surrounded the building.[10]

First night '' 23 October[edit]The attackers released some 150 to 200 people, including children, pregnant women, Muslims, some foreign-born theater-goers and people requiring health treatment in the early hours after they invaded. Two women managed to escape (one of them was injured during the escape).[19] The terrorists said they were ready to kill 10 hostages for any of their number killed if the security forces intervened.[17]

Olga Romanova[edit]Unprovoked, at 1:30am, a young woman, Olga Romanova (26),[20] entered the theatre, crossing the police cordon by herself.[21] She entered the theatre and began urging the hostages to stand up to their captors. There was considerable confusion in the auditorium. The guerrillas believed she was a Federal Security Service (FSB) agent and she was shot and killed several seconds later. Olga's body was later removed from the building by a Russian medical team, incorrectly reported by the Moscow police as the body of the first hostage who was killed while trying to escape.[19] Romanova was described as 'strong-willed', and lived near the theatre.[21] It is unknown how she crossed the police lines undetected.

Day two '' 24 October[edit]The Russian government offered the hostage-takers the opportunity to leave for any third country.[19] The suborned hostages made an appeal, possibly under orders or duress, to Putin to cease hostilities in Chechnya and asked him to refrain from assaulting the building. Because of the crisis, Putin canceled an overseas trip that would have included meetings with U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush and other world leaders.[22]

Well-known public and political figures such as Aslambek Aslakhanov, Irina Khakamada, Ruslan Khasbulatov, Joseph Kobzon, Boris Nemtsov and Grigory Yavlinsky[23] took part in negotiations with the hostage-takers. Ex-President of the Soviet UnionMikhail Gorbachev also announced his willingness to act as an intermediary in the course of negotiations. Militants also demanded that representatives of the International Red Cross and M(C)decins Sans Fronti®res come to the theater to lead negotiations. FSB Colonel Konstantin Vasilyev attempted to enter the patio of the TC, but was shot at while approaching the building and forced to retreat.

According to the FSB, 39 hostages were set free by the terrorists on 24 October 2002, but they repeated via one of the hostages an earlier threat to start shooting their captives if Russia failed to take their demands seriously.[19] Negotiations on the release of non-Russian nationals were conducted by various embassies and the Chechens promised to release all foreign hostages. The kidnappers claimed they were ready to release 50 Russian hostages if Akhmad Kadyrov, head of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration, would come to the theater, but Kadyrov did not respond, and the release did not take place.

A hot water pipe had burst overnight and was flooding the ground floor. The hostage-takers called the flooding a "provocation" and no agreement had been reached on having the pipe repaired, the FSB spokesman said.[18] It later turned out that the sewer system was utilized by the Russian special forces for listening purposes.[24]

Day three '' 25 October[edit]Over the course of the next day, the following people took part in negotiations with the militants: journalists Anna Politkovskaya,[25]Sergei Govorukhin and Mark Franchetti and such public figures as Yevgeny Primakov, Ruslan Aushev and again Aslambek Aslakhanov. The terrorists demanded negotiation with an official representative of Vladimir Putin. Relatives of the hostages staged anti-war demonstrations outside the theater and in central Moscow.

The guerrillas agreed to release 75 foreign citizens in the presence of diplomatic representatives of their states. Russian authorities reportedly insisted that the hostages not be separated into foreign and Russian categories.[citation needed] 15 Russian citizens were released, including eight children (aged 7 to 13). After a meeting with Putin, the FSB head Nikolai Patrushev offered to spare the lives of the Chechens if they released the remaining hostages unharmed.[26]

A group of Russian doctors including Dr. Leonid Roshal, head of the Medical Centre for Catastrophes, entered the theater to bring medicine for the hostages and said the terrorists were not beating or threatening their captives. He said most of the hostages were calm and that only "two or three" of the hostages were hysterical. Some hot food, warm clothes and medicine had also been taken in by the Red Cross.[18]

NTV channel journalists recorded an interview with Movsar Barayev, in which he sent a message to the Russian government:

We have nothing to lose. We have already covered 2,000 kilometres by coming here. There is no way back... We have come to die. Our motto is freedom and paradise. We already have freedom as we've come to Moscow. Now we want to be in paradise.[11]

He also said the group had come to Moscow not to kill the hostages or to fight with Russia's elite troops, as they had had enough fighting in Chechnya over the years: "We came here with a specific aim '-- to put an end to the war and that is it." [11]

At 9:55 p.m., four hostages (citizens of Azerbaijan) were released, bringing the total number of hostages that were set free on this day to 19.

Gennady Vlakh[edit]After dusk, a man identified as Gennady Vlakh ran across the square and managed to gain entry into the theater. He said that his son was among the hostages, but his son did not seem to be present and the man was led away and shot by the Chechens.[27] There is considerable confusion surrounding this incident, and in addition, Vlakh's body was cremated before it was identified.[28]

Denis Gribkov[edit]Around midnight, a gunfire incident took place as Denis Gribkov, a 30-year-old male hostage, ran over the backs of theater seats toward the female insurgents who were sitting next to a large improvised explosive device.[24] A male Chechen shot at him and missed, but stray bullets hit and severely wounded Tamara Starkova and fatally wounded Pavel Zakharov,[29] who were evacuated from the building soon after. Gribkov was removed from the auditorium and later found dead from gunshot wounds.

Morning of 26 October[edit]During the night, Akhmed Zakayev, a Chechen envoy and associate of the separatist President Aslan Maskhadov, appealed to the extremists and asked them to "refrain from rash steps". The Chechens told the BBC that a special representative of President Putin planned to come to the theater for talks the next day. Two members of the SpetznazAlpha Group moving around in the no-man's land were seriously wounded by a grenade fired from the building by the terrorists, which was blamed by the Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin on the media news leak.[30]

According to an officer in the Russian special forces cited by The Guardian, the leak was controlled: "We leaked the information that the storming would take place at three in the morning. The Chechen fighters were on their guard. They began shooting, but there was no raid. Then there was the natural reaction '-- a relaxation. And at 5 a.m. we stormed the place."[31]

Special forces raid[edit]Early Saturday morning, 26 October, forces from Russia's Spetsnaz (Special Forces, literally "special purpose") from the FSB (Alpha Group and Vympel), with the assistance of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) SOBR unit, surrounded and stormed the theater, first through the gay clubCentral Station that had opened a month prior in the underground level of the building; all were heavily armed and masked. According to the November 2002 Kommersant report,[32] the gay club housed the commandos' and special services' "headquarters" and had been equipped with "its own ventilation system (the club's special pride)".

Deputy Interior MinisterVladimir Vasilyev stated that the raid was prompted by a panic among the captives due to the execution of two female hostages. The raid was planned shortly after the hostages were initially seized and the shooting cited as a proximate cause had occurred about three hours before the operation began.[33]

Chemical attack[edit]Early in the morning before dawn, at around 5:00 a.m. Moscow time, the searchlights that had been illuminating the main entrance to the theater went out.

Inside, although many hostages at first took the gas to be smoke from a fire,[34] it soon became apparent to gunmen and hostages alike that a mysterious gas had been pumped into the building.[35] Different reports said it came either through the specially created hole in the wall, that it was pumped through the theater's ventilation system, or that it emerged from beneath the stage. It is thought that the security services pumped an aerosolanaesthetic, later conjectured to be weaponized fentanyl, into the theater through the air conditioning system. The discovery caused panic in the auditorium. Hostage Anna Andrianova, a correspondent for Moskovskaya Pravda, called Echo of Moscow radio studio and told on-air in a live broadcast interview that the government forces had begun an operation by pumping gas into the hall:

''It seems to us that the Russians have started something. Please, give us a chance. If you can do anything, please do! ... I don't know which gas it is. But I see [the Chechens'] reactions. They don't want our deaths, and our officials want none of us to leave alive! I don't know. We see it, we feel it, we are breathing through our clothes. ... It began from outside. That's what our government has decided '-- that no one should leave from here alive. ...."[36]''Assault[edit]The Chechens, some of whom were equipped with gas masks, responded with firing blindly at the Russian positions outside. After thirty minutes, when the gas had taken effect, a physical assault on the building commenced. The combined forces entered through numerous building openings, including the roof, the basement, and finally the front door.[24]

When the shooting began, the terrorists told their hostages to lean forward in the theater seats and cover their heads behind the seats.[24] Hostages reported that some people in the audience fell asleep, and some of the gunmen put on respirators. As the terrorists and hostages alike began to fall unconscious, several of the female terrorists made a dash for the balcony but passed out before they reached the stairs. They were later found shot dead. Two of the Alpha Group assaulters were also overcome by the gas,[24] while the SOBR men were "floored". Even a vice-mayor of Moscow had to be treated for gas poisoning.[37]

After nearly one and a half hours of sporadic gun battles, the Russian special forces blew open the doors to the main hall and poured into the auditorium. In a fierce firefight, the federals killed most of the guerrillas, both those still awake and those who had succumbed to the gas.[24][38]

According to the Russian government, fighting between the troops and the still-conscious Chechen fighters continued in other parts of the building for another 30 minutes to one hour. Initial reports stated that three terrorists were captured alive (the BBC reported that a "handful of surviving fighters were led away in handcuffs"[24]) and two of them managed to escape. Later, the government claimed that all hostage-takers had been killed in the storming.

Alpha team troops said that "this is our first successful operation for years".[38]Moskovskij Komsomolets cited a Russian special forces operative saying that "if it were a usual storming, we'd have had 150 casualties among our men, added to the hostages."[39]

Evacuation[edit]At 7:00 a.m., rescuers began carrying the bodies of hostages out of the building. Bodies were laid in rows on the foyer and the pavement at the main entrance to the TC, unprotected from falling rain and snow. None of the bodies witnessed by The Guardian correspondent had bullet wounds or showed signs of bleeding, but "their faces were waxy, white and drawn, their eyes open and blank."[40] Shortly, the entire space was filled with bodies of the dead and those unconscious from the gas but still alive.

Few ambulances were standing by and ordinary city buses were brought in. Medical workers were expecting to treat victims of explosions and gunfire but not a secret chemical agent. The drug naloxone counteracts the chemical agent's effects, but would have to have been administered by rescue workers immediately.[41] Some reports said the drug was used to save some hostages.[6]

The bodies of dead hostages were stowed in two buses which were parked at the TC. Nevertheless, initial reports said nothing about casualties among the hostages. The crisis HQ representatives went to the college hall, where relatives of the hostages had been waiting, and told them that allegedly there were no fatalities among the hostages. The first official report of fatalities among the hostages came at about 9:00 a.m. (despite the death of five children which had been already reported by medical personnel, the official statement claimed there were no children among the dead).

At 1:00 p.m., Vasilyev announced at a press conference a "definitive" death toll of 67 hostages, who he said were killed by Chechens,[42] but again said no children nor foreigners were among those killed.[43][44] Armed guards were posted at the hospitals where victims were taken and doctors were ordered not to release any of the theater patients in case militants had concealed themselves among the hostages. The survivors were cut off from any communication with the outside world and their relatives were not allowed inside the hospitals.[citation needed]

The hostages' family members panicked as the government refused to release any information about which hospitals their loved ones had been taken to, or even whether their relatives were among the dead.[45] The official number of the dead rose to 90, including 25 children, while it was still claimed that the final attack was provoked by the terrorists executing their captives.[46][47] Later the same day, the official death toll among hostages had risen to at least 118 and the officials had not specified exactly what killed them.[45] By 28 October, of the 646 former hostages who remained hospitalized, 150 were still in intensive care and 45 were in critical condition.[48]

Seventy-three hostages (including six minors) were rendered no medical aid.[49] There were several Chechens among the hostages and it is believed[who?] that some of them were not treated because of their Chechen names.[50] In addition, money and other valuables belonging to the victims vanished; official reports stated that the valuables were stolen by an FSB officer who was later killed in a car crash.[51] The Russian authorities initially maintained that none of the deaths among the hostages occurred through poisoning. They spoke of health problems that were exacerbated by the three day ordeal with very little food or water, or indeed, medical attention. The office of the Kremlin's human rights commissioner Sergei Mironov said: "Even if it is proven that some people died from the gas, it should not change the public attitude. Storming the building was the only way to handle that situation, and the casualties were minimal."[citation needed]

Casualties[edit]All 40 rebels and about 130 hostages died during the raid or in the following days.[52] Doctor Andrei Seltsovsky, Moscow's health committee chairman, announced that all but one of the hostages killed in the raid had died of the effects of the unknown gas rather than from gunshot wounds.[53] The cause of death listed for all hostages was declared to be "terrorism", claiming they died from heart attacks or other physical ailments.[54] Among the fatalities, 17 were Nord-Ost cast members, including two child actors.[55] Of the foreign nationals, three were from Ukraine, one was American, and the others were citizens of Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands.[56] About 700 surviving hostages were poisoned by gas, and some of them received injuries leading to disabilities of the second and third class (by the Russian/ex-Soviet disability classification system; indicate medium- and maximum-severity and debilitation). Several Russian special forces operatives were also poisoned by the gas during the operation. According to court testimony from Prof. A. Vorobiev, Director of the Russian Academic Germology Center, most, if not all, of the deaths were caused by suffocation when hostages collapsed on chairs with heads falling back or were transported and left lying on their backs by rescue workers; in such a position, tongue prolapse causes blockage of breathing venues.[57]

Some estimates have put the civilian death toll at more than 200,[58] with 204 names on one list.[59] Some former hostages and relatives of the victims claim that the death toll from the chemical agent is being kept secret.[54]

Responsibility[edit]The Chechen radical militant groups the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR), the International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) and the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs took part in the operation. In 2003, the United States designated the three groups as terrorist organizations, describing them as violent, responsible for numerous acts of terrorism and with links to the al-Qaeda network. The same U.S. statement also reaffirmed Washington's support for a political settlement to the Chechen conflict and urged Russia to pursue such a solution.[60]

Military commander Shamil Basayev posted a statement on his website claiming ultimate responsibility for the incident, resigning all official positions within the Chechen government and promising new attacks. He also apologized to Chechnya's elected President and separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov for not informing him of the planned raid and asked him for forgiveness.[61][62] Basayev defended the hostage-taking for giving "all Russians a first-hand insight into all the charms of the war unleashed by Russia and take it back to where it originated from" and said that his next "main goal will be destroying the enemy and exacting maximum damage" and "the next time, those who come won't make any demands, won't take hostages."[61][63] A series of suicide bombings aimed at civilian targets in Russia followed in 2003 and 2004.

The Russian government claimed that wiretapped phone conversations prove that Maskhadov knew of the plans in advance, which he denied.[64] Aslan Maskhadov and his representatives in the West condemned the attack which they said had nothing to do with official policy. Maskhadov said he felt responsible for those "who resorted to self-sacrifice in despair", but also said the "barbaric and inhumane policies" of the Russian leadership were ultimately to blame and criticised the storming of the theatre. He offered to start unconditional peace talks with the Russian government to find a political solution to the conflict in Chechnya.[65]

While the siege was seen as a public relations disaster for Maskhadov, his more radical Islamic field commanders have correspondingly benefited.[why?][66] Some commentators have suggested that Movladi Udugov was in charge from behind the scenes.[67] Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer has suggested that the aim of the extremist leaders seemed to have been to provoke the Russian government forces "to kill ethnic Russians in Moscow on a large scale", which happened.[58] According to the report by Russian investigators, Zura Barayeva, the widow of Arbi Barayev, led the female members of the group, while a man known as Yasir, identified by his documents as Idris Alkhazurov, was said to be the group's "ideologist" believed to be trained in Saudi Arabia.[68] Russian officials said Chechen militants received financing from groups based in Turkey and that they intercepted telephone calls from the captors to unidentified embassies in Moscow, as well as to Turkey and unidentified Arab states[56] (some sources mentioned Quatar and Saudi Arabia). The Saudi prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (former leader of Saudi Arabia intelligence service) rumored to visit Russian officials in Moscow with military and nuclear technology cooperation proposals during the time of the hostage crisis.[69] There was also one foreign (Arab) fighter among the Chechens.

Aftermath[edit]After the raid, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that "the operation was carried out brilliantly by special forces"; he claimed he had wanted a negotiated end to the crisis, but the final attack was made necessary by the reported killing of hostages. The Russian presidential special envoy for human rights in Chechnya, Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, said the bloody outcome was "a good lesson to the terrorists and their accomplices."[7]

Deputy Interior Minister Vasilyev launched a Moscow-wide operation to catch anyone who may have helped the militants, while his boss, Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, urged people to be vigilant and to report anyone acting suspiciously to police. On 29 October, Vasilyev said he only had the authority to state that special chemical agents had been used and that some 30 suspected militants and their collaborators, including several civil servants and security officers, had been arrested around the theater and in other parts of the city in what Gryzlov called an "unprecedented operation" to identify what he described as a vast terrorist network in Moscow and the surrounding region.[70]

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the scale and violence of the assault in a televised address later on the morning of 26 October, stating that the government had "achieved the near impossible, saving hundreds, hundreds of people" and that the rescue "proved it is impossible to bring Russia to its knees".[71] Putin thanked the special forces as well as the Russian citizens for their "bravery" and the international community for the support given against the "common enemy". He also asked forgiveness for not being able to save more of the hostages, and declared Monday a national day of mourning for those who died.[53] He vowed to continue fighting "international terrorism".[46]

On 29 October, Putin released another televised statement, saying: "Russia will respond with measures that are adequate to the threat to the Russian Federation, striking on all the places where the terrorists themselves, the organizers of these crimes and their ideological and financial inspirers are. I stress, wherever they may be located." It was commonly assumed Putin was threatening the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.[56][72] Putin's comments came as British Prime MinisterTony Blair phoned him to congratulate him on the ending of the siege.[40]

President Putin was unhappy with the coverage of the hostage crisis by NTV, the last nationwide TV channel effectively independent of the government. In January 2003 the management of NTV was replaced, resulting in a profound effect on its editorial policy.[73][74][75]

Long-term consequences[edit]The attacks prompted Putin's government to tighten Russia's grip on Chechnya. On 28 October, two days after the crisis, he announced that unspecified "measures adequate to the threat" would henceforth be taken in response to terrorist activity, with reports of 30 fighters killed near the Chechen capital Grozny.[37] The Russian Ministry of Defence canceled plans to reduce the 80,000 troop presence in the tiny breakaway republic.[72]

In early November, Defence MinisterSergei Ivanov announced Russian troops had launched large-scale operations against separatists throughout Chechnya.[76] The actions of the military caused a new wave of refugees, according to the pro-Moscow Chechen official and the hostage crisis negotiator Aslanbek Aslakhanov.[72]

On 29 May 2008, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously condemned Russia for enforced disappearances in five cases from Chechnya, including the disappearance of two young women in Ulus-Kert (the prosecutor's office initially stated to media that Aminat Dugayeva and Kurbika Zinabdiyeva had been arrested on suspicion of involvement with the Moscow siege).[77]

President Maskhadov's unconditional offer for peace talks with Russia was dismissed, as Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov compared such calls with the suggestion that Europe should conduct such talks with the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.[78] Russia also accused Akhmed Zakayev of involvement in the attack. When he visited Denmark for a peace congress in October 2002 (the World Chechen Congress event in Copenhagen), the Russians demanded his arrest and extradition;[61] Zakayev was held for over a month, but was released after Danish authorities stated they were not convinced that sufficient evidence had been provided.[79] The Kremlin also accused the Danish authorities of "solidarity with terrorists" by allowing the meeting of about 100 Chechens, Russian human rights activists and lawmakers from Russia and other European countries to gather and discuss ways to end the fighting.[65]

In early November, the Russian Duma approved a broad array of anti-terrorism legislation ranging from far-reaching restrictions on media coverage of terrorism-related incidents to secret burials for slain terrorists (one lawmaker proposed wrapping terrorists' corpses in pigskin and another suggested "carting them around the city with their legs dangling").[80] The new media law severely restricted the media's reporting of anti-terrorist operations, banning publication or broadcast of "any statement that hinders an operation to break such a siege, or attempts to justify the aims of the hostage-takers".[61] These new policies prompted renewed fears in Russia that Putin was systematically taking control of all Russian media.[81]Sergei Yushenkov, whose Liberal Russia party voted against the change, was quoted by Reuters as saying: "On a wave of emotion, we have in fact legitimised censorship and practically banned criticism of the authorities in emergency situations."[63] Coverage of Chechnya had already been severely restricted, needing the cooperation of both the Russian military and the Moscow-backed Chechen administration (see Russian government censorship of Chechnya coverage). A law by which corpses of people convicted or accused of terrorism would not be released to their families, but disposed of in secret was approved, applying to the bodies of the militants killed in the Moscow crisis, and later applying even to President Maskhadov, who was killed in 2005.[82]

In 2003, Human Rights Watch reported Chechens in Moscow were subjected to increased police harassment after the hostage crisis.[83] Moscow's Chechens swelled in numbers from about 20,000 in the Soviet period to an estimated 80,000 in 2002.[84]

Many in the Russian press and in the international media warned that the death of so many hostages in the special forces' rescue operation would severely damage President Putin's popularity. However, shortly after the siege had ended, the Russian president was enjoying record public approval ratings''in December 2002, 83% of Russians reportedly declared themselves satisfied with Putin's rule and his handling of the siege.[16]

Investigation[edit]The official investigation that the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office has been carrying out for three and a half years failed to provide positive information on the gas agent that killed hostages, possible antidote to that agent, the number of hostages released by the operation, the number of militants who had seized the theater (hostages claimed that they saw more than 50 militants, whereas only 40 hostage takers were in the building according to the official version), and the names of officials who had made the decision about the assault.[85] On 1 June 2007, news came that the official investigation had been suspended. The reason provided was that the "culprit had not been located".[85]

The same month, Tatiana Karpova, co-chair of the Nord-Ost Organization of former hostages and families of the dead, demanded a new criminal investigation. She claimed the authorities failed to meet their obligations related to right to life. She claimed to have proof that "69 of the injured were given no medical care" and that "80 percent of the surviving hostages are potential future invalids, including [possible] future (occurrence of) cancers, (and there is a possibility that) women who were subjected to the gas attack (could) give birth to defective babies".[86] In July 2007, relatives of those who died in the hostage-taking urged the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia to investigate whether senior officials were responsible for the deaths.[87]

Claims of FSB Involvement[edit]The Duma refused to consider a proposal by the liberal democraticUnion of Rightist Forces party to form an investigative commission charged with probing the government's actions in the theater siege.

An independent investigation of the event was undertaken by Russian politicians Sergei Yushenkov, Sergei Kovalev, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Hoover Institute scholar John B. Dunlop, and former FSB officers Aleksander Litvinenko and Mikhail Trepashkin. According to their version, FSB knew about the terrorist group's arrival in Moscow and directed them to the theater through their agent provocateurKhanpasha Terkibayev ("Abu Bakar"), whose name was in list of hostage takers and who left the theater alive.[58][88][89][90] In April 2003 Litvinenko gave information about Terkibayev ("the Terkibayev file") to Sergei Yushenkov when he visited London. Yushenkov passed this file to Politkovskaya and she was able to interview Terkibayev in person.[91] A few days later, Yushenkov was assassinated by gunfire in Moscow. Terkibayev was later killed in an apparent car crash in Chechnya.

In June 2003, Litvinenko stated in an interview with the Australian television programme Dateline, that two of the Chechen militants involved in the siege'--whom he named "Abdul the Bloody" and "Abu Bakar"'--were working for the FSB, and that the agency manipulated the terrorists into staging the attack.[92] Litvinenko said: "[w]hen they tried to find [Abdul the Bloody and Abu Bakar] among the rotting corpses of dead terrorists, they weren't there. The FSB got its agents out. So the FSB agents among Chechens organized the whole thing on FSB orders, and those agents were released".[93] "Abu Bakar" (presumably Terkibayev) was also described as FSB agent and actual organizer of the theater siege by Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Khinshtein and other journalists.[94][95][96][97][98][99]

Moscow lawsuit and the European Court complaint[edit]After the siege, 61 former hostages started seeking compensation for physical and emotional suffering totalling almost $60m from Moscow city authorities (according to Russia's then-new anti-terrorism law, the region where an act of terror occurs should pay compensation for moral and material damages).[100][101] Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov's office denounced the suits, saying it could not be held responsible as "the Chechen issue and its consequences are not within the jurisdiction of the Moscow authorities in any way."[102] The Moscow administration earlier agreed to pay 50,000 roubles ($1,570) in compensation to each former hostage and 100,000 roubles ($3,140) to relatives of those killed.[103] In all but one of the cases, Moscow city courts rejected the compensation claims.[104]

In July 2003, 80 plaintiffs from Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan turned to the European Court for Human Rights, claiming that their right to life had been violated by Russia authorities' handling of the standoff.[105] In April 2007, Igor Trunov, the claimants' advocate, reported that the ECHR had finally begun hearings into a complaint filed in 2003 by the victims against the Russian government. Trunov added that not only Russian citizens, but also those from Ukraine, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan, filed complaints in the Strasbourg Court.[106] The plaintiffs demand 'Ç¨50,000 each in compensation for the violation of their human rights.[107] The case was accepted by the court in December 2007.

On July 8, 2008, The Moscow Times reported[108] that the hearings at the European Court of Human Rights will be closed to the public at the request of Russian authorities as, according to Igor Trunov, they "have promised full disclosure on how they handled the crisis", including "the makeup of the knockout gas used in the storming of the theater by commandos."

On December 20, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights published its judgement in the case, ordering Russia to pay the 64 applicants a total of 1.3 million euros in compensation. The court also found that Russia had violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights when handling the hostage crisis, "with inadequate planning and conduct of the rescue operation", and with the "authorities' failure to conduct an effective investigation into the rescue operation", although the Court found that there had been "no violation of Article 2 of the Convention on account of the decision by the authorities to resolve the hostage crisis by force and to use the gas."[109][110]

The chemical agent mystery[edit]It was reported that efforts to treat victims were complicated because the Russian government refused to inform doctors what type of gas had been used. In the records of the official investigation, the agent is referred to as a "gaseous substance". In other cases it is referred to as an "unidentified chemical substance".[111] Based on the gas's effects and examinations of victims, it appears to have been an FSB-made aerosol version of 3-methylfentanyl known as Kolokol-1, an artificial, powerful opium-like substance. Government officials still treat its contents as a state secret.

The Russian Federation, as a member-state of the Chemical Weapons Convention, undertook "never and under no circumstances to carry out any activities prohibited to member-states of this Convention" to develop, to accumulate, to stockpile and to use chemical weapons that can cause death, temporary incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans or animals.[112] The Convention obliges the states to fulfill the conditions of toxic chemicals' use that allow to exclude or considerably reduce the degree of injury and gravity of consequences. However, during the special operation in Dubrovka this provision was disregarded, i.e. neither the type, nor the quantity of the chemical agent helped to attain the set purpose'--to neutralize the terrorists so as to rescue the hostages. (The Convention allows the use of some chemical agents like tear gas for "law enforcement including domestic riot control", but requires that "riot control agents" have effects that "disappear within a short time following termination of exposure."[33])

International reaction[edit]In unanimously adopting Resolution 1440 (2002), the United Nations Security Council condemned the "heinous" act and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The Council also demanded immediate and unconditional release of all hostages of that terrorist act and expressed the deepest sympathy and condolences to the people and the government of the Russian Federation and to the victims of the terrorist attack and their families. In addition, the Council urged all states to cooperate with the Russian Federation authorities in their efforts to find and bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of that terrorist attack.[113]In a statement read on Iraqi state television, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the hostage-taking would eventually benefit the United States and Israel in undermining Islam: "It's not wise for the Chechens to lose the sympathy of Russia and the Russian people. The tyrant of our era is Zionism and America, and not Russia, China or India."[114]British Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly backed the Russian action, arguing the Russian authorities had needed to act when the Chechens "started to kill the hostages."[115] In his speech for the Parliament, Blair linked the Moscow siege to the wider war on terrorism and such events as the 2002 Bali bombings.[116]U.S. President George W. Bush felt "very strongly that the people to blame here are the terrorists. The people who caused this tragedy to take place are terrorists who took hostages and endangered the lives of others," the White House's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, told reporters aboard Air Force One.[56]In popular culture[edit]A documentary by the BBC's Horizon in 2004 investigated the gas that was pumped into the theater.[117]

In 2003, HBO broadcast Terror In Moscow, a documentary directed by Dan Reed. Interviews with hostages and footage taken inside and outside of the theater during the crisis are shown in the documentary.[118]

In September 2006, In Your Hands, a play based on the events of the Moscow theatre siege, written by Natalia Pelevine, opened in London at the New End Theatre. In April 2008 Pelevine said that Russian authorities have banned the play following its Russian debut in the city of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan near Chechnya.[119] Another play, We Declare You a Terrorist by Tim J. Lord, about the incident premiered at the 2009 Summer Play Festival[120]

The crisis was also featured as a 45-minute episode of Situation Critical (a National Geographic Channeldocudrama television series), which contained actual video footage from the crisis along with a reenactment.

See also[edit]References[edit]^ abModest Silin, Hostage, Nord-Ost siege, 2002, Russia Today, 27 October 2007^Moscow theatre siege: Questions remain unansweredBBC Retrieved on 2013-16-13^Gas "killed Moscow hostages", ibid.^"Moscow court begins siege claims", BBC News, 24 December 2002^"Moscow siege gas 'not illegal'". BBC News. 29 October 2002. ^ ab"Mystery of Russian gas deepens"^ abMoscow hostage death toll soars, BBC News, 26 October 2002^"Chechen gunmen seize Moscow theatre", CNN, 24 October 2002^ abChechen gunmen storm Moscow theatre, The Guardian, 24 October 2002^ abChechens Seize Moscow Theater, Taking as Many as 600 Hostages, The New York Times, 24 October 2002^ abc"Hostage-takers 'ready to die'", BBC News, 25 October 2002^"Gunmen release chilling video", CNN, 25 October 2002^Hostage crisis refuels Chechnya debate, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 October 2002^Hostage Drama in Moscow: Hostage Voices; Cellphones Let Families Hear Ordeal Of Captives, The New York Times, 25 October 2002^ˆê'ˆêæˆëˆê¥-ˆêûˆëÅˆëÇ: 5 ˆê>>ˆêµˆëÇ, Echo of Moscow, 21 October 2007^ abMoscow siege leaves dark memories, BBC News, 16 December 2002^ abcTerrorists seize Moscow theatre, BBC News, 23 October 2002^ abcNon-stop nightmare for Moscow hostages, BBC News, 25 October 2002^ abcdSeven hostages freed in Moscow siege, BBC News, 25 October 2002^sptimesrussia^ ab"She Died Trying to Save the Hostages". Retrieved January 28, 2012. ^Two hostages flee Moscow theatre, BBC News, 24 October 2002^Yavlinsky Describes His Role In Crisis, The Moscow Times, 4 November 2002^ abcdefgHow special forces ended siege, BBC News, 29 October 2002^Anna Politkovskaya, I tried and failed, The Guardian, 30 October 2002^Children freed from Moscow siege, BBC News, 25 October 2002^"Events, facts, conclusions". Retrieved January 29, 2012. ^"Why did she shoot". Retrieved January 29, 2012. ^Pictures of the Week, TIME 31 October 2002)^Beslan and Dubrovka Victims' Relatives Join Forces, The Jamestown Foundation, 3 November 2005^Traynor, Ian (27 October 2002). "Troops bring freedom and death to theatre of blood". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2012. ^"ˆê...ˆêµˆê‡ˆëÇˆëˆêƒˆê>>ˆëåˆê‡ˆêƒˆëè ˆëÅˆëÇˆêƒˆê‡ˆëÜˆê½ˆëè" ˆêæˆëáˆê½ˆëâˆêµˆê‡ˆêƒ ˆêæˆëÇ ˆêæˆêºˆêæˆê‡ˆêæˆê¾ˆëÜˆêµˆê¾ 22 November 2002^ abHostage Drama In Moscow: The Aftermath; Hostage Toll in Russia Over 100; Nearly All Deaths Linked to Gas, The New York Times, 28 October 2002^HOSTAGE DRAMA IN MOSCOW: THE SCENE; The Survivors Dribble Out, All With a Story to Tell, The New York Times, October 28, 2002^What was the gas?, BBC News, 28 October 2002^Hostages speak of storming terror, BBC News, 26 October 2002^ abPutin vows to crush terrorists, BBC News, 28 October 2002.^ abTroops bring freedom and death to theater of blood, The Guardian, 27 October 2002^Gas enters counterterror arsenal, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 October 2002^ abSiege rescue carnage as gas kills hostages, The Guardian, 27 October 2002^Russia Confirms Suspicions About Gas Used in Raid, The Washington Post, October 31, 2002^Gas clouds Moscow rescue, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 October 2002^Bloody end to Moscow hostage crisis, CBC News, 29 October 2002^Moscow hostage relatives await news, BBC News, 27 October 2002^ abDeath Toll in Moscow Hostage Situation Climbs to 118, Voice of America, 27 October 2002^ ab140 die in theatre siege climax, CNN, 27 October 2002^Family reunited after Moscow siege, BBC News, 27 October 2002^115 Hostages in Moscow Killed by Gas, The Washington Post, 27 October 2002^Dubrovka victims association accuses the authorities of falsification, Memorial, 22 October 2007^Anna Politkovskaya: Putin's Russia, The Harvill Press 2004^(Polish)Dubrowka pozostanie tajemnicˆÑÖ, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2007-06-01^Nord-Ost Tragedy Goes On, Moscow News 2004 N.41 '' a discussion of the long-term effects of the anesthetic on the surviving hostages^ abGas 'killed Moscow hostages', BBC News, October 27, 2002^ abFamilies claim death toll from gas in Moscow siege kept secret, The Guardian, October 18, 2003^At a scene of tragedy in Moscow, an act of hope, The Christian Science Monitor, February 10, 2003^ abcdHostage Drama In Moscow: Russia Responds, The New York Times, 29 October 2002^[1]^ abcThe October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 1) by John B. Dunlop, Radio Free Europe Reports, 18 December 2003.^Russia's colluders, Prospect, July 2006^US blacklists Chechen groups, BBC News, 1 March 2003^ abcdChechen warlord claims theatre attack, BBC News, 1 November 2002^Russian Lawmakers Vote to Curb News Media '' Terrorism Reporting Restricted After Crisis Peter Baker, Washington Post, November 2, 2002, A.18^ ab"Warlord admits Moscow theatre raid", CNN, 1 November 2002^Russia Defends Actions Taken in Theater Siege '' No Regrets About Use of Gas or Secrecy, Peter Baker, The Washington Post, November 1, 2002, p. A30^ abChechen terrorists seek talks with Moscow, BBC News, 28 October 2002^Analysis: Chechen danger for Putin, BBC News, 24 October 2002^The Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs^Moscow kidnappers 'posed as traders', BBC News, 9 December 2002^ˆêüˆëˆêµˆê…ˆê½ˆê¥ˆêµˆê‡ˆëÇ ˆêˆê‡ˆëÅˆëÇˆê½ˆëÇˆëÉˆëÇˆêƒ ˆêëˆê>>ˆê½ˆêˆê‡ˆêµˆê"ˆêæ ˆê'ˆêæˆëÅˆëÇˆêæˆê†ˆêƒ ˆêïˆê¾ˆê"ˆêµˆê‡ˆê½ˆê¼ ˆêˆêƒˆëÇˆêƒˆê‡ˆêæˆê¾ˆëÅˆê†ˆê½ˆê¼: ˆêóˆêƒ ˆê'ˆêæˆëˆê¥-ˆêûˆëÅˆëÇˆêæˆêº>> ˆëÅˆëÇˆêæˆê½ˆëÇ ˆêˆëˆê½ˆê‡ˆëÜ 23 October 2012^Mass arrests follow Moscow siege, BBC News, 29 October 2002^Russia: Moscow City Officials, Victims' Relatives, Hold Separate Nord-Ost Services Outside Theater, CDI Russia Weekly, 2003^ abcRussian backlash against Chechens begins, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 November 2002^Vladimir Kovalev, NTV RIP, Again. Transitions Online, February 19, 2003.^ˆêêˆê>>ˆëåˆëˆëˆêµˆê¥ ˆêöˆêæˆëÖ: ˆêˆêæˆëÅˆëÇ ˆê"ˆê>>ˆêƒˆê¾ˆëã "ˆê'ˆêƒˆê…ˆêˆëˆêæˆêº-ˆê'ˆêµˆê¥ˆê½ˆêƒ" ˆê…ˆêƒˆê‡ˆëèˆê>>ˆêƒ ˆêºˆêƒˆëˆê½ˆêæˆê‡ˆêµˆëÇˆê†ˆêƒ ˆêöˆëˆêµˆêºˆê>>ˆëè, Newsru.com, January 17, 2003.^ˆêˆêæˆëˆê¥ˆêƒˆê‡ˆêƒ ˆëÅˆê‡ˆêƒˆëáˆêƒˆê>>ˆêƒ ˆêˆëˆêæˆê¾ˆêµˆëˆëèˆëÇ, ˆêƒ ˆêˆêæˆëÇˆêæˆêº ˆêæˆëÇˆëÅˆëÇˆêƒˆê¾ˆëèˆëÇ, Newsru.com, January 20, 2003.^Chechnya: Is Russian retaliation the answer?, BBC News, 6 November 2002^Judgment: Gekhayeva and Others v. Russia, European Court of Human Rights, 29 May 2008^Is It Too Late For Peace Talks In Chechnya?, RFE/RL, 11 February 2005^Russia pushes for Chechen extradition, BBC News, 2 November 2002^Duma Votes to Limit News Coverage, The Moscow Times, 4 November 2002 (Yabloko mirror)^Russian Duma Approves Anti-Terror Measures, PBS, 13 November 2002^Russians 'paid Maskhadov bounty', BBC News, 15 March 2005^On the Situation of Ethnic Chechens in Moscow, Human Rights Watch 2003^Moscow's Chechens fear siege fall-out, BBC News, 26 October 2002^ ab(Russian)"Investigation of the case of hostage taking at the Theatre Center at Dubrovka in October, 2002, was suspended.". Machine translation. Echo of Moscow News Service. 1 June 2007. ^"Nord-Ost" demands new criminal cases, Memorial, 19/4/2007^Dubrovka Relatives Demand Inquiry, The Moscow Times, 12 July 2007^The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 2) by John B. Dunlop, Radio Free Europe Reports, 8 January 2004.^The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 3) by John B. Dunlop, Radio Free Europe Reports, 15 January 2004.^Radio FreeLiberty The Moscow Hostage Crisis: one year later '' by John Dunlop, Radio Free Europe Reports, 29 October 2003.^Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. Death of a dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, The Free Press (2007) ISBN 1-4165-5165-4^Lazaredes, Nick (4 June 2003). "Terrorism takes front stage '-- Russia's theatre siege". SBS. Retrieved 2006-11-28. ^Dissident lawyer jailed on trumped up charges, The Jamestown Foundation, November 13, 2003^Litvinenko 'Rebellion' Poses Awkward Questions: Cannes Roundup By Iain Millar^Where is "ABUBAKAR?", The Jamestown Foundation, 29 May 2003^Russian Authorities Hedge Over Special Services Involvement In Moscow Theater Siege, by Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, 5 May 2003^A Critical Analysis of Western Realpolitik. The Case of Russia and Chechnya^The Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 1) By John B. Dunlop, Radio Free Europe^Chechen Bank Formation by Alek Akhundov, Kommersant, 28 October 2004^Lawsuits begin into deadly Moscow hostage-taking, CBC News, January 16, 2003^In Moscow, a test case for government accountability, The Christian Science Monitor, January 22, 2003^Moscow hostages bring lawsuit, BBC News, 3 December 2002^Hostages sue Moscow for millions, BBC News, 25 November 2002^Moscow theatre siege claims rejected, BBC News, 23 January 2003^Moscow terror victims fight ruling, BBC News, 28 July 2003^European Court accepts applications of Dubrovka terror act victims, Memorial, 13/4/2007^Russia asks European court to limit Moscow theater siege files, RIA Novosti 03/ 07/ 2008.^Dubrovka Proceedings Will Be ClosedThe Moscow Times 7 July 2008.^CASE OF FINOGENOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIAEuropean Court of Human Rights 20 December 2011.^Strasbourg court orders Russia to pay 1.3 MLN eurosRT, previously known as Russia Today 20 December 2011.^Conclusions of forensic examination commission, Volumes 30''33 of the criminal case^Was the gas legal?, BBC News, 28 October 2002^SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS 'HEINOUS' MOSCOW HOSTAGE-TAKING, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE, UNCONDITIONAL RELEASEUnited Nations^Saddam Says Moscow Hostage-taking Undermines Islam, People's Daily, October 26, 2002^UK backs Russia over siege, BBC News, 28 October 2002^West backs Russia over rescue tactics, BBC News, 28 October 2002^BBC '' Science & Nature '' Horizon '' The Moscow Theatre Siege, BBC, December 23, 2008^"Terror in Moscow: Transcript". On the Media. 24 October 2003. Retrieved 30 December 2012. ^Russian officials shut down play about Chechen hostage-takers, CBC News, April 12, 2008^SPF/NYCFurther reading[edit]External links[edit](Russian)Nord-Ost.orgNord-Ost. Memorial Book of Lost Hostages. Above site in English, winner of 2007 'Golden Site' award.In quotes: Moscow hostage crisis, BBC News, 25 October 2002Moscow hostage crisis: timeline, BBC News, 26 October 2002The Hostage Crisis From Start to Finish, The Moscow Times, 28 October 2002Moscow theatre siege, The Guardian, 28 October 2002Theater of War, TIME special report, 28 October 2002Moscow theatre siege, BBC News, 4 November 2002Terror In MoscowThe October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident, Radio Free Europe, 18 December 2003 (Parts 2 and 3)The Moscow Theatre Siege '' transcript, BBC, 15 January 2004Chechen rebels' hostage history, BBC News, 1 September 2004

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Fentanyl Shortage Creates a Painful Situation - LGM Pharma Blog

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:00

As a rapid acting pain medication, Fentanyl is an efficacious and tolerable treatment for moderate to severe pain. The news on August 26, 2013 of a continued shortage of this pain relieving remedy has created concern among the medical community. Emergency medical services are proponents of the use of Fentanyl over morphine for pain, as are many hospital and surgical centers. With a 30 minute wait for total pain relief, Fentanyl outperforms Morphine, which often takes up to 4 hours for patients to experience cessation of pain. Besides being a shorter-acting pain reliever, Fentanyl does not usually induce hypotension, unlike morphine. Patients who have been administered Fentanyl for pain report on average less adverse effects like nausea and vomiting in comparison to patients who have been administered morphine. Additionally, the use of Fentanyl in a pre-hospital or emergency services setting has proven to be safe and effectual for patients, as the administration of this pain relieving drug does not tend to cause respiratory depression or distress, sedation or hypoxemia. With all of the benefits of Fentanyl it is obvious that the current shortage of this crucial pain treatment will make caring for patients afflicted with pain quite a challenge.

Fentanyl is effective as it acts mainly via an interaction with the opioid mu receptors in the brain. This interaction creates both analgesia and euphoria, without the plethora of adverse side effects of comparable medications such as morphine. The use of Fentanyl is recommended for patients suffering from moderate to severe pain, including burn victims. Several brands of Fentanyl are nearing patent expiration as well. On April 20, 2018 Lazanda will reach its patent expiration. Abstral has a patent expiration of September 24, 2019 and Fentora will see the end of its patent on March 26, 2019.

If you are in the pharmaceutical industry, and you are concerned about your ability to acquire Fentanyl from a reputable source, LGM Pharma can assist you with your needs. LGM Pharma provides the Fentanyl CAS# 437-38-7 API for research and development purposes. Clients can be assured of continuous support throughout the R&D process, as well as quality API products.

Products currently covered by valid US Patents are offered for R&D use in accordance with 35 USC 271(e)+A13(1). Any patent infringement and resulting liability is solely at buyer risk.

Tags: 437-38-7, Abstral, Fentanyl, Fentanyl outperforms Morphine, Fentanyl over morphine, Fentora, hypotension, Lazanda

This entry was posted on Friday, October 4th, 2013 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Anesthetic, FDA Drug Shortage, Patent Expiration 2018, Patent Expiration 2019, Therapeutic Classification. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2006 Fentanyl labs Mexico report

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 11:00

Availability - Clandestinely produced fentanyl powder, fentanyl mixed with heroin, and, to a lesser extent, fentanyl mixed with cocaine have been distributed in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic Regions. The primary markets have been Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), and Philadelphia (PA)/Camden (NJ). Overdoses linked to fentanyl have been reported in areas of Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In many cases abusers had purchased the drugs in the primary market areas and transported them elsewhere. Because specialized forensic laboratory testing is required to detect clandestinely produced fentanyl versus pharmaceutical fentanyl, the extent of availability and source of the fentanyl has not yet been conclusively determined.

Abuse - Fentanyl has been sold to drug abusers, primarily heroin abusers, in drug markets in each of the aforementioned areas, and abusers typically reflect the population demographics of those areas. Currently, there are an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 hard-core and casual heroin abusers in the United States who constitute the potential fentanyl market. An intravenous dose of fentanyl hydrochloride for pain relief is approximately 45 micrograms (a grain of salt is approximately 60 micrograms); however, depending on the weight of the abuser and his or her level of opiate tolerance, an abuser may tolerate a higher or lower dose. Accordingly, a small error in diluting, or cutting, fentanyl can easily lead to an overdose.

Because fentanyl is an opiate and specialized toxicological testing is required to detect fentanyl in biological samples, many fentanyl overdoses were initially classified as heroin overdoses. The severity of the situation did not become apparent until the public health community noticed the above-average number of overdoses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently examining the number of fatalities that may have been directly related to clandestinely produced fentanyl.

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Production - Intelligence indicates that Mexico is the most likely source of at least some of the fentanyl associated with the recent overdoses in the United States. On May 21, 2006, Mexican Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) agents and officials from the Mexican Attorney General's Office Organized Crime Division (PGR/SIEDO) seized a fentanyl laboratory in Toluca, Mexico, and arrested the laboratory operator and four associates. However, at least nine clandestine fentanyl laboratories were seized in the United States--seven of which were in California--from 1990 through 2005. Continued fentanyl production in the United States cannot be ruled out.

November 2005--Azusa, California

June 15, 2005--San Diego, California

May 3, 2004--Santa Clara, California

December 17, 2003-- Newton Square, Pennsylvania

December 4, 2000--Big Bear, California

February 3, 1993--Wichita, Kansas

December 31, 1991--Fallbrook, California

August 15, 1990--San Jose, California.

April 14, 1990--Bonita, California

The two methods most commonly used to produce fentanyl rely upon one of the two precursor chemicals--N-benzyl-4-piperidone or N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP). NPP is used in the most common clandestine method. Dozens of scientific companies supply NPP legitimately. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is investigating the control of NPP. However, fentanyl producers can potentially manufacture the precursors or obtain them illicitly.

Transportation - On February 27, 2006, CBP agents seized 2.6 pounds of 83-percent-pure fentanyl and 41 pounds of ice methamphetamine at a checkpoint along U.S. Highway 86 near Westmoreland, California, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The drugs were concealed beneath the floorboards in a passenger vehicle with Mexico license plates.

Distribution - Fentanyl investigations are ongoing in all of the areas in which the overdoses have been occurring. Although limited, some information has been revealed regarding the distributors.

In the Philadelphia/Camden area, the distributors are Dominican and Puerto Rican criminals.

In May 2006, officers arrested a reputed member of the Latin Kings street gang in his Camden, New Jersey, home with over 1,300 bags of fentanyl-laced heroin and $5,200.

The first week of May 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Philadelphia police arrested eight Hispanic drug distributors and seized 25,000 bags of fentanyl-tainted heroin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the Chicago area, the distributors were reported to be West African, Mexican, or Colombian criminals.

Outlook - Some indicators point to decreased availability of clandestinely produced fentanyl in some of the primary market areas. For example, public health authorities in New Jersey are reporting an increase in methadone overdoses among heroin abusers; the heroin abusers report they are unable to obtain a sufficient supply of heroin and have begun abusing methadone. Additionally, the number of opiate overdoses had decreased in Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan, the last week of May/first week of June. Only three suspected opiate overdose deaths were reported from May 29 through June 2, 2006; earlier in May, more than four deaths per day occurred in Wayne County. Moreover, public health authorities in Maryland and Delaware reported no new fentanyl-related events the last week of May. However, during the first weekend of June 2006, approximately 20 suspicious heroin overdoses were reported in Pittsburgh (PA); testing has yet to conclusively link these overdoses to fentanyl. NDIC continues to monitor law enforcement and public health indicators for further developments in the fentanyl situation.

Rules - 2007 - Control of a Chemical Precursor Used in the Illicit Manufacture of Fentanyl as a List I Chemical

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 11:07

FR Doc 07-2015 [Federal Register: April 23, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 77)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 20039-20047] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23ap07-5]

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration

21 CFR Part 1310

[Docket No. DEA-299I] RIN 1117-AB12

Control of a Chemical Precursor Used in the Illicit Manufacture of Fentanyl as a List I Chemical

AGENCY: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Department of Justice.

ACTION: Interim rule with request for comments.

SUMMARY: This rulemaking controls the chemical N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP) as a List I chemical under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). Clandestine laboratories are using this chemical to illicitly manufacture the schedule II controlled substance fentanyl.

The recent distribution of illicitly manufactured fentanyl has caused an unprecedented outbreak of hundreds of suspected fentanyl- related overdoses, at least 972 confirmed fentanyl-related deaths, and 162 suspected fentanyl-related deaths occurring mostly in Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. NPP has been identified as the starting material in several seized fentanyl clandestine laboratories. In addition to DEA's concern regarding the deaths associated with illicitly manufactured fentanyl, DEA is extremely concerned about the safety of law enforcement officers encountering these clandestine laboratories. Therefore, DEA is regulating NPP as a List I chemical through this Interim Rulemaking. DEA is soliciting comments on this Interim Rule.

This rulemaking will subject handlers of NPP to the chemical regulatory provisions of the CSA and its implementing regulations, including 21 CFR Parts 1309, 1310, 1313, and 1316. This rulemaking does not establish a threshold for domestic and international transactions of NPP. As such, all transactions involving NPP, regardless of size, shall be regulated. This rulemaking also specifies that chemical mixtures containing NPP will not be exempt from regulatory requirements at any concentration. Therefore, all transactions of chemical mixtures containing any quantity of NPP will be regulated and will be subject to control under the CSA.

DATES: This rulemaking will become effective on April 23, 2007. Persons seeking registration must apply on or before June 22, 2007 to continue their business pending final action by DEA on their application. Written comments must be postmarked, and electronic comments must be sent on or before June 22, 2007.

ADDRESSES: To ensure proper handling of comments, please reference "Docket No. DEA-299I" on all written and electronic correspondence. Written comments via regular mail should be sent to the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537, Attention: DEA Federal Register Representative/ODL. Written comments sent via express mail should be sent to DEA Headquarters, Attention: DEA Federal Register Representative/ODL, 2401 Jefferson-Davis Highway, Alexandria, VA 22301. Comments may be sent directly to DEA electronically by sending an electronic message to dea.diversion.policy@usdoj.gov. Comments may also be sent electronically through http://www.regulations.gov using the electronic comment form provided on that site. An electronic copy of this document is also available at the http://www.regulations.gov website. DEA will accept attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft word, WordPerfect, Adobe PDF, or Excel file formats only. DEA will not accept any file formats other than those specifically listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine A. Sannerud, Ph.D., Chief, Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537 at (202) 307-7183.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The DEA is extremely concerned with the increase in the illicit manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, which has resulted in hundreds of fentanyl-related overdoses and fentanyl-related deaths across the country. Fentanyl is a schedule II controlled substance. Fentanyl and analogues of fentanyl are the most potent opioids available for human and veterinary use. Fentanyl produces opioid effects that are indistinguishable from morphine or heroin. However, fentanyl has a greater potency and a shorter duration of action. Fentanyl is approximately 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin depending on the physiological or behavioral endpoints being measured, the route of administration, and other factors.

The legitimate medical use of fentanyl is for anesthesia and analgesia, but fentanyl's euphoric effects are highly sought after by narcotic addicts. Fentanyl can serve as a direct pharmacological substitute for heroin in opioid dependent individuals. However, fentanyl is a very dangerous substitute for heroin because the amount that produces a euphoric effect also induces respiratory depression. Furthermore, due to fentanyl's increased potency over heroin, illicit drug dealers have trouble adjusting ("cutting") pure fentanyl into proper dosage concentrations. As a result, unsuspecting heroin users or heroin users who know the substance contains fentanyl have difficulty determining how much to take to get their "high" and mistakenly take a lethal quantity of the fentanyl. Unfortunately, only a slight excess in the amount of fentanyl taken can be, and is often, lethal because the resulting level of respiratory depression is sufficient to cause the user to stop breathing.

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primary lethal exposure routes from high purity fentanyl are the following: accidental inhalation of airborne fentanyl powder; accidental transfer of fentanyl powder/liquid from contaminated hands/ gloves that inadvertently touch the mouth, nose, or other mucous membranes; and accidental transfer through cuts in the skin or roughly abraded skin.

Illicit Manufacture of Fentanyl

DEA has determined from the forensic testing of seized illicit fentanyl that both the Janssen synthesis route and the Siegfried method are being used to clandestinely produce fentanyl. In 1965, Janssen Pharmaceutical patented the original synthesis procedure for fentanyl, which used n-benzyl-4-piperidone as the starting material. The Janssen synthesis route is difficult to perform and is beyond the rudimentary skills of most clandestine laboratory operators. Only individuals who have acquired advanced chemistry knowledge and skills have successfully used this synthesis route. Forensic laboratories can determine whether fentanyl was manufactured illicitly by the Janssen route by detecting the impurity benzylfentanyl in the tested fentanyl drug exhibit.

In the early 1980s, an alternate fentanyl synthesis route was published in the scientific literature that uses NPP as the starting material. The Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number \1\ (CASRN) for NPP is 39742-60-4. The NPP synthesis route is described on the Internet and is referred to as the Siegfried method. The detection of the impurity 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine (ANPP) without the presence of benzylfentanyl in the fentanyl drug exhibit suggests that the fentanyl was manufactured by the Siegfried method (i.e., a small amount of ANPP is not consumed in the last reaction in the synthesis and a trace amount of ANPP can be found in the illicit fentanyl produced).

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\1\ The Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN) is created by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Division of the American Chemical Society and is part of an automated information system housing data and information on specific, definable chemical substances. The CAS registry number provides consistent and unambiguous identification of chemicals and facilitates sharing of chemical information.

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Since 2000, four of the five domestic fentanyl clandestine laboratories seized by law enforcement have used the Siegfried method or a modified version of the Siegfried method to manufacture the illicit fentanyl. From these four domestic clandestine laboratories, about 800 grams equivalent of pure fentanyl were seized. Furthermore, enough of the unused NPP precursor chemical was also seized to make an additional 5,000 grams of pure fentanyl. Therefore, from the amount of illicit fentanyl and precursor chemicals found at these four domestic fentanyl laboratories using the Seigfried method or modified Seigfried method, the laboratories could have potentially generated a total of 5,800 grams of illicit fentanyl. Since fentanyl is potent in sub- milligram quantities, the subsequent "cutting" of 5,800 grams of illicit fentanyl would be sufficient to make about 46 million fentanyl doses.

Three of the domestic fentanyl clandestine laboratories seized by law enforcement are known to have obtained the NPP precursor chemical from domestic suppliers. This rule will make the purchase of NPP from domestic or international suppliers a regulated transaction. In this way, DEA will be informed of the sale of NPP and can take appropriate action, if necessary. Thus, DEA is regulating the chemical NPP as a List I chemical under the CSA (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). Furthermore, under 21 U.S.C 811(e) of the CSA, DEA also intends to control ANPP as a schedule II immediate precursor to fentanyl under a separate rulemaking.

Illicit Fentanyl-Related Deaths

DEA has seen a recent increase in the illicit manufacture of fentanyl. In just the last three years, a total of four domestic fentanyl clandestine laboratories have been seized. Furthermore, in 2006, DEA saw a sharp increase in the seizures of illicit fentanyl. Law enforcement seized a one kilogram package of high purity illicitly- manufactured fentanyl hydrochloride in California, a variety of illicit tablets containing fentanyl whose appearance is designed to mimic Ecstasy and OxyContin[supreg] tablets, and various mixtures of illicitly-manufactured fentanyl powders combined with heroin or cocaine from locations across the United States.

The distribution of illicit fentanyl or illicit fentanyl combined with heroin or cocaine (i.e., a "speedball") has resulted in an outbreak of hundreds of suspected fentanyl-related overdoses, at least 972 confirmed fentanyl-related deaths, and 162 suspected fentanyl- related deaths occurring mostly in Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local medical examiners. DEA terms fentanyl-related deaths "suspected" until confirmed through the completion of an autopsy, a positive toxicological testing result for fentanyl in the blood, and the reporting of the death to the DEA.

Confirmed illicit fentanyl-related deaths have been reported to the DEA for the following six jurisdictions: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cook County, Illinois; Wayne County, Michigan; St. Louis County, Missouri; the entire state of New Jersey, and the entire state of Delaware. Between April 13, 2006, and September 27, 2006, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office confirmed 179 fentanyl-related deaths. Between April 18, 2005, and November 9, 2006, the Chief Medical Examiner of Cook County, Illinois confirmed 314 fentanyl-related deaths in the city of Chicago and its suburbs. Between August 27, 2005, and December 31, 2006, the Wayne County Medical Examiner confirmed 230 fentanyl-related deaths in the city of Detroit and the surrounding county. Between August 16, 2005, and August 28, 2006, the St. Louis Medical Examiner confirmed 33 fentanyl-related deaths in St. Louis County. Between January 25, 2006, and September 21, 2006, the New Jersey Department of Health confirmed 86 fentanyl-related deaths in the entire State of New Jersey. Between April 20, 2006, and September 2, 2006, the Chief Medical Examiner for Wilmington, Delaware, confirmed 19 fentanyl-related deaths in the entire state of Delaware. Since autopsies and toxicological testing for fentanyl take several weeks to complete and report, the above medical examiner reports represent the most current information regarding confirmed deaths linked to fentanyl available to DEA.

The graph below shows the monthly rate of fentanyl-related deaths in the city of Chicago and its suburbs (Cook County, Illinois) through the beginning of November 2006. The rapid onset of the illicit fentanyl outbreak can be observed in the graph.

BILLING CODE 4410-09-P

[[Page 20041]]

BILLING CODE 4410-09-C

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Beyond these 972 confirmed fentanyl-related deaths in the six jurisdictions outlined above, other areas of the country have also been significantly impacted by this problem. There are 162 suspected fentanyl-related deaths in these areas:

Grundy County, Illinois. Macomb, Oakland & Genesee Counties of Michigan. Rest of Pennsylvania. Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Kentucky, and Ohio.From the information and data collected, there is a strong indication that the fentanyl in these confirmed and suspected fentanyl- related deaths is illicitly manufactured rather than diverted from legal pharmaceutical manufacturers. Deaths related to fentanyl pharmaceutical products were eliminated from the fentanyl-related deaths reported to the DEA by both the Cook County and Philadelphia medical examiners. Furthermore, forensic testing of seized fentanyl drug exhibits has identified the illicit fentanyl impurities benzylfentanyl and/or ANPP in the majority of these exhibits. The current forensic data suggests that most of these fentanyl-related deaths are from fentanyl illicitly manufactured by the Siegfried method using NPP.

Availability of the Precursor Chemical

DEA has determined that the precursor chemical, NPP, is readily available from commercial chemical suppliers. DEA has identified at least 62 suppliers of NPP, of which 14 are located domestically and 48 are located internationally in Germany, India, and China. Since 2000, law enforcement has evidence to support that the NPP precursor chemical was obtained from domestic suppliers for three domestic fentanyl clandestine laboratories. Furthermore, a fentanyl clandestine laboratory in Mexico is believed to have obtained the NPP precursor chemical from an international supplier. Law enforcement has identified four separate chemical suppliers that have distributed NPP to illicit fentanyl clandestine laboratories. This rule will make the domestic sale of NPP a regulated transaction. This rule will also make the importation of NPP from an international supplier a regulated transaction. Documenting the domestic sale and importation of NPP is needed by law enforcement to identify the domestic diversion of NPP for the illicit manufacture of fentanyl in the United States.

Regulation of NPP as a List I Chemical

The CSA, specifically 21 U.S.C. 802(34), 21 U.S.C. 802(35), and its implementing regulations at 21 CFR 1310.02(c), provide the Attorney General with the authority to specify, by regulation, additional precursor or essential chemicals as "listed chemicals" if they are used in the manufacture of controlled substances in violation of the CSA. NPP is being used by clandestine laboratories as the starting material for the illicit manufacture of fentanyl. This interim rule regulates NPP as a List I chemical because DEA finds that NPP is used in the illicit manufacture of the controlled substance fentanyl and is important to the illicit manufacture of the controlled substance fentanyl.

Handlers of NPP will become subject to the chemical regulatory provisions of the CSA, including 21 CFR Parts 1309, 1310, 1313, and 1316. This rulemaking does not establish a threshold for domestic and import transactions of NPP pursuant to the provisions of 21 CFR 1310.04(g). Due to the high potency of fentanyl, even a single gram (i.e., 1/28th of an ounce) of NPP can be used illicitly to make about 7,750 dosage units of fentanyl. Therefore, all NPP transactions regardless of size shall be regulated transactions as defined in 21 CFR 1300.02(b)(28). As such, all NPP transactions will be subject to recordkeeping, annual manufacturer reporting of inventory and use data, import/export controls, and other CSA chemical regulatory requirements.

Chemical Mixtures of NPP

This rulemaking also specifies that chemical mixtures containing NPP will not be exempt from regulatory requirements at any concentration, unless an application for exemption of a chemical mixture is submitted by a NPP manufacturer and the application is reviewed and accepted by the DEA under 21 CFR 1310.13 (Exemption by Application Process). Since even a small amount of NPP is able to make a significant amount of fentanyl, the control of chemical mixtures containing any amount of NPP is necessary to prevent the illicit extraction, isolation, and use of the NPP. Therefore, all chemical mixtures containing any quantity of NPP will be subject to CSA control, unless the NPP manufacturer is granted an exemption by the application process discussed below. This interim rule modifies the Table of Concentration Limits in 21 CFR 1310.12(c) to reflect the fact that chemical mixtures containing any amount of NPP are subject to CSA chemical control provisions.

Exemption by Application Process

DEA has implemented an application process to exempt mixtures from the requirements of the CSA and its implementing regulations (21 CFR 1310.13). This application process was finalized in the Final Rule (68 FR 23195) published May 1, 2003. Under the application process, manufacturers may submit an application for exemption for those mixtures that do not qualify for automatic exemption. Exemption status can be granted if DEA determines that the mixture is formulated in such a way that it cannot be easily used in the illicit production of a controlled substance and that the listed chemical cannot be readily recovered (i.e., it meets the conditions in 21 U.S.C. 802(39)(A)(vi)).

Requirements for Handling List I Chemicals

The designation of NPP as a List I chemical will subject NPP handlers to all of the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to the manufacture, distribution, importing, and exporting of a List I chemical. Persons potentially handling NPP, including regulated chemical mixtures containing NPP, will be required to comply with the following List I chemical regulations:

1. Registration. Any person who manufactures or distributes a List I chemical, or proposes to engage in the manufacture or distribution of a List I chemical, must obtain a registration pursuant to the CSA (21 U.S.C. 822). Regulations describing registration for List I chemical handlers are set forth in 21 CFR Part 1309.

Consistent with 21 CFR Parts 1309 and 1310, separate registrations will be required for manufacturing, distribution, importing, and exporting of NPP. Different locations operated by a single entity require separate registration if any location is involved with the distribution, importation, or exportation of NPP. Further, a separate registration is required for each principal place of business at one general physical location where List I chemicals are distributed, imported, or exported by a person (21 CFR 1309.23). Any person distributing, importing, or exporting an NPP chemical mixture will be subject to the registration requirement under the CSA as well.

Effective April 23, 2007, any person manufacturing, distributing, importing, or exporting NPP or a chemical mixture containing NPP will become subject to the registration requirement under the

[[Page 20043]]

CSA. DEA recognizes, however, that it is not possible for persons who are newly subject to the registration requirement to complete and submit an application for registration and for DEA to issue registrations for those activities immediately. Therefore, to allow continued legitimate commerce, DEA is establishing in Sec. 1310.09(h) a temporary exemption from the registration requirement for persons desiring to engage in the manufacture, distribution, importation, or exportation of NPP, provided that DEA receives a properly completed application for registration on or before June 22, 2007. The temporary exemption for such persons will remain in effect until DEA takes final action on their application for registration or on their application for exemption for a chemical mixture containing NPP pursuant to Sec. 1310.13.

The temporary exemption applies solely to the registration requirement; all other chemical control requirements, including recordkeeping and reporting, are effective on April 23, 2007. Additionally, the temporary exemption does not suspend applicable Federal criminal laws relating to this chemical, nor does it supersede state or local laws or regulations. All manufacturers, distributors, importers, and exporters of NPP or chemical mixtures containing NPP must comply with applicable state and local requirements in addition to the CSA regulatory controls.

2. Records and Reports. The CSA (21 U.S.C. 830) requires that certain records be kept and reports be made with respect to listed chemicals. Regulations describing recordkeeping and reporting requirements are set forth in 21 CFR Part 1310. Pursuant to 21 CFR 1310.04, a record must be made and maintained for two years after the date of a transaction involving a listed chemical, provided the transaction is a regulated transaction.

Each regulated bulk manufacturer of a listed chemical will be required to submit manufacturing, inventory and use data on an annual basis (21 CFR 1310.05(d)). Existing standard industry reports containing the required information will be acceptable, provided the information is readily retrievable from the report.

Title 21 CFR 1310.05(a) requires that each regulated person shall report to DEA any regulated transaction involving an extraordinary quantity of a listed chemical, an uncommon method of payment or delivery, or any other circumstance that the regulated person believes may indicate that the listed chemical will be used in violation of the CSA and its corresponding regulations.

3. Import/Export. All imports/exports of a listed chemical shall comply with the CSA import and export provisions including 21 U.S.C. 957 and 971. Regulations for importation and exportation of List I chemicals are described in 21 CFR Part 1313.

4. Security. All applicants and registrants shall provide effective controls against theft and diversion of chemicals as described in 21 CFR 1309.71.

5. Administrative Inspection. Places, including factories, warehouses, or other establishments and conveyances, where registrants or other regulated persons may lawfully hold, manufacture, distribute, dispense, administer, or otherwise dispose of a regulated chemical/ chemical mixture or where records relating to those activities are maintained, are controlled premises as defined in 21 CFR 1316.02(c). The CSA (21 U.S.C. 880) allows for administrative inspections of these controlled premises as provided in 21 CFR 1316 Subpart A.

Justification for Interim Rulemaking

Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), an agency may forgo a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the accompanying period of public comment where "the agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the finding and a brief statement of the reasons therefore in the rules issued) that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest." DEA is implementing these controls as an Interim Rule because DEA has determined that the delay necessitated by following public notice and comment procedures would be "contrary to the public interest."

The public harm caused by the current illicit manufacture and distribution of fentanyl is unprecedented. The higher potency of fentanyl relative to heroin prevents illicit drug dealers from adjusting ("cutting") pure fentanyl into fixed, predictable, non- lethal dosage concentrations resulting in overdoses and deaths among the heroin user population. The manufacture and distribution of illicit fentanyl has generated a pattern of outbreaks of overdoses and deaths across the United States. Since April 2005, the current outbreak of illicit fentanyl is responsible for at least 972 confirmed fentanyl- related deaths and an additional 162 suspected fentanyl-related deaths. Most of the fentanyl-related deaths have occurred since February 2006 and have occurred mostly in the Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. These fentanyl-related deaths are continuing at a sustained rate.

The current volume of deaths is creating a growing crisis for law enforcement and health authorities. In response to the emerging crisis, DEA joined Chicago area law enforcement agencies to convene an emergency two-day conference on fentanyl in Chicago in June 2006 and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) convened a one-day demand reduction forum in Philadelphia in July 2006. Numerous law enforcement and health authorities expressed concern regarding recent increases in clandestine production of fentanyl and the resulting overdoses and deaths. The testing of drug exhibits by Federal, State, and local forensic laboratories confirms that the bulk of the fentanyl being distributed in the outbreak areas has been manufactured illicitly. Furthermore, the lack of a sudden increase in the diversion of fentanyl-containing pharmaceutical products supports the conclusion that the current outbreak of fentanyl-related deaths is from illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

The increase in street-level fentanyl may be the result of the relative ease with which fentanyl can be produced via the Siegfried method and the widespread distribution of the Siegfried method on the Internet. Preliminary data indicates that the majority of the deaths in the current fentanyl outbreak have been caused by the distribution of illicit fentanyl that was made by the Siegfried method. This determination is based on the identification of ANPP and the absence of the benzylfentanyl impurity in seized fentanyl drug exhibits. The starting material for the Siegfried method, NPP, is currently unregulated and readily available from both domestic and international chemical supply companies.

Immediate action at the Federal level is warranted to prevent the unregulated manufacture, importation, exportation, and distribution of the NPP precursor chemical. DEA, as well as other law enforcement and public health authorities, have concluded that this action is necessary to prevent any further domestic illicit production of fentanyl. Law enforcement has postulated that many of the fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in the Chicago and Detroit areas may be associated with a clandestine fentanyl laboratory recently seized in Mexico. However, a significant number of the fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths may also be associated with domestic clandestine fentanyl laboratories. Control of NPP will aid DEA's efforts to combat domestic production of illicit

[[Page 20044]]

fentanyl by enabling DEA to track NPP from its importation through all domestic transactions. Furthermore, the regulatory controls on the exportation of NPP to potential source countries will help DEA prevent the use of NPP exported from the United States for the foreign production of illicit fentanyl.

In April 2006, DEA issued an officer safety alert regarding the special precautions that must be observed when handling and processing suspected fentanyl. DEA is concerned with the unusual health hazards posed to law enforcement officers and forensic chemists from exposure to high purity fentanyl during law enforcement operations. Since high purity fentanyl can be fatal if sub-milligram quantities are accidentally swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin, the potential for lethal fentanyl exposure to law enforcement officers exists during raids of fentanyl clandestine laboratories, during seizures of drug exhibits, and during subsequent testing of pure fentanyl in the forensic laboratories. The primary lethal exposure routes from high purity fentanyl are the following: Accidental inhalation of airborne fentanyl powder; accidental transfer of fentanyl powder/liquid from contaminated hands/gloves that inadvertently touch the mouth, nose, or other mucous membranes; and accidental transfer through cuts in the skin or roughly abraded skin.

Another reason DEA is issuing the regulation of NPP as an Interim Rule is to prevent illicit fentanyl manufacturers from stockpiling NPP. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would provide advance warning to illicit fentanyl manufacturers of DEA's intent to control NPP. The illicit fentanyl manufacturers could easily stockpile multiple kilograms of NPP undetected before the chemical becomes regulated. Due to the potency of fentanyl, the stockpiling of as little as 10 kilograms of NPP is sufficient to cause another outbreak of fentanyl- related deaths of the unprecedented magnitude the U.S. is currently experiencing.

The Administrative Procedure Act permits an agency to forgo the delay in effective date associated with substantive rules "for good cause found and published with the rule" (5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3)). For the same reasons discussed above, in order to protect the public health and prevent further illicit production of fentanyl, this rule shall be effective immediately upon publication. Furthermore, pursuant to its authority under 21 U.S.C. 821 and 871, DEA has concluded that the threat to public health and safety is such that it is necessary and appropriate for DEA to forgo the requirements of 21 CFR 1310.02(c) that the agency publish a proposal 30 days prior to adding a listed chemical by final rule.

Handling of Confidential or Proprietary Information

Confidential or proprietary information may be submitted as part of a comment regarding this Interim Rulemaking. Confidential or proprietary information should be clearly identified at the beginning of the comment. Information designated as confidential or proprietary will be treated accordingly. The release of confidential business information is protected from disclosure by Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), and the U.S. Department of Justice procedures set forth in 28 CFR 16.8. Comments may be submitted using the information provided in the ADDRESSES section of this document, and must be postmarked on or before June 22, 2007.

Regulatory Certifications

Regulatory Flexibility Act and Small Business Concerns

The Deputy Administrator hereby certifies that this rulemaking has been drafted in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)). The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) applies to rules that are subject to notice and comment. DEA is issuing this rule as an emergency action and an interim final rule. Therefore, the RFA provisions do not apply. DEA did consider, however, the impact on small entities.

Some of the firms DEA identified as potentially handling NPP are small entities. The highest cost that the rule would impose on these firms is less than $2,500 for registration. The smallest firm (1 to 4 employees) in the organic chemical sector has annual revenues of about $1.1 million. For those not already registered with DEA, the cost of registration represents 0.2 percent of annual revenues, which does not constitute a significant economic impact. Consequently, this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Executive Order 12866

The Deputy Administrator certifies that this rulemaking has been drafted in accordance with the principles in Executive Order 12866 Sec. 1(b). It has been determined that this is "a significant regulatory action." Therefore, this action has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.

DEA is listing NPP as a List I chemical. Anyone manufacturing, distributing, importing, or exporting NPP will have to register each location where NPP is handled, maintain records of transactions involving NPP, and take steps to ensure that the chemicals are secure (e.g., stored in sealed containers in areas where access can be controlled or monitored). The requirement for records of transactions can be met using routine business records (e.g., purchase orders, shipping papers).

DEA has identified 14 domestic chemical companies that supply NPP and that would be required to comply with this rule. Furthermore, DEA has determined that the vast majority of the domestic use of NPP is for the manufacture of the schedule II drug fentanyl. Eight companies may domestically manufacture NPP, of which two of these companies may also import NPP. However, DEA has not been able to determine whether these companies are currently manufacturing NPP. Some companies may not manufacture NPP, but rather purchase NPP in order to redistribute it to meet special orders. Other companies may manufacture NPP upon receiving an order; one company indicated that it has not produced NPP for two years. DEA has identified an additional six domestic companies that appear to only import NPP for subsequent domestic distribution. DEA has been able to document one domestic pharmaceutical company that uses NPP to manufacture fentanyl or fentanyl analogues.

The cost of compliance with the chemical requirements is basically the cost of the annual registration fee ($2,430 for manufacturers; $1,215 for distributors, importers, and exporters) plus the time required to complete the registration form (0.5 hours); registrations can be completed online. The recordkeeping requirements can be met with normal business records. The FDA requirements for manufacturing practices for pharmaceutical ingredients, together with the value of the products, generally ensure that firms already have security measures adequate to meet DEA's requirements. Even if the two firms that could manufacture or import obtained separate registrations for the two business activities, the total cost of the rule would be less than $30,000, which is the rounded estimate of the cost for all fourteen firms to register with DEA in their respective business activities.

Executive Order 12988

This regulation meets the applicable standards set forth in Sections 3(a) and

[[Page 20045]]

3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform.

Executive Order 13132

This rulemaking does not preempt or modify any provision of State law; nor does it impose enforcement responsibilities on any State; nor does it diminish the power of any State to enforce its own laws. Accordingly, this rulemaking does not have federalism implications warranting the application of Executive Order 13132.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This Interim Rulemaking will subject persons handling NPP to CSA List I regulatory requirements. Any person who manufactures, distributes, imports, or exports NPP must register with DEA. As discussed previously, DEA has identified 14 domestic chemical companies who would be required to register with DEA. Persons wishing to register with DEA to handle List I chemicals must do so using DEA Form 510, Application for Registration under Domestic Chemical Diversion Control Act of 1993, and persons wishing to renew their registration must do so using DEA Form 510a, Renewal Application for Registration under Domestic Chemical Diversion Control Act of 1993 [OMB control 1117-0031].

Persons importing, exporting, and conducting international transactions involving NPP must comply with regulatory requirements regarding the notification of DEA of pending transactions. As DEA cannot estimate how many of the 14 identified firms import, export, or conduct international transactions with NPP, DEA is estimating that all identified firms conduct such transactions. DEA has no information regarding actual number of transactions conducted annually, but based on the uses of NPP believes that the number of transactions is very low. DEA is estimating that each firm will conduct five import transactions, and two export transactions annually. DEA has not identified any firms serving as United States brokers conducting international transactions involving NPP. Therefore, DEA has not estimated any international transactions involving NPP.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, has submitted the following information collection requests to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with review procedures of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collections are published to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies.

All comments and suggestions, or questions regarding additional information, to include obtaining a copy of the proposed information collection instrument with instructions, should be directed to Mark W. Caverly, Chief, Liaison and Policy Section, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537.

Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected agencies concerning the collections of information are encouraged. Your comments on the information collection-related aspects of this rule should address one or more of the following four points:

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Overview of Information Collections 1117-0031:

(1) Type of Information Collection: Revision of an existing collection.

(2) Title of the Form/Collection: Application for Registration under Domestic Chemical Diversion Control Act of 1993 and Renewal Application for Registration under Domestic Chemical Diversion Control Act of 1993.

(3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the U.S. Department of Justice sponsoring the collection: Form Number: DEA Form 510 and DEA Form 510a. Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Justice.

(4) Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as well as a brief abstract: Primary: Business or other for-profit. Other: Not-for-profit, government agencies. Abstract: The Domestic Chemical Diversion Control Act requires that manufacturers, distributors, importers, and exporters of List I chemicals which may be diverted in the United States for the production of illicit drugs must register with DEA. Registration provides a system to aid in the tracking of the distribution of List I chemicals.

(5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: DEA estimates that 2,301 persons respond to this collection annually. DEA estimates that it takes 30 minutes for an average respondent to respond when completing the application on paper, and 15 minutes for an average respondent to respond when completing an application electronically. This application is submitted annually.

(6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated with the collection: DEA estimates that this collection has a public burden of 783 hours annually.

FormNumber respondentsTotal burden hours DEA-510 (paper)18793.5 DEA-510 (electronic)10225.5DEA-510a (paper)644322 DEA-510a (electronic)1,368342Total

...................783 [[Page 20046]]

Overview of Information Collection 1117-0023:

(1) Type of Information Collection: Revision of an existing collection.

(2) Title of the Form/Collection: Import/Export Declaration for List I and List II Chemicals.

(3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the U.S. Department of Justice sponsoring the collection: Form Number: DEA Form 486. Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Justice.

(4) Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as well as a brief abstract: Primary: Business or other for-profit. Other: None. Abstract: Persons importing, exporting, and conducting international transactions with List I and List II chemicals must notify DEA of those transactions in advance of their occurrence, including information regarding the person(s) to whom the chemical will be transferred and the quantity to be transferred. For importations, persons must also provide return declarations, confirming the date of the importation and transfer, and the amounts of the chemical transferred. This information is used to prevent shipments not intended for legitimate purposes.

(5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of time estimated for an average respondent to respond:

(6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated with the collection: DEA estimates that this collection will take 3,305 hours annually.

Number of respondentsNumber of responses Average time per responseTotal hoursForm 486 (export)2397,9450.2 hour (12 minutes)1,589Form 486 (export return declaration)2397,9450.08 hour (5 minutes)662.08Form 486 (import)2302,3480.25 hour (15 minutes)587Form 486 (import return declaration)** DEA assumes 10% of all imports will not be transferred in the first thirty days and will necessitate submission of a subsequent return declaration.

2302,5830.08 hour (5 minutes)215.2Form 486 (international transaction)91110.2 hour (12 minutes)22.2Form 486 (international transaction return declaration)91110.08 hour (5 minutes)9.25Quarterly reports for imports of acetone, 2-butanone, and toluene1104400.5 hour (30 minutes)220Total

239..............3,304.73

If additional information is required, contact: Lynn Bryant, Department Clearance Officer, Information Management and Security Staff, Justice Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Patrick Henry Building, Suite 1600, 601 D Street NW., Washington, DC 20530.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

This rule will not result in the expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $114,000,000 or more in any one year, and will not significantly or uniquely affect small governments. Therefore, no actions were deemed necessary under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.

Congressional Review Act

This rule is not a major rule as defined by Section 804 of the Congressional Review Act/Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (Congressional Review Act). This rule will not result in an annual effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more; a major increase in cost or prices; or significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or on the ability of United States-based companies to compete with foreign-based companies in domestic and export markets.

List of Subjects 21 CFR Part 1310

Drug traffic control, List I and List II chemicals, reporting requirements.

For the reasons set out above, 21 CFR Part 1310 is amended as follows:

PART 1310--RECORDS AND REPORTS OF LISTED CHEMICALS AND CERTAIN MACHINES

1. The authority citation for part 1310 continues to read as follows:Authority: 21 U.S.C. 802, 827(h), 830, 871(b), 890.

2. Section 1310.02 is amended by adding a new paragraph (a)(28) to read as follows:Sec. 1310.02 Substances covered.

* * * * *

(a) * * *

(28) N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP)--8332. * * * * *

3. Section 1310.04 is amended by adding a new paragraph (g)(1)(vi) to read as follows:Sec. 1310.04 Maintenance of records.

* * * * *

(g) * * *

(1) * * *

(vi) N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP)

* * * * *

4. Section 1310.09 is amended by adding new paragraph (h) to read as follows:Sec. 1310.09 Temporary exemption from registration.

* * * * *

(h) Each person required under 21 U.S.C. 822 and 21 U.S.C. 957 to obtain a registration to manufacture, distribute, import, or export regulated N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP), including regulated chemical mixtures pursuant to Sec. 1310.12, is temporarily exempted from the registration requirement, provided that DEA receives a proper application for registration or application for exemption for a chemical mixture containing NPP pursuant to Sec. 1310.13 on or before June 22, 2007. The exemption will remain in effect for each person who has made such application until the Administration has approved or denied that application. This exemption applies only to registration; all other chemical control requirements set forth in the Act and parts 1309, 1310, 1313, and 1316 of this chapter remain in full force and effect. Any person who manufactures, distributes, imports or exports a chemical mixture containing N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP) whose application for exemption is subsequently denied by DEA must obtain a registration with DEA. A

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temporary exemption from the registration requirement will also be provided for those persons whose application for exemption are denied, provided that DEA receives a properly completed application for registration on or before 30 days following the date of official DEA notification that the application for exemption has been denied. The temporary exemption for such persons will remain in effect until DEA takes final action on their registration application.

5. Section 1310.12 is amended by adding in alphabetical order in the table in paragraph (c) an entry for "N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP)" to read as follows:Sec. 1310.12 Exempt chemical mixtures.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONCENTRATION LIMITS DEA chemical code No.ConcentrationSpecial conditionsN-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP)8332Not exempt at any concentrationChemical mixtures containing any amount of NPP are not exempt.* * * * *

Dated: April 11, 2007.

Michele M. Leonhart, Deputy Administrator.

[FR Doc. 07-2015 Filed 4-20-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-09-P

NOTICE: This is an unofficial version. An official version of this publication may be obtained directly from the Government Printing Office (GPO).

Recent fentanyl-linked overdoses evoke memories of 2006 '-- NewsWorks

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:36

Pennsylvania officials worry that a potentially deadly drug is making a comeback in the region. So far this year, 50 people have died from fentanyl-related overdoses in the state.

Fentanyl is an opiate, more powerful than morphine, that's often given to cancer patients in extreme pain. In 2006, an illicit, non-prescribed version led to hundreds of overdose deaths in Philadelphia.

The memory still haunts several veteran health and drug enforcement leaders, who are trying to get ahead of the curve this time.

An unusual occurrence

Public health leaders first suspected something might be going on this spring, but the clues came far from Philadelphia.

Lebanon County's drug and alcohol abuse services coordinator, Carol Davies, got a call one morning, notifying her that four people had overdosed. One died. She said it was an unusual occurrence for the small community.

"We were thinking it was really kind of scary because they could tell they were dealing with a different kind of substance," Davies said.

Tests confirmed the substance was fentanyl. Davies and others then contacted the state to see if this was a problem elsewhere. Within weeks they'd identified related overdose deaths in more than a dozen other counties. One was in Philadelphia. It triggered a public health alert, advising medical examiners and doctors to test for the drug.

The alert worries Roland Lamb, head of addiction services in Philadelphia, though he and others haven't observed anything out of the ordinary lately in Philadelphia. Lamb said the problem is, when produced illicitly, fentanyl can look like heroin, white and powdery, but it's far stronger.

"That poses significant problems in terms of overdose," said Lamb. "If they're naØve to that drug, to the potency of that drug, which can be anywhere from the pharmaceutical, which is four to eight times more potent than the heroin in the streets, to the illicitly produced, which is 40 times more potent."

Memory of 2006 episode still raw

Lamb remembers all too well when fentanyl got mixed into Philly's heroin supply in 2006. It's still hard for him to talk about it. Fentanyl-linked drug overdoses killed a thousand people nationwide, including more than 250 people in Philadelphia.

Nidia Flores could have been one of them.

Pointing to a corner on Somerset Street in the Kensington neighborhood, Flores recalls rushing out of a friend's house after injecting what she thought was pure heroin, and immediately passing out in the snow between two cars. Paramedics heeded her friend's 911 call. Had they arrived minutes later than they did, Flores was told, she wouldn't have survived.

"For me to still be here is God's grace," said Flores.

Flores said others weren't so lucky. Some who she knew sought out the more intense "high" they thought fentanyl offered. But the drug was so potent, people were overdosing with needles still in their arms.

"So many women died because they didn't know what was in it," said Flores.

Flores, who's 41 now, says that was a dark period for her. She still lives nearby, but instead spends her time reaching out to people, connecting them with services.

Drug enforcement and public health officials, meanwhile, are still trying to make sense of what happened in 2006, and hope to prevent it from happening again.

Finding the source

Inside a nondescript office park miles away from Flores' home, Jeremiah Daley, director of the Philadelphia Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, scans the Internet and internal documents for clues to what's leading to a possible resurgence of fentanyl use. Daley, a former narcotics officer, said he takes this concern and combating the widespread use of heroin and other drugs very seriously.

"I've seen heroin abuse as a major threat to public health for a number of years now, since I was with the Philadelphia Police Department, working the streets, seeing people that had overdosed on heroin, had lost loved ones to heroin, had had been arrested for heroin trafficking and such," said Daley.

Daley says he got a call this spring, notifying him of some of the fentanyl overdoses. He described it as an "oh, crap" moment because 2006 is also still fresh in his mind. He's not absolutely sure why it became such a problem then, but he has some theories.

Fentanyl is hard to make, and drug enforcement officers tracked much of it then to one production plant in Mexico. Daley thinks heroin producers were experimenting, mixing fentanyl with heroin, to try and make a "better" drug that could make them more money. He wonders if someone's experimenting again.

More prepared

Daley said drug and health leaders have become a lot more organized.

"I would say in '06 I didn't have one person in my Rolodex list from poison controls or the emergency medical side," said Daley. "Now I have dozens and I think that speaks well for all of us, we can pick up the phone and talk to each other."

Daley hopes the improved coordination will help them catch any sort of problem sooner, preventing anything from reaching the magnitude that it did in 2006.

While it's too soon to say whether fentanyl is making a comeback in Philly, it has been blamed for 14 overdose deaths in Rhode Island. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also issued an alert.

Daley and others, meanwhile, see this fentanyl scare as an acute issue that's part of a much bigger, endemic problem they're struggling to address: an across-the-board increase in heroin and prescription drug abuse in the last few years. Emergency responders received 900 drug overdose calls in Philadelphia last month, for example, compared with 750 calls this time last year.

And even without fentanyl, drugs claim more lives each year in Philadelphia than homicides.

Fentanyl | StoptheDrugWar.org

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 10:52

The Power of the Poppy: Harnessing Nature's Most Dangerous Plant Ally, by Kenaz Filan (2011, Park Street Press, 312 pp, $18.95 PB)

Kenaz Filan thinks that Poppy (always capitalized in the book) is a sentient being. Before you roll your eyes as you recall the fervent mushroom cultists who say the same sort of thing, recall also that more mainstream authors, such as foodie Michael Pollan, have been known to talk like that, too, posing similar questions about what plants want. I'm not personally convinced about the sentience of plants, but I find that adherents of such a position definitely bring something of value to the table: respect for their subjects.The opium poppy certainly deserves our respect. It can bring miraculous surcease from suffering through the pain-relieving alkaloids within, but those same alkaloids can also bring addiction, oblivion, and death. Our "most dangerous plant ally" can be both kindness and curse, boon and bane. Only by respecting Poppy, writes Filan, can we learn how best to manage our relationship with her.

The Power of the Poppy is part historical treatment, part cultural essay, part pharmacopeia, part practical guide. As such, positions on plant consciousness notwithstanding, it's a fascinating and illuminating treatment of the poppy and its derivatives. Filan traces the history of man's relationship with poppy from 6,000-year-old archeological digs in Europe, through early uses in the Roman empire and the Islamic world, and on to the current era of the war on drugs.

While Filan addresses the war on drugs and finds it stupid, this is not mainly a book about drug policy, and he dismisses the issue in short order. "Our war on drugs has been a one-sided rout," he writes in the introduction. "We keep saying 'no' to drugs, but they refuse to listen."

In his few pages devoted to the past century of opium prohibition, he reiterates the futility of trying to stamp out poppy even as its cultivation spreads. "Poppy is happy to fulfill our needs as long as we propagate her species," he writes. "To her, our 'war' is like locust invasions and droughts -- an annoyance, but hardly something that will endanger the continued existence of her children."

From there, Filan turns to the chemistry and pharmacology of opium and its derivatives and synthetics. He traces the isolation of morphine, codeine, heroin, thebaine (from which is derived hydromorphone [Dilaudid], oxymorphone [Opana], hydrocodone [Vicodin], and oxycodone [Oxycontin]), kompot (East European homebrew heroin), methadone, and fentanyl. Along the way, Filan touches on such topics as the lack of pain-relieving poppy products in the developing world, the development of Oxycontin and the rapid spread of "hillbilly heroin," and controversies over needle exchanges, safe injection sites, and methadone maintenance therapies.

In nearly every case of the development of a new opiate or opioid drug, researchers were hoping to find a substance that maintains poppy's analgesic qualities while eliminating or at least reducing its addictive ones. No such luck. "Despite the best efforts of our chemical minds," Filan writes, "Poppy still demands her bargain'...Even as we go to war with Poppy, we are forced to do business with her."

In his next section, demonstrates the bargain poppy extracts as he profiles 11 famous users, including Confessions of an Opium Eater author Thomas de Quincy, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Burroughs, Lou Reed (whose Velvet Underground-era Heroin and Waiting for My Man put the 1960s New York junkie experience to music), and DJ Screw, whom I must confess I never heard of until reading The Power of the Poppy. Mr. Screw, whose real name, it turns out, was Robert Earl Davis, was a Houston DJ who rose to hip-hop fame after smoking Mexican weed and accidentally hitting the pitch button as he mixed tapes. The ensuing distorted vocals and slowed down beats became known as "screwed down" and Davis picked up the moniker DJ Screw.

Among the favorite topics of Screw and his crew was "purple drank," a concoction of soda pop, codeine cough syrup, and Jolly Ranchers candy, that created a warm, relaxed high. Screwed down music was the perfect accompaniment for a drank-fueled evening. While DJ Screw died young, in part because of his fondness for drank, he was also an overweight, fried-food loving smoker. While drank may have helped make DJ Screw, as always, poppy exacted her part of the bargain.

In the final segment of the book, Filan gets practical. He describes how to grow your own (from papaver somniferum seeds widely available at gardening stores) and how to extract the raw opium. He describes poppy tea brewing recipes, as well as how to use poppy in pill, tablet, or capsule form; as well as eating smoking, snorting, and shooting it. And he doesn't stint on explaining the dangerous path one is on when one embraces the poppy. Although I don't recall Filan ever using the words harm reduction, he is all about it as he cautions about overdose, dependency, and addiction.

The Power of the Poppy elucidates the many ways the histories of man and poppy are intertwined, and it's full of interesting tidbits along the way. Who knew that the use of "dope" to mean drugs came from Dutch sailors mixing opium and tobacco off China in the 17th Century? They called the mixture "doep," like a greasy stew they ate. Or that calling seedy establishments "dives" derived from scandalized descriptions of California opium dens, with the patrons reclining on divans? Or that the scientific name for snorting is "insufflation"?

If you have an interest in opium and its role in human affairs, The Power of the Poppy will be both entertaining and enlightening. And -- who knows? -- maybe you'll start treating that plant and its derivatives with the respect they deserve.

Resolved Drug Shortage Bulletin: Fentanyl Transdermal System Patch

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Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 04:02

[07 June 2011]

Products Affected - DescriptionFentanyl Transdermal System, Teva25 mcg/hour patch (NDC 00093-6900-45)50 mcg/hour patch (NDC 00093-6901-45)75 mcg/hour patch (NDC 00093-6902-45)100 mcg/hour patch (NDC 00093-6903-45)

Reason for the ShortageTevacould notprovide a reason for the shortage of their products.Alza was holdingdistribution of Duragesic patches to Ortho-McNeil-Janssen due to a manufacturing investigation. Estimated Resupply DatesMallinckrodt has available all fentanyl transdermal patches including 25 mcg/hour (NDC 00409-9025-76), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 00409-9050-76), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 00409-9075-76), and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 00409-9000-76).Mylan has available all fentanyl transdermal patches including 12.5 mcg/hour (NDC 00378-9119-98), 25 mcg/hour (NDC 00378-9121-98), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 00378-9122-98), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 00378-9123-98) and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 00378-9124-98) strengths.Teva has production of all fentanyl transdermal patches halted indefinitely.Watson has available all fentanyl transdermal patches including 25 mcg/hour (NDC 00591-3198-72), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 00591-3212-72), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 00591-3213-72), and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 00591-3214-72) strengths.Sandoz has available all fentanyl transdermal patches including 12.5 mcg/hour (NDC 00781-7109-55), 25 mcg/hour (NDC 00781-7111-55), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 00781-7112-55), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 00781-7113-55), and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 00781-7114-55).Ortho-McNeil has available Duragesic 12.5 mcg/hour (NDC 50458-0037-05), 25 mcg/hour (NDC 50458-0033-05), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 50458-0034-05), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 50458-0035-05), and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 50458-0036-05) transdermal patches.Activis has available all fentanyl transdermal patches including 25 mcg/hour (NDC 67767-0120-18), 50 mcg/hour (NDC 67767-0121-18), 75 mcg/hour (NDC 67767-0122-18), and 100 mcg/hour (NDC 67767-0123-18) strengths.Related ShortagesUpdatedJune 7, 2011; May 19, 2011; May 13, 2011; April 26, 2011; April 21, 2011; April 15, 2011, University of Utah, Drug Information Service. Copyright 2011, Drug Information Service, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.

DisclaimerThis information is provided through the support of Novation to ASHP solely as a service to its members, which shall not use this information for their further commercial use. The content was prepared by the Drug Information Center of University of Utah. Novation, ASHP, and the University of Utah make no representations or warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose, which respect to such information, and specifically disclaim all such warranties. Users of this information are advised that decisions regarding the use of drugs and drug therapies are complex medical decisions and that in using this information, each user must exercise his or her own independent professional judgment. Neither Novation, ASHP nor the University of Utah assumes any liability for persons administering or receiving drugs or other medical care in reliance upon this information, or otherwise in connection with this bulletin. Neither Novation, ASHP nor University of Utah endorses or recommends the use of any drug.

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Current Drug Shortage Bulletin: Fentanyl Injection

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 04:02

[21 January 2014]

Products Affected - DescriptionFentanyl Injection 50 mcg/mL, Hospira10 mL ampules (NDC 00409-9093-36) - discontinued

2 mL Carpuject syringe (NDC 00409-1276-32)

50 mL vial (NDC 00409-9094-61)Sublimaze Injection 50 mcg/mL, Akorn2 mL ampules, 10 count (NDC 17478-0030-02)

Reason for the ShortageWest-Ward acquired Baxter's fentanyl injection products in May, 2011. The company began changing NDC numbers in July, 2012.1,2West-Ward states the shortage was due to a manufacturing delay for the fentanyl 50 mcg/mL 20 mL ampules. The 20 mL vials were in short supply due to increased demand.Hospira states the shortage is due to increased demand and manufacturing delays including quality improvement activities. Hospira is increasing production of the ampules to help meet the demand. 3Akorn launched Sublimaze injection in late-March, 2012.4Available ProductsSublimaze Injection 50 mcg/mL, Akorn

2 mL ampules, 25 count (NDC 17478-0030-25)5 mL ampules, 10 count (NDC 17478-0030-05)5 mL ampules, 25 count (NDC 17478-0030-55)20 mL ampules (NDC 17478-0030-20)

Fentanyl Injection 50 mcg/mL, West-Ward

2 mL ampule (NDC 00641-6024-10)

2 mL vial (NDC 00641-6027-25)

5 mL vial (NDC 00641-6028-25)

5 mL ampule (NDC 00641-6025-10)

20 mL vial (NDC 00641-6029-25)

20 mL ampule (NDC 00641-6026-05)

50 mL vial (NDC 00641-6030-01)Fentanyl Injection 50 mcg/mL, Hospira2 mL ampule (NDC 00409-9093-32)

2 mL vial (NDC 00409-9094-22)5 mL vial (NDC 00409-9094-25)

5 mL ampule (NDC 00409-9093-35)10 mL vial (NDC 00409-9094-28)20 mL vial (NDC 00409-9094-31)

20 mL ampule (NDC 00409-9093-38)

Estimated Resupply DatesHospira has fentanyl 50 mcg/mL 2 mL Carpuject syringes on back order with an estimated release date of late-February 2014. Fentanyl 50 mcg/mL 50 mL vials are on back order and the company estimates a release date of March 2014.3Akorn has Sublimaze 50 mcg/mL 2 mL ampule 10 count available in limited supplies. Check your wholesaler for availability.4Implications for Patient CareFentanyl is labeled for use in analgesia for short duration or as a narcotic supplement in general and regional analgesia.5 Fentanyl is also labeled for use with a neuroleptic for premedication of induction of anesthesia and as an adjunct for general anesthesia maintenance. Fentanyl is also labeled for use with oxygen as an anesthetic agent in high risk patients, including those undergoing complicated procedures.5

SafetyRemifentanil, alfentanil, fentanyl and sufentanil may sound alike/look alike. However, dosage recommendations vary significantly between the agents.5-8 Patient harm can occur if these agents are used erroneously. Use extra caution not to confuse these agents.

Alternative Agents & ManagementAlternative opiate agonists vary in onset time and duration of action, see Table 1.5-15No single agent can be substituted for fentanyl. The choice of an alternative agent must be patient-specific and based on the clinical situation, venous access, renal and hepatic function, and other comorbid conditions. Utilize stakeholder clinicians to help make specific plans for individual patient populations. Table 2 provides some alternatives to fentanyl for specific clinical situations.Some presentations of alternative agents including sufentanil and butorphanol are in short supply.16Drawing up individual doses in syringes may help conserve product. Ensure USP 797 requirements are met.Consider reserving fentanyl for high risk populations such as newborn and obstetrics.Related ShortagesWest-Ward (personal communications). July 5, August 19, September 6 and 20, October 5, 20 and 27, November 1, 8, and 23, December 6, 15, 19, and 28, 2011; January 4 and 5, February 1 and 22, March 5, 12, and 20, April 9, May 9, June 14 and 21, July 30, August 6, September 24, October 12, November 16, December 17, 2012; January 23 and 25, February 21, March 4, and April 3, 17, and 22, May 8 and 20, June 4 and 18, July 2,5, 22, and 26, August 9, 19, and 30, September 13, October 2, 4, and 24, December 20, 2013; and January 17, 2014.Baxter (personal communications). June 7 and 14, July 21 and 27, September 8 and 30, October 20 and 25, November 3, December 7 and 21, 2010; January 4, 18, and 31, March 4 and 24, and May 9 and 18, and June 21, 2011.Hospira (personal communications and website). June 7 and 15, July 22 and 29, September 10, October 1, 11, 22, and 25, November 3, December 7 and 20, 2010; January 4, 18, and 31, March 4 and 23, May 10 and 23, June 20, July 5, August 15, September 6 and 20, October 3, 20, 24, and 31, November 8 and 22, December 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2011; January 3, 9, and 30, February 20, March 5, April 12, May 9, June 11 and 18, July 30, August 13, October 1 and 24, November 12 and 27, December 19, 2012; January 23, February 6 and 21, March 4 and 8, and April 3, 17, and 26, May 8 and 30, June 4 and 18, July 10 and 22, August 1, 15, 26, and 30, September 16, October 2 and 24, December 20, 2013; and January 21, 2014.Akorn (personal communications). March 14, April 12, May 9, June 7 and 20, August 2 and 16, October 1, November 16, December 19, 2012; February 21, and April 3 and 19, May 6 and 21, and June 4 and 15, July 25, August 26, October 2 and 8, December 20, 2013; and January 17, 2014. Fentanyl Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Hospira; 2008.Sufentanil Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Hospira; 2004.Alfentanil Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Hospira; 2004.Ultiva (remifentanil) Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Mylan Institutional; 2009 March.Hutchison TA, Shahan DR, Anderson ML, eds. Drugdex System [internet database]. Greenwood Village, CO: Thomson Healthcare; 2011. Updated periodically.Lacy CF, Armstrong LL, Goldman MP, Lance LL, eds. Drug Information Handbook. 17th ed. Hudson, OH: Lexi-Comp; 2010.Opiate Agonists. In: McEvoy GK, Snow EK, Miller J, Kester L, Welsh OH, eds. AHFS 2011 Drug Information. Bethesda, MD: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; 2011: 2188-2231.Nonvolatile Anesthetic Agents. In: Morgan GE, Mikhail, MS, Murray, MJ. Clinical Anesthesiology. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2006:179-204.Opioids, Analgesia, and Pain Management. In: Brunton LL, Chabner BA, Knollman BC, eds. Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. 12th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2011: 481-525.Scott LJ, Perry CM. Remifentanil: a review of its use during the induction and maintenance of general anaesthesia. Drugs. 2005;65(13):1793-1823.Scholz J, Steinfath M, Schulz M. Clinical pharmacokinetics of alfentanil, fentanyl and sufentanil. An update. Clin Pharmacokinet. Oct 1996;31(4):275-292.American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Drug Shortage Resource Center. Accessed on November 2, 2011.Baughman VL, Golembiewski J, Gonzales JP, Alvarez, W, eds. Anesthesiology and Critical Care Drug Handbook. 9th ed. Hudson, OH: Lexi-Comp; 2010.Gibbs RS, Karlan BY, Haney AF, Nygaard I, eds. Danforth's Obstetrics and Gynecology. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008.Butorphanol Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Hospira; 2004.Nalbuphine Injection [product information]. Lake Forest, IL: Hospira; 2007.Hinova A, Fernando R. Systemic remifentanil for labor analgesia. Anesth Analg. 2009;109(6):1925-1929.Diprivan (propofol) injection [product information]. Schaumburg, IL: APP, 2009.Trummel J. Sedation for gastrointestinal endoscopy: the changing landscape. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. Aug 2007;20(4):359-364.UpdatedUpdated January 21, 2014 by Michelle Wheeler, PharmD, Drug Information Specialist. Created November 2, 2011 by Michelle Wheeler, PharmD, Drug Information Specialist. Copyright 2014, Drug Information Service, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.

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Duragesic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 03:32

Duragesic and Durogesic// are trade names of fentanyltransdermal patches, used for relief of moderate to severe pain. The patches release fentanyl, a potent opioid, slowly through the skin. One patch may provide 72 hours of pain relief. Initial onset of effectiveness after a patch has been applied is typically 8''12 hours under normal conditions; thus, Duragesic patches are often prescribed with another opioid (such as morphine sulfate) to handle breakthrough pain.

Approval and usage[edit]Duragesic was first approved by the College ter Beoordeling van Geneesmiddelen, the Medicines Evaluation Board in the Netherlands, on 17 July 1995 as 25, 50, 75 and 100 µg/h formulations after a set of successful clinical trials, and on October 27, 2004 the 12 µg/h formulation was approved as well. On Jan 28, 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved first-time generic formulations of 25, 50, 75, and 100 µg/h fentanyl transdermal systems (made by Mylan Technologies, Inc.; brand name Duragesic, made by Alza Corp.) through an FTC consent agreement derailing the possibility of a monopoly in the treatment of Breakthrough Chronic Pain by Alza Corp. In some cases, physicians instruct patients to apply more than one patch at a time, giving a much wider range of possible dosages. For example, a patient may be prescribed a 37.5 µg dosage by applying one 12 µg patch and one 25 µg patch simultaneously, or contingent on the large size of the (largest) 100 ˆéºg/h patch, multiple patches are commonly prescribed for doses exceeding 100ˆéºg/h, such as two 75 ˆéºg/h patches worn to afford a 150 ˆéºg/h dosage regimen. Although the commonly referred to dosage rates are 12/25/50/75/100 µg/h, the "12 µg" patch actually releases 12.5 µg/h.[1] It is designed to release half the dose of the 25 µg/h dose patch.

Duragesic is manufactured by ALZA Corporation and marketed by Janssen Pharmaceutica (both subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson). During the period of June 2002 through June 2003, Duragesic sales totaled over one billion.

As of July 2009, construction of the Duragesic patch had been changed from the gel pouch and membrane design to "a drug-in-adhesive matrix designed formulation", as described in the prescribing information.[1] This construction eliminates the possibility of leakage and leakage-related accidental overdosing, and makes illicit use of the fentanyl more difficult.

Warnings[edit]Since Duragesic and Durogesic are highly potent, there are many black box warnings in Duragesic's and Durogesic's prescribing information.[2] Additionally, due to the risk of serious adverse drug reactions, it is highly important that the patches be applied correctly and as prescribed. Also, care must be taken to guard against the application of external heat sources (such as direct sunlight, heating pads, etc.) which in certain circumstances can trigger the release of too much medication and cause life-threatening complications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued public health advisories related to fentanyl patch dangers. Among these, in July 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory,[3] which advised that "deaths and overdoses have occurred in patients using both the brand name product Duragesic and the generic product." In December 2007, as part of this continuing investigation, the FDA issued a second Public Health Advisory[4] stating, "The FDA has continued to receive reports of deaths and life-threatening side effects in patients who use the fentanyl patch. The reports indicate that doctors have inappropriately prescribed the fentanyl patch... In addition, the reports indicate that patients are continuing to incorrectly use the fentanyl patch..."

Fentanyl patches are designed to be used by patients with a higher opiate tolerance. They should not be used for mild or moderate acute pain and should not be used for short-term treatment of pain. Full benefits of pain relief from patches may take 4 to 10 days, although "relief" can be felt within hours.

Storage and Disposal[edit]The fentanyl patch is one of a small number of drugs that may be especially harmful, and in some cases fatal, with just one dose, if used by someone other than the person for whom the drug was prescribed. [5] Unused fentanyl patches should be kept in a secure location that is out of children's sight and reach, such as a locked cabinet.

When they cannot be disposed of through a drug take-back program, flushing is recommended for fentanyl patches because it is the fastest and surest way to remove them from the home so they cannot harm children, pets, and others who were not intended to use them. [6][7]

Fentanyl patches should be flushed down the toilet as soon as they are removed from the body and unused fentanyl patches should be flushed as soon as they are no longer needed. Detailed ''Instructions for Use,'' with complete information on how to apply, use, and dispose of fentanyl patches, are available on the FDA website. [8]

Recalls[edit]In February 2004, a leading fentanyl supplier, Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P. recalled one lot of fentanyl (brand name: Duragesic) patches because of seal breaches which may allow the drug to leak from the patch. The recall notice warned that "exposure to the Duragesic hydrogel contents could result in an increased absorption of the opioid component, fentanyl, leading to increased drug effect, including nausea, sedation, drowsiness, or potentially life threatening complications." Janssen also later recalled additional lots; a series of Class II Recalls were then initiated in March 2004 due to a potentially life-threatening manufacturing defect. At least one fatality, possibly due to the defect, has been reported to the American FDA.

The 25 µg/h Duragesic patches manufactured by ALZA Corporation were also recalled in February 2008 due to a concern that small cuts in the gel reservoir could result in accidental exposure of patients or health care providers to the fentanyl gel. Overexposure in patients, or even slight exposure in non opioid tolerant people, could possibly result in a fatal overdose.[9]

In February 2011, the manufacturer suspended production of all Duragesic patches due to quality control issues involving unspecified "microscopic crystallization" detected during the manufacturing process of the 100 µg/h strength. According to the Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Scientific Affairs Public Information Center (800-526-7736) the issues were resolved and existing stocks were released for shipment beginning mid-April for the 25 & 50 µg/hr strengths. The remaining strengths are scheduled to resume distribution in late April. Widespread rumors circulating about the manufacturer discontinuing this product line are completely false. 100 µg patches have also returned to the market, along with many other doses/preparations of Fentanyl, however it is not known whether the aforementioned 100 µg patches are actually Duragesic products, or simply a generic alternative.

Legal action[edit]On June 19, 2007, a $5.5 million jury verdict was awarded in a US case against Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Alza Corporation and Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, the manufacturers of the Duragesic fentanyl transdermal pain patch. This case, the first Federal trial involving the Duragesic fentanyl patch, was tried in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division.

J&J has filed an opposition [10] to the trademark application Dermogesic filed by Minnesota High Tech Resources, LLC for their iontophoretic transdermal patch. The litigation has been ongoing since 2002. The trial has been completed. The parties are now drafting and filing their final briefs. J&J's main argument is that the Dermogesic mark dilutes their Durogesic brand and adds confusion in the marketplace. Obviously, Minnesota High Tech Resources, LLC disagrees with this position. Minnesota High Tech Resources, LLC is a very small biomedical research company owned by two individuals in Red Wing, MN.

The website DangerousDrugs.US has posted numerous documents[11] revealed during discovery in Duragesic lawsuits, including FDA inspection reports, depositions of ALZA executives, and expert witness reports.

References[edit]External links[edit]

Watson Pharmaceuticals is now Actavis

Fentanyl Patch Recall Announced - Topical - Chronic Pain

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 03:24

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced Tuesday that one lot of 100 mcg/hr Fentanyl Transdermal System patches sold in the U.S. is being voluntarily recalled from wholesalers and pharmacies. The recalled patches are from Lot Number 145287A, have expiration dates of February 2011 and were manufactured by Watson Laboratories, Inc. and distributed by Watson Pharma, Inc. The affected lot of Fentanyl Transdermal System patches was shipped to customers between April 2, 2009 and May 20, 2009. No other strengths or lots were affected and the Company does not anticipate any product shortages as a result of this recall. The Company has notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the recall.

A small number of patches leaking fentanyl gel have been detected in this lot, potentially exposing patients or caregivers directly to fentanyl gel. Fentanyl patches that are leaking should not be used. No serious injuries have been reported in connection with the recalled lot. However, exposure to fentanyl gel may lead to serious adverse events, including respiratory depression and possible overdose, which may be fatal.

If you have 100 mcg/hr Fentanyl Transdermal System patches, check the box or foil pouch for the lot number and expiration date to see if you have patches that are being recalled. Affected patches should not be handled directly. If you have the 100 mcg/hr Fentanyl Transdermal System patches being recalled, call 888-345-2656, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EDT, for instructions on how to return affected product. If you are using fentanyl patches and have medical questions, contact your doctor.

If you come in contact with the fentanyl gel, thoroughly rinse the exposed skin with large amounts of water only; do not use soap. The company advises that you immediately dispose of affected patches that may be damaged or compromised in any way by flushing them down the toilet, using caution not to handle them directly. Damaged and/or compromised patches that have leaked gel will not provide effective pain relief.

Any adverse reactions experienced with the use of this product, and/or quality problems should also be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Program by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088, or on the MedWatch Web site at www.fda.gov/medwatch.

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Shocker: Playwright David Bar Katz Reportedly Claims He Was Philip Seymour Hoffman's Secret Gay Lover

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Archived Version

Source: Radar Online Radar Online

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:26

In what has become a war of words, screenwriter David Bar Katz, the man who found the body of late Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, reportedly tells The National ENQUIRER he was in a gay relationship with the actor.

''We were homosexual lovers,'' Katz, Hoffman's friend and confidante, said in a new interview, according to the magazine, which hit newsstands on Wednesday.

''We had a relationship.''

Katz told The ENQUIRER prior to discovering the Boogie Nights star in his bathroom early Sunday, he and Hoffman had been ''planning to go to the Super Bowl together and have a really nice day.

PHOTOS: To Be Continued'... Stars Who Died During Production

''This is so terrible,'' he added.

But confronted at the West Village apartment of Hoffman's longtime girlfriend, Mimi O'Donnell, on Wednesday, Katz insisted, ''I never said that, no.''

Katz's denial was followed by a statement in which he vowed to take legal action.

According to The ENQUIRER, Katz said he'd witnessed the actor use heroin before, ''but I never thought his addiction had reached that level.''

Katz reportedly said he'd seen the troubled actor freebase cocaine the night prior to his fatal overdose.

PHOTOS: The Woman He Left Behind: Philip Seymour Hoffman's Devastated Partner Mimi O'Donnell Surfaces In New York

A source told The ENQUIRER that Hoffman's issues with drugs and his sexuality eventually put an end to his relationship with Mimi O'Donnell, his girlfriend of 15 years and the mother of his three kids.

''His drug use, and his ambivalence over whether he was straight or gay, drove a wedge between him and Mimi and broke them up,'' the insider told The ENQUIRER. ''One part of him wanted a normal family life while another part wanted heroin and the gay life.''

For more on this story, check out this week's edition of The ENQUIRER.

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Facebook instant gratification 'not healthy'

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Archived Version

Source: euronews

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:16

Your Facebook status, what you say there, tends to identify the sort of person you are.

From narcissists to loners'... with more than 1.2 billion people using it, psychotherapists find ample scope for study, to discover what people want and what reactions they hope to get.

Say jealousy: ''On my way home'... whistled at, honked at, almost caused a car crash. Sometimes I really hate guys.''

Or more enigmatic attention-getting: ''This could be a veeery important day.''

Hard to say if some posts are boasts, competing or just informing: ''First the gym, then study.''

Clearer image projection comes with: ''I sympathise with the Egyptians fighting for their freedom. Everyone has the right to be free.''

Behaviourists say Facebook reflects need for acknowledgement.

Lucy Beresford, UK-based psychotherapist: ''It colludes with our deep desire to be affirmed, to have lots of positive affirmation. I'm thinking of the pokes, I'm thinking of the likes. We almost do things specifically to post them on Facebook and then to get that feedback, to get that instant gratification, and that's not healthy.''

To mark its ten-year existence, the site offers a ''Look Back'' video made with around 20 of the user's most-liked photos and so on, set to music.

Karen North, Professor of social media, University of Southern California: ''Facebook now is your address book and your photo gallery. It's got your photo gallery from your entire family lineage if you want it to, and people who went to elementary school together are finding old pictures from their childhoods, so we now have an extensive library of photos from our family history and from our social lives.''

No matter that some people still identify with the quote from Jackie Kennedy: ''I want to live my life, not record it.''

It is a choice.

Social networks have also, let's remember, been used to exchange important information, and this has been potentially revolutionary, as they allow users to escape censorship and control by authorities, as in the Arab Spring uprisings.

Bel Trew, Cairo-based journalist: ''Citizen journalism really exploded in 2011 and Facebook and Twitter were one of those ways, well two of those ways, that people were able to get information out there to the rest of the world, because their own media wasn't helping.''

Facebook can be a conduit, an archive, give us many 'eyes'. But let's end with a note from thinker Susan Sontag (1933-2004). She said: ''The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own.'' She put more stress on real experience than virtual experience.

3 Ways Facebook Is Like a Drug That Can Permanently Change Your Brain

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Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 08:25

July 12th, 2013 by Marghi MerzenichI recently read a pretty thought-provoking article about how checking Facebook (or other social networks) may be permanently changing the brain, because it offers your brain chemical rewards not unlike those that occur from compulsive drug use. The article is worth a read but pretty long and detailed, so I wanted to summarize a few of the most interesting claims here.

First, we get addicted to Facebook because we enjoy ''the thrill of the hunt'':

''Recent observations indicate that the brain is more active when people are anticipating a reward rather than receiving one. This is because we are wired to seek, and to really enjoy the thrill of the hunt. The Internet can ensnare you in a dopamine loop since it makes the process of reward-seeking so quick and easy. Basically, we like dopamine surges '' and we get some of the best ones when we are hunting for something new. Actually getting the something new is a downer'... so the hunt is where the best dopamine surges are found.''

That would explain why we feel the urge to check our Facebook feeds so often, but it doesn't necessarily give us that much pleasure once we've checked it and seen what others have posted.

Second, Facebook may be worse for your brain than TV '' and the more you use Facebook, the more you may be training your brain in a negative way:

''Facebook is worse than television programming for your brain. Far worse'... Part of the process of creating a television program is to ensure a certain number of JPMs ["Jolts per Minute: how many times the action changes '' by sight or sound] to forcefully hold the viewers attention. These may be images of violence, loud emotional speech, laughter, sexual innuendo or just about any other form of emotional manipulation. Watching Mr. Rogers or Bob Ross paint on PBS has a very low JPM level, say 5-15 JPMs. This allows a consistent stream of thought on the subject at hand '' long enough to learn something new by reflecting on it. But [with Facebook] we have gone beyond Jolts Per Minute to Jolts Per Second (JPS).''

The author goes on to cite an ADHD researcher who mentions that our attention is ''trained'' by the stimulus inputs. In other words, if we get accustomed to more jolts, more often, we will crave more and more jolts, more often, instead of being satisfied with fewer jolts, less often.

And finally, in regards to self-esteem, Facebook is harming it:

''Basically, the architecture of Facebook '' and the culture it creates or encourages '' leaves many of us feeling less happy with our own lives. This drives a degree of emptiness '' which encourages narcissism in an attempt to raise our spirits. We post pictures of something cool we did, or try to get more ''likes'' or ''friends.'' But our blood sugar '' our self-esteem '' keeps crashing, and the longer the Facebook Habit goes, the less attractive it is for us. We develop a dependency, just like a drug or processed junk food.''

If you want to read the full article, you can find it here.

What do you think? Is Facebook like a drug to you?

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Hoffman body tests 'inconclusive'

Philip Seymour Hoffman Didn't Have to Die

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Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 10:21

Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Five Points restaurant in the Manhattan borough of New York, Dec. 7, 2005. Hoffman was found dead at his New York apartment on Sunday morning, Feb. 2, 2014, of an apparent drug overdose, according to a law enforcement official who requested anonymity. He was 46. (Photo: Sara Krulwich / The New York Times)

Today movie fans and film aficionados all over the world are mourning the death of the one of the greatest actors of all time: Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The star of such films as Capote and The Hunger Games, Hoffman was known as an "actor's actor," the type of guy both casual moviegoers and artists respect. He was a true actor, not just a performer, and was capable of playing a wide range of characters.

He was found dead in a New York City apartment at around 11 AM Sunday, just blocks away from where his kids were playing at a playground.

Police found a syringe and bags of heroin at the scene, so all signs point to a heroin overdose as the cause of death.

Details are still emerging, but it appears that the heroin found in Hoffman's apartment belongs to nasty strain of laced heroin known by such names as "Ace of Spades" and "Theraflu."

Hoffman was only 46-years-old, a master of his craft, and a father of three young children. It is truly a tragedy that someone with that much talent and that much to live for died so young.

But perhaps the most tragic thing of all is that Hoffman's death could very easily have been prevented.

It could have been prevented if we in the United States started to do what countries like the United Kingdom and Switzerland have been doing for years: prescribing heroin to heroin addicts.

This sounds counterintuitive, but it actually makes perfect sense once you understand how heroin works.

Opiate drugs like heroin are highly addictive, but abuse of alcohol and tobacco causes more serious damage to the body. Heroin does not ravage the liver and does not cause lung cancer.

While heroin addiction does have some negative long-term health effects, the real dangers of heroin abuse are overdose and disease.

Heroin overdoses happen for two main reasons: 1) the user is inexperienced or careless and uses too much heroin accidentally or 2) the user has become so addicted that they start using more heroin or more potent strains of heroin to get stronger highs. This is what appears to have caused Philip Seymour Hoffman's overdose.

The other major risk of heroin addiction actually has nothing to do with the drug itself. Where heroin is illegal, addicts usually don't have access to clean needles, and so many of them end up sharing dirty needles with other users in the addict community. As a result, many addicts end up contracting HIV or other blood-born diseases like Hepatitis C.

As long as they use heroin, drug addicts run the risk of either overdosing or contracting deadly diseases. Criminalizing addiction, like we do here in the United States, actually increases both of these risks, and thus dramatically increases the costs to all of society - you and me included - of the very, very small percentage of Americans who are heroin addicts.

Instead of punishing addicts or scaring them away from public view, we need to treat their condition like a public health problem. This is exactly what countries like Great Britain, Switzerland - and, until November, Canada - have done with their heroin prescription programs.

Once an addict gets a prescription for legal heroin, he has access to safe, clean needles and the purest forms of heroin possible. The addict also has access to anti-addiction programs to help him wean himself off heroin while getting the dosage he needs to avoid painful withdrawal symptoms.

Critics say that prescribing heroin endorses heroin addiction, but the facts don't lie: heroin prescription programs work.

After the Swiss legalized prescription programs in the mid-1990s, they saw an immediate drop in both drug related deaths and deaths due AIDS among drug addicts.

More recent studies have reached the same conclusion.

A paper published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009 looked at a set of experimental prescription programs in Canada and found that they "led to a significant reduction of crime and overdose deaths."

Similar new research put out in 2012 by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found that the benefits of prescription heroin include,

"...a major reduction in the extent of continued injecting of 'street' heroin, improvements in general health, psychological well-being and social functioning, as well as major disengagement from criminal activities (such as acquisitive crime to fund continued use of 'street' heroin and other street drugs)."

That study also found that heroin prescription programs saved more lives than traditional addiction treatment programs that use a drug known as methadone as a replacement for heroin. Many suggest that methadone - a synthetic drug - is actually more addictive and destructive than heroin, which is derived from opium poppies.

But studies only tell half the story. For heroin addicts themselves, prescription programs are a chance to tackle their problems head on without having to worry about going to jail or stealing to pay for a fix.

Former addict Dave Murray recently told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that an experimental prescription program in Vancouver "definitely worked" and took away "a lot of stress."

Ultimately, heroin addiction is a public health problem, and if we are truly interested in doing something about it, we need to start treating it like a public health problem.

This means we must embrace solutions, like heroin prescription programs, even though they may seem counterintuitive.

In the end, fighting heroin addiction and drug addiction in general, for that matter, should be dealt with in the most practical fashion possible. That's why the United States should start its own heroin prescription program as soon as possible.

Not only are people's lives are at stake, but as long as heroin is not available by prescription, the public health is at risk.

Report: Philip Seymour Hoffman 'scored his smack like a common junkie' in the East Village

JAMA Network | JAMA | SAMHSA: Pain Medication Abuse a Common Path to Heroin: Experts Say This Pattern Likely Driving Heroin Resurgence

Metro Detroit | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

UPDATE 2-Autopsy conducted on Hoffman, answers sought on actor's drug use

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 03:59

UPDATE 2-Autopsy conducted on Hoffman, answers sought on actor's drug useBusiness

UPDATE 2-Autopsy conducted on Hoffman, answers sought on actor's drug use

Tue, Feb 04 04:48 AM IST

(Adds information about deadly strain of heroin, details on drugs found in apartment, paragraphs 6-7)

By Patricia Reaney and Marina Lopes

NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Authorities were conducting an autopsy on the body of acclaimed stage and film actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday of an apparent drug overdose, an official said on Monday.

Hoffman, considered by many to be one of the finest actors of his generation, was discovered in the bathroom of his Greenwich Village apartment with a syringe in his arm.

"We're conducting the examination in the cause of the manner of death," said Julia Bolcer, spokeswoman for the New York City Medical Examiner. She added that she was not sure when the results would be available.

One big question in the 46-year-old actor's sudden death: why a talented man at a seemingly good point in his career apparently returned to the drugs that had plagued him in his youth.

New York City police sources familiar with the investigation said 50 small bags of what appeared to be heroin were found in Hoffman's apartment. Authorities found other drugs, including a medication for high blood pressure that is also used for treating opiate withdrawal, the sources said.

Police were trying to determine the source of the substance that apparently killed Hoffman and whether it was a deadly strain of heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate more potent than morphine, sources said.

Erin Mulvey, a spokeswoman for the New York office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), confirmed there has been "a rash of heroin ODs in the Northeast" recently tied to the strain.

The autopsy could explain how Hoffman apparently died soon after injecting what seemed to be heroin. But the why was another matter.

Although Hoffman was believed to have been sober for more than 20 years, Larissa Mooney, a physician and psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said addiction is a chronic brain disease.

"People, places and things that remind somebody of using can take a powerful hold and lead users to relapse even after treatment," Mooney said.

Tributes to Hoffman continued pouring in. Marquees of Broadway theaters in New York will be dimmed on Wednesday night for one minute in memory of the actor.

"He was a fixture in the neighborhood. It's heartbreaking," said a tearful Tara Driver, an art education student who lived near Hoffman's home in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village.

STRUGGLE WITH DRUGS

The death of Hoffman, who won the best actor Oscar for his role in the 2005 biographical film "Capote," raised new concerns about drug addiction in the entertainment industry.

If a heroin overdose is confirmed, Hoffman will join the list of entertainers who have succumbed to drugs in the last decade. "Glee" actor Cory Monteith, 31, died of an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol in October in Vancouver. Drugs were also the cause of death of Australian actor Heath Ledger in 2008 and singer Whitney Houston in 2012.

In decades past, overdoses from legal or illegal drugs have claimed the lives of entertainers, including Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had at times abused "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."

Dr. Joseph Haraszti, a California-based addiction expert, said Hoffman appeared to suffer for his profession.

"He also mentioned that acting for him was a very difficult process," Haraszti said. "He would always take on the most difficult roles but it took a lot out of him."

John Tsilimparis, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, said fame, fortune and the pressure to perform and maintain an image can be a lethal combination.

"In most occupations there are consequences for drug use, people lose their jobs and livelihoods. But with celebrities there is very little forfeiture of career and money when you have an addiction. There is less accountability," he said.

'BOUNDLESS AND PROFOUND TALENT'

Hoffman's family issued a statement on Sunday saying they were devastated by his death. He is survived by three children and his longtime partner Mimi O'Donnell.

Born in upstate New York near Rochester, the actor appeared on stage and in films often portraying characters with innate intelligence and logical minds driven by underlying passion.

In addition to his Academy Award Hoffman also received three Oscar nominations as best supporting actor, for "The Master" in 2013, "Doubt" in 2009 and "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008.

He also appeared in blockbusters such as "Twister" and was working on the final installment of "The Hunger Games." But he was more often associated with the independent films such as "Happiness," in which he played an obscene phone caller, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."

Hoffman earned Tony award nominations for his role as the main character Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," and for his parts in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "True West."

"We'll always be grateful for his boundless and profound talent that he shared with us on the Broadway stage," said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the Broadway League.

Hoffman appeared last month at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for the premiere of the film "A Most Wanted Man," in which he played German spy Gunther Bachmann. He was also set to star in a 10-episode dark comedy for cable TV channel Showtime. (Additional reporting by Chris Francescani in New York and Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Mary Milliken)

UPDATE 2-Autopsy conducted on Hoffman, answers sought on actor's drug useBusiness

UPDATE 2-Autopsy conducted on Hoffman, answers sought on actor's drug use

Tue, Feb 04 04:48 AM IST

(Adds information about deadly strain of heroin, details on drugs found in apartment, paragraphs 6-7)

By Patricia Reaney and Marina Lopes

Hoffman, considered by many to be one of the finest actors of his generation, was discovered in the bathroom of his Greenwich Village apartment with a syringe in his arm.

One big question in the 46-year-old actor's sudden death: why a talented man at a seemingly good point in his career apparently returned to the drugs that had plagued him in his youth.

Erin Mulvey, a spokeswoman for the New York office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), confirmed there has been "a rash of heroin ODs in the Northeast" recently tied to the strain.

The autopsy could explain how Hoffman apparently died soon after injecting what seemed to be heroin. But the why was another matter.

"People, places and things that remind somebody of using can take a powerful hold and lead users to relapse even after treatment," Mooney said.

Tributes to Hoffman continued pouring in. Marquees of Broadway theaters in New York will be dimmed on Wednesday night for one minute in memory of the actor.

"He was a fixture in the neighborhood. It's heartbreaking," said a tearful Tara Driver, an art education student who lived near Hoffman's home in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village.

STRUGGLE WITH DRUGS

The death of Hoffman, who won the best actor Oscar for his role in the 2005 biographical film "Capote," raised new concerns about drug addiction in the entertainment industry.

In decades past, overdoses from legal or illegal drugs have claimed the lives of entertainers, including Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had at times abused "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."

Dr. Joseph Haraszti, a California-based addiction expert, said Hoffman appeared to suffer for his profession.

"He also mentioned that acting for him was a very difficult process," Haraszti said. "He would always take on the most difficult roles but it took a lot out of him."

John Tsilimparis, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, said fame, fortune and the pressure to perform and maintain an image can be a lethal combination.

'BOUNDLESS AND PROFOUND TALENT'

Hoffman's family issued a statement on Sunday saying they were devastated by his death. He is survived by three children and his longtime partner Mimi O'Donnell.

Born in upstate New York near Rochester, the actor appeared on stage and in films often portraying characters with innate intelligence and logical minds driven by underlying passion.

In addition to his Academy Award Hoffman also received three Oscar nominations as best supporting actor, for "The Master" in 2013, "Doubt" in 2009 and "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008.

Hoffman earned Tony award nominations for his role as the main character Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," and for his parts in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "True West."

"We'll always be grateful for his boundless and profound talent that he shared with us on the Broadway stage," said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the Broadway League.

The History of Opium and The History of How the Pharmaceutical Industry Intentionally Created Drug Addictions

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Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 01:35

Opium has been used medicinally and recreationally for centuries. Fifteenth century China doctors used opium for medicine, with some using it recreationally. It was the first effective antidepressant, sedative, and pain reliever. However, opium addictions only began in the eighteenth century, when the British began to monopolize the sale of opium. It is no coincidence that when the British, with their chemical industry, began selling opium that these chemically altered opiums began creating addictions. Completely natural, unadulterated plants are not addictive until they have been "refined" and concentrated. As a result of what the British did, opium eventually became illegal under Chinese law, but the sale from the British continued.

In 1839, the Emperor, Tao Kwang, ordered his minister Lin Tse-hsu to deal with the opium problem. Lin requested help from Queen Victoria, but was ignored. As a result, the Emperor confiscated 20,000 barrels of opium and detained some foreign traders, many of whom were British. The Chinese believed that because their ceramics and silk technologies were superior to their British counterparts that their naval ships would also be. They were wrong. The British retaliated to this interference with their drug ("medical") trade by attacking the port-city of Canton.

This was the beginning of what would become known as the 'First Opium War'. It was launched by the biggest, richest drug cartel that the world has ever known; the British Empire. When the Chinese were defeated, they had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. They were required to allow the trade of opium, to make large payments to the British, and even to open five new ports to the foreign drug ("medical") trade. They were also forced to give Hong Kong to Britain. Opium was, technically, still an illegal substance in China, but the Chinese were forced to accept British imports.

In 1856, the Second Opium War began and ended, with the Chinese being defeated once more. As a result, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Tientsin, and the sale of opium was legalized. The British claimed that the Chinese people had a "right" to this "harmless luxury", without regard to its own government. Opium imports increased to unprecedented levels. By the end of the nineteenth century, an estimated quarter of the male population of China was addicted to the enhanced opium.

In the United States, many of the early Americans cultivated their own opium. Thomas Jefferson cultivated opium at his garden in Monticello. This fact is generally covered-up by modern historians, who have the politically correct belief that all drugs are bad, even in their harmless natural state, and that prohibition is the only option of a healthy society.

Morphine was first isolated from opium in 1805 by German pharmacist, Wilhelm Sertºrner. It was named after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. When opium products are taken orally, they are known to cause stomach and digestive disturbances, so the invention of the hypodermic needle in the mid-nineteenth century allowed direct injection of morphine. The poor could not afford to inject drugs, so morphine was used daily by the elite classes, and the cost of opium fell. It was also used extensively on wounded soldiers in the U.S. Civil War. Incredibly, the pharmaceutical companies not only promoted morphine as being non-addictive, but to also cure opium addictions. Missionaries in the early twentieth century handed out "Jesus Opium" pills in order to assist with addictions. The active ingredient was morphine. Of course, this only created greater addictions, which conveniently helped the chemical industry more.

In the mid-nineteenth Century, Chinese immigrants had appeared in the United States in large numbers to help build railways and work with California mines. Opium use had become a part of their culture, and opium, along with the Chinese, were demonized as being destructive to the youth. Dr. John Witherspoon, who would later become president of the American Medical Association (AMA), told allopaths to search for a cure for opium addictions, and a morphine alternative. The alternative was to be non-addictive.

In 1874, an English pharmacist, C. R. Alder Wright had boiled morphine and acetic acid together, producing diacetylmorphine. Diacetylmorphine was synthesized and marketed commercially by the German pharmaceutical giant, Bayer. In 1898, Bayer launched the best-selling drug-brand of all time, Heroin.

Epilogue

When will we learn from history what to expect from these people and their "helpful" chemical "improvements" upon nature? You will see this identical pattern for all other illegal narcotics, like for instance, cocaine. They created all of the addictive drug monsters, and they got the results that they wanted. In fact, you can technically still get a doctor's prescription for cocaine, and even get it filled at certain pharmacies. Will the public ever see the pattern?

The reason why diseases are never cured with modern medicine is because curing is not as profitable as creating life-long drug addicts. This is why all the diseases are "chronic" now, and why the "medicines" seem only to perpetuate the diseases that they are supposedly meant to "treat" (but never ever cure). The system is broken by design to keep us dependent. Why do you think they "treat" cancer with extreme carcinogens like radiation? Radiation must be one of the most safe and effective health benefiting treatments, because they just cannot find that elusive cure, right?

The biggest difference between your doctor and the local drug dealer is that the drug dealer is considerably more honest about how he earns his money.

How The Establishment Uses Pain and Addiction As Tools To Keep Us Compliant

Antidepressants Produce Plenty of Side-Effects, But Don't Reduce Depression

How the Rich Got Richer While the Sick Got Sicker

How Big Medicine Works and The Hypocritic Oath

Tales From The Big House: What A Prison Sentence Really Means

Drugs and Guns: Cultural Differences Between The U.S. and The U.K.

Special Investigative Report: L-tryptophan, Lactic Acid, Prozac and Naturally Treating Depression the Holistic Way

Sharp Rise in U.S. Military Psychiatric Drug Use and Suicides

What's It Going to Take to Lock Up Drug Company Execs?

When Liberals and Conservatives are Two Sides of the Same Oppressive Coin

Parole Boards Requiring That Parolees Take Violence-Inducing, Mind-Altering Pharmaceuticals

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F-Russia

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Need to reach new audience, sports fans dont want to hear about gays anymore. Sooo DOGS!

The Slaughter in Sochi

Russian Foreign Agents Law [F the NGO's]

Stop Sochi Government from Killing Stray Dogs and Cats for the 2014 Winter Olympics | One Green Planet

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:19

Over the last few months, Sochi, this year's Winter Olympics host city, has fallen under intense scrutiny. Some have called for a boycott of the 2014 Olympics because of Russia's anti-gay policies, including a piece of legislation signed into law in June 2013 banning ''homosexual propaganda.''

Others have been enraged by Russia's disregard for animal protection including Sochi's decision to use a captive dolphin as a torch bearer and the still pending transport of two wild-caught orcas to a Sochi dolphinarium.

Now, looks like there is more sad news out of the Olympic host city. According to Peter Akman of CTV News, the city has gone back on its word and has resumed its plan to cull stray animals in an attempt to ''clean up'' the area for Olympic guests.

Originally, the plan was to kill around 2,000 dogs roaming Sochi's streets, but as soon as this decision was announced last year, animal activists quickly spoke out against it, effectively canceling the cull.

However, Akman reports that the city has in fact hired a company to continue ''cleaning the city.''

''Every night between 1 and 6 a.m., traps are set, poison put out and animals are killed,'' Akman states.

Concerned locals have been documenting the cull's victims through photo and video footage and animal activist groups have again called on the city to end its futile population control method, urging Sochi to instead build a shelter for homeless animals.

According to Akman, ''The government first said no, but it now seems to be considering allowing a private company to run a shelter. Not surprisingly, that's the same company it hired to kill the dogs during the night.''

Unfortunately, we see poor animal protection decisions like these all too often, even right here in the U.S., but this does not mean we should accept defeat and stay silent. Instead, we must stay strong and be their voice.

To offer your support for Sochi's stray animals, sign this petition on Care2, asking Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to halt Sochi's cull. You can also send an email to the City of Sochi urging them to to focus on more effective overpopulation management solutions such as low cost sterilization and trap-neuter-release programs.

Image source: Andrey / Flickr

NYTimes: Rights Group Releases Video of LGBT Attacks in Russia

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U.S. hypocrisy over Russia's anti-gay laws - The Washington Post

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Archived Version

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 21:11

Ian Ayres and William Eskridge are law professors at Yale University.

Controversy over a Russian law that prohibits advocacy of homosexuality threatens to overshadow athletic competition at the upcoming Sochi Olympics. Thoughtful world leaders, including President Obama, have criticized Russia for stigmatizing gay identity.

Many of these critics find it hard to believe that in 2014 a modern industrial government would have this kind of medieval language in its statutory code:

'óè''Materials adopted by a local school board .'â.'â. shall .'â.'â. comply with state law and state board rules .'â.'â.prohibiting instruction .'â.'â. in the advocacy of homosexuality.''

'óè''Propaganda of homosexualism among minors is punishable by an administrative fine.''

'óè''No district shall include in its course of study instruction which: 1. Promotes a homosexual life-style. 2. Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style. 3. Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.''

'óè''[I]nstruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include .'â.'â.emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense.''

Amid the rush to condemn Russia's legislation, however, it is useful to recognize that only the second quoted provision comes from the Russian statute.

The other three come from statutes in the United States. It is Utah that prohibits ''the advocacy of homosexuality.'' Arizona prohibits portrayals of homosexuality as a ''positive alternative life-style'' and has legislatively determined that it is inappropriate to even suggest to children that there are ''safe methods of homosexual sex.'' Alabama and Texas mandate that sex-education classes emphasize that homosexuality is ''not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.'' Moreover, the Alabama and Texas statutes mandate that children be taught that ''homosexual conduct is a criminal offense'' even though criminalizing private, consensual homosexual conduct has been unconstitutional since 2003.

Eight U.S. states, and several cities and counties, have some version of what we call ''no promo homo'' provisions. Before the United States condemns the Russian statute's infringement of free speech and academic freedom, it should recognize that our own republican forms of government have repeatedly given rise to analogous restrictions.

It is no coincidence that these examples focus on what must and must not be said to children. An explanatory note accompanying the 2013 Russian legislation makes clear that the statute seeks to protect children ''from the factors that negatively affect their physical, intellectual, mental, spiritual, and moral development.'' Proponents of the U.S. statutes have offered similar justification. And, like Russian President Vladimir Putin this month, the U.S. laws warn gay people and sympathizers to ''leave kids alone, please.''

The underlying ideology of these statutes is the same: Everybody should be heterosexual, and homosexuality is per se bad. This ideology has never rested on any kind of evidence that homosexuality is a bad ''choice'' that the state ought to discourage. The ideology is a prejudice-laden legacy of a fading era. (In fact, the strategy is daffy: Even if homosexuality were a bad lifestyle choice, state laws are not an effective way to head off such a choice.)

Putin has assured the International Olympic Committee that the law is merely symbolic. But in the United States, officially sanctioned anti-gay prejudice has contributed to classroom bullying and to the high level of suicides among gay teens.

The actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein has called on the United States to boycott the Sochi Games because Russia prohibits ''propaganda of homosexuality.'' But recall that in 2002 the United States proudly, and without comment, sent its Olympic athletes to a state '-- Utah '-- that prohibits the ''advocacy of homosexuality.'' Maybe Obama ought to send Olympic delegates Billie Jean King and Brian Boitano to Alabama and Texas.

We offer that suggestion somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but there is an important lesson here. Sometimes the moral failings of others can help us see moral failings in ourselves. It was revulsion toward Nazi Germany's eugenics policy that, in part, caused U.S. legislatures and courts to renounce state sterilization programs. Opposition to South African apartheid and the Soviet Union's totalitarian regime generated greater national pressure for the Eisenhower administration and the Warren court to renounce apartheid in the American South.

Putin's inability to justify this law puts a spotlight on the inability of Utah, Texas, Arizona and other states to justify their gay-stigmatizing statutes. They should be repealed or challenged in court. Just as judges led the way against compulsory sterilization and racial-segregation laws, so they should subject anti-gay laws to critical scrutiny.

As things stand, one could imagine Putin responding to U.S. criticism by saying: ''You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye.''

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Billie Jean King no longer on Olympics delegation

President Obama Updates Presidential Delegation to the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games | The White House

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Airlines warned about possible toothpaste tube bombs ahead of Olympics - CNN.com

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:50

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Warning to airlines globally that serve Russia based on new intelligenceSecretary of State John Kerry: "We're not telling people not to go""It's real," according to a government source on the latest terror threat ahead of Winter GamesNEW: Rep. Peter King wouldn't go to Olympics; notes cause for concern about getting to Sochi(CNN) -- The United States is advising airlines with direct flights serving Russia to be aware of the possibility that explosive materials could be concealed in toothpaste or cosmetic tubes, according to a law enforcement source.

The source emphasized on Wednesday that there was no known threat to the United States, but the notice to U.S. and international carriers is based on new intelligence information ahead of the start of the Olympics in Sochi this week.

"It's real. It's real and we got very good information," a government source, who also did not want to speak for full attribution, told CNN. "It's based on a credible source. We're taking it seriously so are other countries taking it very seriously."

Sochi transformed

HIDE CAPTION

The assumption is the threat would be on a departing flight from Russia, that source added.

The Homeland Security Department said in a statement that "out of an abundance of caution" it routinely shares "relevant information" with domestic and international entities, "including those associated with international events" like the Sochi Olympics.

Russian transportation officials this week banned liquids in airline carry-on luggage, according to a report from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's subcommittee on Terrorism and Intelligence, said on CNN's "The Situation Room" that Americans, the airlines and those at the Olympics should take the threat "very seriously."

King, New York Republican, believes that the athletes and American spectators are "reasonably safe," but noted that he would not go himself.

"Just as a spectator, I don't think it's worth the risk. I mean, odds are nothing is going to happen, but the odds are higher than for any other Olympics, I believe, that something could happen," he said.

King said he has some confidence in how the Russians are handling security, but "really not enough because they are not sharing enough intelligence" about what's happening inside the country.

"We are getting some information about what's happening outside of Russia, some external threats, that type thing, or potential threats. I don't want to overstate that, he said.

He noted a "ring of steel right around the Olympics itself" but said "there's a real cause for concern" about getting to Sochi and surrounding areas.

The Obama administration has not indicated it is not safe to travel to the Olympics.

Secretary of State John Kerry, in an exclusive interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" before the toothpaste alert broke, said that "anybody who wants to go to the Olympics, which are just a great event, should go. And we're not telling people not to go."

Kerry added that people should be alert and take precautions, advice he says has been requisite since the 9/11 attacks.

"We've got a new consciousness about this," he said.

A senior administration official said that it would make any information public through the State Department should it receive information that "changes our assessment of whether people should travel to Sochi."

Matthew Olsen, a top U.S. counter-terrorism official, highlighted concern in testimony to Congress on Tuesday about whether Muslim fundamentalists in disputed regions of Russia -- or other groups -- could launch attacks on selected targets.

"There are a number of specific threats of varying degrees of credibility that we're tracking," he said. "And we're working very closely with the Russians and with other partners to monitor any threats we see and to disrupt those."

Terrorism experts say that airlines continue to be a target of terrorists wishing to make a spectacular impact with an attack. The focus since 2001 has shifted from hijackings to bombs, especially those that might be hidden in luggage.

U.S. authorities are also mindful of creative package or other novel ways to conceal explosives. For instance, a failed attempt to blow up an overseas flight heading to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 involved a bomb concealed in a passenger's underwear.

Shortly after 9/11 a man was convicted of trying to blow up a transAtlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

CNN's Jim Acosta, Ten Barrett, Evan Perez and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.

Olympic Threat: US Warns Airlines About Toothpaste Tube Bomb - ABC News

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Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:45

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning to U.S. and some foreign airlines traveling to Russia for the Olympic Games to be on the lookout for toothpaste containers, which some intelligence indicates may actually hold ingredients that could be used to construct a bomb aboard a plane, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.

The official did not provide further details about the warning or the intelligence that prompted it, but an official with the Department of Homeland Security, while declining to discuss the specific warning, said the department "regularly shares relevant information with domestic and international partners, including those associated with international events such as the Sochi Olympics."

"While we are not aware of a specific threat to the homeland at this time, this routine communication is an important part of our commitment to making sure we meet that priority," the official said. "As always, our security apparatus includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, and DHS will continue to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving threat environment."

A federal law enforcement source said the information is largely intended for foreign carriers and the generic threat is not directed at the U.S. homeland. The Russian government has been informed, the source said.

Still, Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's Sub-Committee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, said he has been briefed on the threat and said it should be taken seriously by American travelers, the airlines and officials at the Olympic Games.

"Any type of explosive, concealed explosive, can be extremely damaging," King, R-N.Y., told CNN. "It could be enough to bring down a plane'... This is the type of threat that we're very concerned about."

Security in Sochi, Russia, where the Olympics are scheduled to start Friday, has been high for months due to the threat posed to the Games by Islamic militants in the region. Last month Russian authorities announced no liquids would be allowed on planes to Sochi.

Sochi lies on the Black Sea, just 300 miles away from the heartland of an Islamic militancy in the North Caucasus. Doku Umarov, the leader of the insurgents known to some as Russia's Osama bin Laden, told his followers last summer they should do what they can to disrupt the Games, which he called a "satanic dance" on the bones of their ancestors.

In the past three months, Russia has suffered three suicide bombings in southern cities attributed to the militants. In January the U.S. State Department urged its citizens traveling to Sochi to be "vigilant and exercise good judgment" during the Games because of the terror threat.

In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration allows small containers of toothpaste, 3.4 ounces or less, in travelers' checked luggage.

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Olympics: Airlines Warned of Toothpaste Bombs on Sochi Flights | TIME.com

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Archived Version

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:45

Officials say there is no specific threat to the U.S.

Sergei Karpukhin / APRussian president Vladimir Putin poses near a bare ski slope in Sochi on Feb. 6, 2013.

American authorities are warning airlines with flights to Russia for the Olympic Games to be on the lookout for bombs in toothpaste containers or other similar cosmetic tubes.

Citing unnamed government officials, CNN and ABC News report that the warning was issued by the Department of Homeland Security to both domestic and foreign airlines. The warning says intelligence reports suggest such containers could be used to store the ingredients for a bomb to be assembled aboard an aircraft. Authorities cautioned that they haven't identified any specific threat to the United States, CNN and ABC report.

''While we are not aware of a specific threat to the homeland at this time, this routine communication is an important part of our commitment to making sure we meet that priority,'' an official told ABC News. ''As always, our security apparatus includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, and DHS will continue to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving threat environment.''

Security in the host city of Sochi has been high for months, as the Russian government prepares for the Winter Olympics that start this week while also combating the threat of militants operating in the Caucasus. In the months leading up to the Olympics, terror groups have issued threats, and three suicide bombings in as many months have rocked cities in Russia. That has clearly had an impact on observers in the United States'-- in a CNN poll released Wednesday, 57 percent of Americans said they believe a terror attack at the Sochi games is likely.

''Out of an abundance of caution, [the Department of Homeland Security] regularly shares relevant information with domestic and international partners, including those associated with international events such as the Sochi Olympics,'' the department said in a statement.

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Sochi 2014 Olympic Games | US-CERT

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:18

To verify Authorized Ticket Reseller websites, please use the following link: http://tickets.sochi2014.com/?language=en

Overview:

Whether traveling to Sochi, Russia for the XXII Olympic Winter Games, or viewing the games from locations abroad, there are several cyber-related risks to consider. As with many international level media events, hacktivists may attempt to take advantage of the large audience to spread their own message. Additionally, cyber criminals may use the games as a lure in spam, phishing or drive-by-download campaigns to gain personally identifiable information or harvest credentials for financial gain. Lastly, those physically attending the games should be cognizant that their communications will likely be monitored.

Hacktivists

A number of hacktivist campaigns may attach themselves to the upcoming Olympics simply to take advantage of the on-looking audience. For example, the hacktivist group, Anonymous Caucasus, has launched what appears to be a threat against any company that finances or supports the winter games. This group states the Sochi games infrastructure was built on the graves of 1 million innocent Caucasians who were murdered by the Russians in 1864. According to Trusted Third Party analysis, the group has been linked to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Russian banks in October 2013. Therefore, the group is likely capable of waging similar attacks on the websites of organizations they believe financed Olympic related activities; however, no specific threat or target has been identified at the time of this report.

Olympic coverage

Whether viewing live coverage, event replays, or checking medal statistics online, it's important to visit only trusted websites. Events which gain significant public interest and media coverage are often used as lures for spam or spearphishing campaigns. Malicious actors may also create fake websites and domains that appear to be official Olympic news or coverage that can be used to deliver malware to an end user upon visiting the site (also known as drive-by downloads or wateringholes).

NBCUniversal offers exclusive coverage of the games for viewers via NBC, NBCSN, MSNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com and corresponding Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Viewers should be wary of any other source claiming to provide live coverage. As always, it is best to visit trusted resources directly rather than clicking on emailed links or opening attachments.

Purchasing tickets or merchandise at the Games

According to the official Winter Olympics website: http://www.sochi2014.com, Visa will be the only card accepted for all purchases including tickets and merchandise at the Games. Tickets may only be purchased through Authorized Ticket Resellers (ATR). Individuals can validate the authenticity of an ATR offering tickets by using the ''Website Checker'' tool available on the official Sochi website. The designated ATR in the United States is CoSport, and at the time of this report, individuals purchasing tickets through CoSport may only pick up their tickets at CoSport's Host City Collection Center in Sochi, Russia. Any ticket offer from a site not recognized as an ATR or accepting payment methods outside of VISA are likely fraudulent and should be met with skepticism.

Traveling to Sochi

When traveling abroad it's important to know your host countries laws and policies, particularly when it comes to privacy. Russia has a national system of lawful interception of all electronic communications. The System of Operative-Investigative Measures, or SORM, legally allows the Russian FSB to monitor, intercept, and block any communication sent electronically (i.e. cell phone or landline calls, internet traffic, etc.). SORM-1 captures telephone and mobile phone communications, SORM-2 intercepts internet traffic, and SORM-3 collects information from all forms of communication, providing long-term storage of all information and data on subscribers, including actual recordings and locations. Reports of Rostelecom, Russia's national telecom operator, installing deep packet inspection (DPI ) means authorities can easily use key words to search and filter communications. Therefore, it is important that attendees understand communications while at the Games should not be considered private.

Russia also retains broad inbound encryption license requirements. Taking laptops and other devices into the country is unrestricted; however software may be inspected upon departure. This means, any computer or software containing sensitive or encrypted data may be confiscated by Russian authorities when individuals depart from the country . Travelers may want to consider leaving personal electronic devices (e.g. laptops, smartphones, tablets) at home or alternatively bring loaner devices that do not already store sensitive data on them and can be wiped upon return to your home country. If individuals decide to bring their personal devices, consider all communications and files on them to be vulnerable to interception or confiscation.

Principle 6 Campaign

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:12

Click here to order your #P6 GearWearing the Principle 6 merchandise will help uphold the Olympic principle of inclusion and underscore that Russia's anti-LGBT discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic movement. The proceeds from sale of the clothing will support the Principle 6 campaign and go directly to lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) advocacy groups in Russia fighting discrimination and anti-gay laws. Join the campaign by ordering your P6 gear here

Spread the WordPrinciple 6, a campaign inspired by the values of the Olympic charter, is a way for athletes, fans and global supporters to celebrate the Olympic principle of non-discrimination and speak out against Russia's anti-gay laws before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Principle 6, a campaign inspired by the values of the Olympic charter, is a way for athletes, spectators and global supporters to celebrate the Olympic principle of non-discrimination and speak out against Russia's anti-gay laws before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In Russia, you can be fined or arrested for speaking out publicly about gay, lesbian, bi or trans issues. The Principle 6 campaign uses the language of the Olympic Charter to allow athletes and fans to speak out against this discrimination during the Sochi Games without violating Russian anti-gay laws or violating the Olympic ban on political speech.

Under pressure from Athlete Ally and All Out, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that Principle 6 includes sexual orientation, but the IOC and sponsors still refuse to speak out against the anti-LGBT Russian laws.

Where did the idea for Principle 6 come from?Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter states that ''Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement,'' and the IOC has confirmed that this includes sexual orientation. But in Russia, you can now be fined or arrested for speaking publicly about gay, lesbian, bi or trans issues. The new laws have fueled a massive surge in anti-gay violence within the country. The Principle 6 campaign uses the language of the Olympic Charter to give athletes and fans a way to speak out against this violence and discrimination before and during the Sochi Olympics without breaking Russian anti-gay laws or violating the Olympic ban on political speech.

By openly supporting Principle 6, everyone can celebrate the values that inspire the Olympic Games and stand in solidarity with lesbian, gay, bi and trans people in Russia and around the world. Both All Out and Athlete Ally thank Idea Brand for helping incubate the concept behind Principle 6.

Who is already a part of the Principle 6 campaign?Sochi-bound Olympians, including snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, Australian bobsled team captain Heath Spence alpine skier Mike Janyk, and Canadian snowboarder Alex Duckworth are just a few of the on-site ambassadors in Russia who will promote the Principle 6 message. Additional Olympic athletes engaged in the campaign include four-time Olympic gold medal diver Greg Louganis, four-time Olympic luger and International Sports Law expert Cameron Myler and two-time Olympic middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds, who immediately after winning the Silver Medal at this past August's World Championship in Moscow, dedicated the win to his gay and lesbian friends and openly criticized Russia's anti-gay laws. Other Olympians that have signed on to support the campaign include Australian tennis player and four-time Olympian Rennae Stubbs, ParaPan Am gold medalist archer Lee Ford, figure skater Mark Janoschak, gold medalists and soccer players Megan Rapinoe and Lori Lindsey, soccer players Hedvig Lindahl, Sally Shipard, Robbie Rogers and Chris Seitz, two-time gold medalist rower Caryn Davies, Irish Olympic runner Ciarn ' Lionird, former Soviet Archer Khatuna Lorig, US basketball star Teresa Edwards, US swimmer Dan Veatch, US Paralympian Tanner Gers, Paralympic bronze medalist Lindsey Carmichael, wrestler Ben Provisor, tennis standouts Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and James Blake, rower Esther Lofgren and Paralympic Australian basketball player Sarah Stewart. Also, Australian Olympic trampoline silver medalist and HIV activist Ji Wallace, Swiss snowboarder Simona Meiler, American fencer Race Imboden, US diver David Pichler, US snowboarders Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and Seth Wescott, Canadian speed skater Anastasia Bucsis, German bronze medal fencer Joerg Fiedler, US Paralympic tennis player Sharon Kelleher, US speed skater and silver medalist Miriam Rothstein, German silver medal fencer Imke Duplitzer, and US beach volleyball player Jen Kessey, have added their names to the growing list.

Professional athletes also involved in the campaign include NFL stars Chris Kluwe, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Scott Fujita, and Dont(C) Stallworth; tennis standouts Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick, James Blake and Mardy Fish; MLS players Stephen McCarthy and Robbie Rogers; NBA/WNBA players Steve Nash, Jason Collins, Teresa Edwards and Kristi Toliver; rugby player David Pocock; race car driver Leilani Munter; and Australian national soccer team players Michelle Heyman and Lydia Williams. Also included is world renowned endurance swimmer Diana Nyad.

What happens when someone buys Principle 6 gear?Wearing Principle 6 gear will show support for the Olympic value of non-discrimination and is a tangible way to speak out against the anti-gay laws and violence in Russia leading up to the 2014 Winter Games. After covering costs, proceeds from merchandise sales will directly benefit LGBT groups in Russia.

Public Skeptical of Decision to Hold Olympic Games in Russia | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:24

February 4, 2014

Terrorism and Security Drive Concerns

With the 2014 Winter Olympics approaching, more say it was a bad decision (44%) than a good decision (32%) to hold the games in Russia. About one-in-four (24%) say they don't know.

Concerns about terrorism and safety are foremost among those who think it was a bad decision to hold the Olympics in Russia. In an open-ended question, 62% of those who say it was a bad decision to hold the Winter Olympics in Russia mention terrorism or general security in Sochi as a reason they feel this way.

Far fewer (5%) mention the Russian government or President Vladimir Putin as reasons why it was a bad decision to hold the games there, while 4% say Russia's treatment of gays and lesbians make the country a bad choice to host the games.

Most adults are planning to watch either ''a lot'' (18%) or some (37%) of the Olympics, according to the new national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 2 among 1,003 adults. About one-in-four adults (26%) say they plan to watch ''very little'' and 19% say they will not watch at all. Nearly one-in-four of those 50 and older (23%) plan to watch a lot, compared with 14% of those younger than 50.

Young adults stand out in their support of Russia's hosting of the Olympics. Among adults ages 18-29, about twice as many say it was a ''good decision'' as a ''bad decision'' to hold the Winter Olympics in Russia '' 49% vs. 25%. By contrast, a 55% majority of adults 50 and older say it was a bad decision, compared with about one-in-four (24%) saying it was a good decision. Among adults ages 30-49, 42% say it was a bad decision and 33% say it was a good decision.

Across all demographic groups, concerns about terrorism and safety are dominant among those who think it was a bad decision to hold the Olympics in Russia. Seven-in-ten Republicans (70%) and 63% of Democrats who said it was a bad decision cite concerns about security. And 7% of Democrats and 2% of Republicans mention Russia's policies toward gays and lesbians as a reason it was a bad decision.

In 2008, opinions about hosting the Summer Olympics in China changed over time and became more positive as the games began. In a survey four months before the event, the public was evenly divided about whether it was a good idea to hold the Summer Olympics in China (41% good, 43% bad). But during the games' opening weekend, more viewed the decision to hold the games in China as good than bad (52% good, 31% bad).

The Week's NewsOne-in-five (20%) closely followed the State of the Union last week, down from 26% last year and the lowest news interest during Obama's tenure. (By comparison, 24% of the public followed George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address to start his sixth year in office.) Twice as many Democrats (33%) as Republicans (16%) and independents (15%) followed Obama's speech closely.

Cold winter weather in much of the country was the most f0llowed news story of the week, with nearly four-in-ten (38%) saying they paid very close attention. People living in the South (45%), the Northeast and the Midwest (42% each) were much more likely than those in the West (21%) to closely follow news about the cold weather.

About three-in-ten (29%) closely followed news about the economy last week. The Super Bowl was closely followed by 23%, which is roughly equal to interest in past years. An additional 17% closely followed debate over immigration policy in the U.S., while about one-in-ten (9%) paid close attention to preparations for the Olympics.

Sochi's Hotel Scarcity Deters Late Travel Bookings From U.S. - Bloomberg

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:50

Sochi may attract the fewest American visitors to a Winter Olympics in 20 years amid terrorism concerns, a lack of luxury hotel rooms and difficulties procuring visas, according to U.S. tour operators.

Russia's plan to spend $50 billion on hotels and other infrastructure to convert a small city on the Black Sea into a year-round resort hasn't resulted in enough high-end hotels, and the existing facilities have raised prices by 121 percent for the event, according to trivago.co.uk, a U.K. website.

Russia's Olympic organizing committee said yesterday that 30 percent of tickets remained unsold three weeks before the Feb. 7 opening ceremony. The Vancouver Games in 2010 wound up selling 97 percent of its seats. With few international flights directly into the Sochi airport, and most Westerners requiring visas, a last-minute rush is unlikely, tour operators say.

''There was a little hesitancy to start and now with everything going on, I don't expect that we're going to have a lot of people still coming to us,'' said Robert Tuchman, president of New York-based Goviva, a sports and entertainment travel company. ''This is definitely, from a travel perspective, a low point in terms of a Winter Olympics that I've seen in the 20-plus years I've been doing it.''

The U.S. State Department on Jan. 10 issued a travel alert for Russia after two suicide bombings in the city of Volgograd late last year killed more than 30 people. The warning urged Americans to ''remain vigilant and exercise good judgment and discretion when using any form of public transportation.''

Previous GamesSochi has planned to sell 1.1 million tickets, according to an International Olympic Committee marketing document, meaning about 330,000 remained available as of the latest update from the organizing committee. Of 1.54 million tickets available for the Vancouver Games in 2010, 97 percent, or 1.49 million, were sold. The Canadian Olympic Committee said it didn't have information on last-minute sales for the 2010 games.

Culture Wars Vex Sochi Olympics

Sochi still can approach Vancouver's sales, even if the organizers have to offer discounts to local schools or community groups, according to Janice Forsyth, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies in London, Ontario.

''It's difficult to say how close to the mark Sochi will be considering the terrorism threat -- that was something Vancouver didn't have to deal with,'' Forsyth said in an e-mail. ''They need to show that they can run a successful games, and selling tickets, even if they almost have to give them away, is one way to demonstrate that.''

Five-Star HotelsBookings at Chicago-based Sports Traveler for the Feb. 7-23 Olympics are down by 80 percent of what was expected, according to Anbritt Stengele, its president and founder.

''It's been a disappointing piece of our business,'' Stengele said in a telephone interview. ''It started to fall apart when the pricing came in from our hotel suppliers.''

Accommodation, particularly the absence of four- and five-star properties, has been the biggest obstacle, according to several tour operators.

''Olympic travelers tend to be high-end travelers and most of our hotels have been three stars,'' Stengele said. ''We only have access to one four-star property in the mountains. It's really put a damper on our sales.''

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to turn the resort into a destination for wealthy tourists. Along with a stadium, ice rinks and ski slopes, there are some top-class hotels being built, though not enough for the clientele the Olympics draw.

Russian CelebrationU.S. travel agents aren't the only ones facing hotel shortages. At Sportsworld, a TUI AG-owned company in Abingdon, England, that's the official Sochi ticket agent for Denmark and Liechtenstein, accommodations have been the ''No. 1 bottleneck,'' according to Len Olender, its sponsor services director.

Olender said international attendance will be on a par with Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, and Turin, Italy, in 2006.

''It's a celebration for Russia, for Russians,'' Olender said in a telephone interview.

It also has the potential to be the focus of some of the country's disputes. The U.S. State Department alert said Doku Umarov, head of the terrorist organization the Caucasus Emirate, called for attacks on the Winter Olympics and rescinded a directive banning attacks on civilians.

Jeffrey Mankoff, a fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic International Studies in Washington, said that while the Caucasus Emirate generally focuses on Russia, it might be willing to accept international casualties during the Olympics.

''So many foreign participants at a high-profile event like the Olympics increases the likelihood of foreigners getting caught up in any successful attack, whether or not they are the intended victims,'' Mankoff said in an e-mail.

Stay HomeSome U.S. Olympians have asked family to stay home. Speed skater Tucker Fredricks told his family not to attend because the security concerns would be a distraction, ABC News reported, citing interviews with his parents. Hockey players Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, who play for the Minnesota Wild, also told their families to stay away, according to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

IOC President Thomas Bach said Jan. 22 that organizers are confident the games will be safe.

''Security is always a matter of concern, not only at an Olympic Games but at every big event,'' Bach told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. ''We know the Russian authorities together with their many partners internationally are doing everything to organize the games in a safe and secure way.''

Pre-Olympic TourDmitry Feld, a former luge racer from the Ukraine who now works for USA Luge as its marketing and sponsorship director, said he wasn't worried about terrorism as he prepared to lead a pre-Olympic tour in Russia. Feld, 58, will escort 24 people to Moscow for three days before the Feb. 7 opening ceremony. None of his guests backed out of the trip after the alert was issued, he said.

''When the Olympics come it shows that Russia is trying to enter the modern world and become friends with the United States,'' Feld said in a telephone interview. ''In a lot of ways we treat Russia as this mysterious big Russian bear who might bite us without really trying to understand what it's really all about.''

Jason Berger, president of the National Association of Ticket Brokers, said the Sochi Olympics are ''almost a non-event'' and that there are now great deals on tickets, airfare and hotels in Sochi.

'Lack of Turnout'''In my almost three decades of selling Winter and Summer Games, I have yet to see this lack of turnout,'' Berger, chief executive officer of AllShows.com of Rye, New York, said in an e-mail.

Visa issues and distance are likely to keep American travelers from making last-minute plans to attend the Olympics as they have in the past, according to Adam Dailey, chief strategy officer of Austin, Texas-based Ludus Tours, the official sponsor of USA Luge, USA Curling, US Bobsled & Skeleton and the Canadian Curling Team.

''I don't think many people are going to see this Russian destination they've never heard of in the opening ceremonies on TV in the dead of winter and say, 'You know, that's where I want to go next weekend,''' Dailey said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Sochi facilities still a work in progress | 2014 Winter Games

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:50

SOCHI, Russia '-- As a rule, nobody wants to hear journalists complain about travel, which is fair. Travel, if you are lucky, is a part of the job. It's like complaining about traffic, but somewhere else.

At the Olympics, though, the standard is different, because the Olympics are a comprehensive test. The venues, security, the athletes, transportation, the media, everything. Not every Games reflects on its nation in the same way '-- Atlanta, for instance, wasn't so much a pan-American project in 1996 as it was a local disaster, in so many ways.

But Sochi, like Beijing, is different; it is a hideously complex logistical test of how efficiently a country, directed from on high, can pull the whole thing off with nearly unlimited resources. And by that measure, Sochi, its Olympic facilities built practically from scratch, is having some trouble.

''In general, it is done,'' said one media hotel worker who has spent the past two years in Sochi, after coming from Siberia. ''But the details are not done. And the details are everything.''

She talked about how the bureaucracy had delayed construction, and how the construction companies hadn't always been paid on time, and weather had delayed matters, too. Oh, and corruption. She was asked what would happen if Putin had ordered it be completed, and she said, ''Oh, if Putin says it, it will be done.''

Well, Putin arrived Tuesday. Everyone look busy.

In Beijing, every detail was nailed down. They violated all kinds of human rights to do it, of course, but it was an expression of China's ruthless efficiency. It showed what the country can do, when it wants to.

Sochi? Well, three of the nine mountain hotels have not been completed, and the IOC estimate that 97 per cent of the rooms are ready appears to ignore the little things.

Almost every room is missing something: lightbulbs, TVs, lamps, chairs, curtains, wifi, heat, hot water. Shower curtains are a valuable piece of the future black market here. (One American photographer was simply told, ''You will not get a shower curtain.'')

Of course, the Olympics are also the Olympics of the world's various body odours, depending on your country and its personal grooming standards, so that might just mean that for the first time, we're all in the stew together.

Hotel reservations are lost, then found, if you're lucky. German photographer Joerg Reuter arrived in the mountains and found the first room offered to him to be full of construction debris, with yellow-brown water and appliances that didn't work.

PHOTO: Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesA construction worker lays paving bricks ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Coastal Cluster.

PHOTO: Jae C. Hong/APA construction worker pushes a cart past hotel buildings at Gorki Plaza prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The next room had construction workers still sleeping in it. The third room had a stray dog in it. Reuter was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, ''When I came out of the elevator, there was the dog. I said, 'Right, that's it.'''

(They are reportedly now killing the numerous stray dogs here, which makes every adorable mutt you see the hero of a Disney movie, directed by Quentin Tarantino. At a press conference Tuesday, Sochi 2014 spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina said ''There is a special service that catches the stray dogs and this, as far as I know, they have a special shelter for the stray dogs, and make a medical examination of them. Like pest control.'' It was not comforting.)

But the hotels are where the Russian Games are visibly straining at the seams. In the Ekaterininsky Kvartal hotel, the elevator is broken and the stairway is unlit, with stairs of varying and unpredictable heights.

Outside the Chistya Prudy, there is a bag of concrete in a palm tree, leaking grey down the trunk. Inside, some of the electrical outlets are just plates screwed into drywall.

Sports Illustrated's Brian Cazeneuve had to clamber through a window to get out of his hotel on Tuesday morning, since the doors were all unexpectedly locked. Chris Stevenson of Sun Media was without electricity for the first day.

My Postmedia colleague Cam Cole's bathtub came loose from the wall, and therefore rocks like a ship. He has a shower curtain, though. In the Rosa Khutor section of the mountains, Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune was told by the front desk that if the water worked, ''do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.'' When it did come out of the tap, it looked like a lot like cloudy urine.

Oh, and one journalist in the Omega hotel complex had to refuse a colleague's request to stay a night in the second twin bed because '... well, there's no easy way to say this, but when the first journalist arrived, someone had left an indeterminate amount of semen on the sheets of the second bed, and those sheets had been taken away for cleaning, and hadn't come back.

Now, this is not a complaint. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter. It's inconvenience, for sponsors and officials and journos together, and most journalists are laughing when they can, and as Bonnie D. Ford of ESPN.com put it, at least it keeps your mind off the whole potential terrorism thing.

But it is a measure of how well this country has nailed down this massive project, how closely it has accomplished its mission, and what we have is a sea of little failures that give rise to the spectre of bigger ones. The Boston Globe drove a local car within a couple hundred feet of the Main Press Centre Tuesday, which is a proximity unthinkable in previous Olympics. It could make a person think about the terrorism thing again.

Maybe in a project this size, in this $51-billion Xanadu, not everything could be completed. We're not even getting into the sidewalks that dive, or the open manholes because the covers are being stolen, or the piles of construction waste all over the city, or the tumbled earth where grass was supposed to be. The whole thing was built on a swamp, and when it rains, there will be mud. But it's a bit of a mess, either way.

barthur@nationalpost.com

A Pillow Shortage Of Olympic Proportions - Vocativ

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:49

The Olympics officially kick off Friday. We imagine many a staffer and volunteer are scurrying around the Black Sea resort of Sochi, trying to prepare for the glamorous opening ceremony and making sure all security protocols are in place. But it turns out that Russia, despite spending a reported $51 billion on the most expensive Olympics ever, neglected a few key details.

It appears there aren't enough pillows for the athletes in the Olympic Village. This news comes via the Instagram posts of Luiza Baybakova, a member of the catering staff for the games.

Baybakova posted a picture of a notice to volunteers, which translates as follows:

''ATTENTION, DEAR COLLEAGUES!

Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014. Please be understanding. We have to help the athletes out of this bind.''

How We KnowWe monitored both Russian-language social networks and Instagram for posts related to the Olympic Village, and ran across this controversial gem.

Either the athletes arrived early, or event planners somehow didn't know when they were arriving. Regardless, it seems like volunteers and staffers might now be asked to give up their own pillows to accommodate the athletes. It's in line with what other citizen bloggers are posting ahead of the Olympics, like this guy, who claims residents near the stadiums are forbidden from using wood-burning fireplaces to avoid unsightly smoke coming out of chimneys. Even though it's the Winter Games.

Of the string of comments on the original Instagram post, maybe the last one says it all: ''Fuck'...and now the whole world laughs'...''

Sochi is clearly and massively underprepared. It's sad and alarming, considering the allegations of corruption and abuse surrounding these games. But there's at least one amusing takeaway: the hashtags posted by Baybakova (which admittedly might seem funnier in English): ''Help with the pillows! #Sochi2014 #Olympics #OlympicCamp #OlympicVillage #ManyAthletes #PillowForEveryone #TakingPillows #CantSleepWithNoPillow.''

On a subsequent post featuring a pillow, she added, ''#TheyreTakingOurPillows #OlympicPillow #WhereDoAthletesComeFrom #PlzDontTake.''

Some other gems of Sochi's under-preparedness, quirks and unusual solutions have been widely covered, including our own piece on the now infamous double toilet. Here are a few of the latest:

Journalists at Sochi are live-tweeting their hilarious and gross hotel experiences

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:48

Skiers walk by a construction site ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Amid continued debate over whether or not Sochi is prepared to host the 2014 Olympics (here are 15 alarming signs that Russia might not be ready) reporters from around the world are starting to check into local hotels '-- to their apparent grief. Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling conditions in the housing there, where only six of nine media hotels are ready for guests. Hotels are still under construction. Water, if it's running, isn't drinkable. One German photographer told the AP over the weekend that his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms.

The disarray seems to contradict repeated promises from both Russian and Olympic officials that Sochi is ready for the games, despite terrorist threats, unfinished construction and concerns over human rights abuses in the country. The Sochi Olympics have also run way over budget '-- to a record $51 billion '-- which seems particularly remarkable when you consider that some of the work isn't actually done. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has of course denied that, insisting both that the ''stage is ready'' and that many concerns, including those over safety and construction, are overblown. Meanwhile, Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of Sochi's Olympic organizing committee, had this Twitter exchange with a CNN producer who complained that only one of the network's 11 requested rooms was ready for them:

In any case, the world can decide for itself soon enough. Sochi's opening ceremony will air Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. ET; the actual events will start the day before.

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U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Decision to Move Forward with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Technology for Light Vehicles | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:26

NHTSA 05-14Monday, February 3, 2014Contact: Nathan Naylor, 202-366-9550, Public.Affairs@dot.govWASHINGTON '' The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today that it will begin taking steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles. This technology would improve safety by allowing vehicles to "talk" to each other and ultimately avoid many crashes altogether by exchanging basic safety data, such as speed and position, ten times per second.

"Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements, building on the life-saving achievements we've already seen with safety belts and air bags," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go while ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the global automotive industry."

DOT research indicates that safety applications using V2V technology can address a large majority of crashes involving two or more motor vehicles. With safety data such as speed and location flowing from nearby vehicles, vehicles can identify risks and provide drivers with warnings to avoid other vehicles in common crash types such as rear-end, lane change, and intersection crashes. These safety applications have been demonstrated with everyday drivers under both real-world and controlled test conditions.

The safety applications currently being developed provide warnings to drivers so that they can prevent imminent collisions, but do not automatically operate any vehicle systems, such as braking or steering. NHTSA is also considering future actions on active safety technologies that rely on on-board sensors. Those technologies are eventually expected to blend with the V2V technology. NHTSA issued an Interim Statement of Policy in 2013 explaining its approach to these various streams of innovation. In addition to enhancing safety, these future applications and technologies could help drivers to conserve fuel and save time.

V2V technology does not involve exchanging or recording personal information or tracking vehicle movements. The information sent between vehicles does not identify those vehicles, but merely contains basic safety data. In fact, the system as contemplated contains several layers of security and privacy protection to ensure that vehicles can rely on messages sent from other vehicles and that a vehicle or group of vehicles would be identifiable through defined procedures only if there is a need to fix a safety problem.

In August 2012, DOT launched the Safety Pilot "model deployment" in Ann Arbor, Mich., where nearly 3,000 vehicles were deployed in the largest-ever road test of V2V technology. DOT testing is indicating interoperability of V2V technology among products from different vehicle manufacturers and suppliers and has demonstrated that they work in real-world environments.

In driver clinics conducted by the Department prior to the model deployment, the technology showed high favorability ratings and levels of customer acceptance. Participants indicated they would like to have V2V safety features on their personal vehicle.

"V2V crash avoidance technology has game-changing potential to significantly reduce the number of crashes, injuries and deaths on our nation's roads," said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman. "Decades from now, it's likely we'll look back at this time period as one in which the historical arc of transportation safety considerably changed for the better, similar to the introduction of standards for seat belts, airbags, and electronic stability control technology."

NHTSA is currently finalizing its analysis of the data gathered as part of its year-long pilot program and will publish a research report on V2V communication technology for public comment in the coming weeks. The report will include analysis of the Department's research findings in several key areas including technical feasibility, privacy and security, and preliminary estimates on costs and safety benefits. NHTSA will then begin working on a regulatory proposal that would require V2V devices in new vehicles in a future year, consistent with applicable legal requirements, Executive Orders, and guidance. DOT believes that the signal this announcement sends to the market will significantly enhance development of this technology and pave the way for market penetration of V2V safety applications.

"We are pleased with the direction NHTSA is taking in terms of V2V technology," said Greg Winfree, Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology. "The decision to move forward comes after years of dedicated research into the overwhelming safety benefits provided by a connected vehicle environment."

V2V communications can provide the vehicle and driver with 360-degree situational awareness to address additional crash situations '' including those, for example, in which a driver needs to decide if it is safe to pass on a two-lane road (potential head-on collision), make a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic, or in which a vehicle approaching at an intersection appears to be on a collision course. In those situations, V2V communications can detect threats hundreds of yards from other vehicles that cannot be seen, often in situations in which on-board sensors alone cannot detect the threat.

NHTSA has worked in close partnership in this research both with other DOT agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and the Federal Highway Administration, and with several leading auto manufacturers and academic research institutions, who have invested significant resources into developing and testing V2V technology. The collaboration of government, industry and academia is critical to ensure V2V technology's interoperability across vehicles.

Find more more information on the Department's vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology research.

Stay connected with NHTSA via: Facebook.com/NHTSA | Twitter.com/NHTSAgov | YouTube.com/USDOTNHTSA | SaferCar.gov

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CYBER

Snipers Attacked A Silicon Valley Power Station Last Year And Nobody Told Us: SFist

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:45

Around 1 a.m. on April 16th last year, a team of attackers cut phone likes and took out 17 power transformers at a PG&E substation south of San Jose, nearly causing a blackout throughout Silicon Valley. According to the former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, it was the "most significant incident of domestic terrorism" involving the nation's power grid. No one has been charged or arrested in the attack.

The Wall Street Journal, broke news of the attack today, pieced together a timeline of events that unfolded in the middle of the night, just yards from Highway 101:

The attack began just before 1 a.m. on April 16 last year, when someone slipped into an underground vault not far from a busy freeway and cut telephone cables.

Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.

The team of gunmen knew what they were doing in the caper too: they targeted oil-filled cooling systems that bled out until the transformers overheated and crashed rather than shooting up the explosion-prone transformers themselves. The crash triggered an alarm at a PG&E control center 90 miles away, but police on the scene around 1:51 a.m. couldn't get past a locked fence and assumed everything was fine.Electric-grid officials, meanwhile, scrambled to avoid a blackout by re-routing power from other plants in Silicon Valley. It still took utility workers nearly a month to bring the Metcalf Transmission station back online.

Nearly a year later and FBI officials in San Francisco tell the WSJ, the Bureau doesn't think a terrorist organization was behind the attack, but they are "continuing to sift through the evidence." PG&E's official statement claimed it was the work of vandals, but made no mention of the nearly 100 fingerprint-free shell casings that were found at the scene. Former FERC chairmain Jon Wellinghoff, meanwhile, saw fit to go public with the details after military experts confirmed the scene looks like a professional job.

At a recent security conference, one former PG&E vice president of transmission put it bluntly: "This wasn't an incident where Billy-Bob and Joe decided, after a few brewskis, to come in and shoot up a substation," Mark Johnson said in a presentation. "This was an event that was well thought out, well planned and they targeted certain components." PG&E won't discuss any further details, fearing potential copycat bands of Billy-Bobs and/or unnamed terrorist organizations.

Transmission stations like Metcalf are crucial links in the power grid, which has utility officials scared that anyone could come along and cause a blackout like the one that crippled the North East in 2003. Although Wellinghoff is sounding the alarm here, more level heads from the not-for-profit North American Electric Reliability Corp. claimed in a very customer support-sounding response that even if several substations crashed, most people would get their power back in a few hours. Which will be helpful when you want to read about it online a year later.

[WSJ]

Snipers Coordinated an Attack on the Power Grid, but Why? - Atlantic Mobile

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:43

Next ArticleThe location of PG&E's Metcalf Transmission Substation is marked with "A" (Google)Last April, unknown attackers shot up 17 transformers at a California substation in what the then-chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Jon Wellinghoff called "the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred" in this country.

Though news reports about the incident at the Metcalf transmission facility came out in April, The Wall Street Journal just pieced together the larger story of the attack together from regulatory filings and outside reporting.

Various power-grid facilities are vandalized or damaged regularly, but the details of this particular attack are startling.

Before the attackers opened fire on the transformers, fiber optic lines running nearby were cut.

Whoever executed the maneuver knew where to shoot the transformers. They aimed at the oil-cooling systems, causing them to leak oil and eventually overheat. By the time that happened, the attackers were long gone.

Wellinghoff toured the site with Navy Seals, according to the Journal, and they were convinced that it was a professional job. Several people in the Journal story join Wellinghoff in talking up the physical (not cyber) threats to the grid's stability.

Despite the great reporting in the WSJ story, the central question remains unresolved: Why did this attack occur? What did they want?

There are something like 1,500 substations just in the regional utility PG&E's network. Why this one? What makes Metcalf special? It's not especially remote. In fact, there is a housing development less than 500 feet away. (And how did those people not hear 100 rounds being fired?)

The Metcalf facility sends power into San Jose/Silicon Valley. But it sounds as though the grid operators were able to route power around the damage in the grid fairly easily.

Without being too Pynchonian about the whole thing, I find myself asking: What would an attack like this allow someone to do somewhere else? What else was going on in the wee hours of April 16, 2013?

Cyber Spending Attracts Start-Ups to Nation's Capital

Link to Article

Archived Version

Source: Defense Tech

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:05

Washington D.C. business leaders like venture capitalist Jonathan Aberman want to make the D.C. region a more attractive place for tech start-ups as the U.S. government '-- specifically the military '' increases its spending on tech innovation and cybersecurity.

Defense Department leaders have said cybersecurity poses one of the top threats to the U.S. military and these generals are backing it up with their spending. Cybersecurity is one of the few areas where the U.S. military will spend more this year as their overall budget is cut. The Defense Department will spend $4.7 billion on cyber operations this year '' a 21 percent increase over 2013.

Overall, the cybersecurity industry receives about $80 billion in government spending and more than $300 billion in spending within the private sector. Those numbers are expected to expand as it is estimated that cyber theft costs as much as $400 billion in economic losses per year.

This is good news for tech entrepreneurs like Anup Ghosh, who is the type of innovator that D.C. wants to keep in the region rather than see him and his company head to California.

Ghosh is the founder of Invincea '' a firm that has developed software to protect web browsers. It's an 80-employee company based in Northern Virginia that has developed software that protects web browsers from malware, among the company's other innovations. He does a considerable amount of business with government agencies and contractors.

Ghosh admits that he had the temptation to move his company to California at its early stages to benefit from the entrepreneurial ecosystem that has been established in Silicon Valley and receive more access to the increased amount of venture capital funding in the region.

''There's not a lot of venture capital out there,'' Ghosh said about the D.C. region. ''It's night and day compared to Silicon Valley.''

Before starting Invincea, Ghosh worked for the Defense Department's top research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a program manager. He took advantage of available government grants after he left DARPA and spent three years developing the technology he used to start Invincea.

Aberman is one of the business leaders in the D.C. region working to keep talented entrepreneurs and innovators like Ghosh in D.C. He heads the venture capital firm, Amplifier Ventures, where he recognized the need to improve D.C.'s entrepreneurial tech ecosystem. Last year, he worked with entrepreneurs and tried to understand what was limiting the D.C. region.

''The reason why the Valley works is the high concentration of entrepreneurs and larger companies that are basically revolving doors,'' Aberman said. ''Well, we have revolving doors too. We have a big revolving door in government services, we have a big revolving door in entertainment media and energy.''

He worked with the state of Virginia and Arlington County to create a joint partnership between Amplifier Ventures and Arlington Economic Development called Tandem NSI. This group will work to match up tech entrepreneurs with government agencies and larger companies to help these start-ups get over the hurdles to getting their products to market.

The partnership will officially launch Tuesday night at a ceremony in Rosslyn, Va., where U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., are scheduled to attend. Tandem NSI received a $500,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia by way of the Virginia Federal Action Trust Fund.

Peter W. Singer, an analyst with Brookings Institute who recently published the book, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, said the D.C. region has plenty of potential to become the hub of the cybersecurity industry and spur the creation of more local tech start-ups.

He pointed to the geographic advantage of having the Pentagon, the National Security Agency and the CIA all located within an hour drive. However, he explained that doing with business with the government poses significant problems for the small start-up developing the latest innovations.

Leaders at these agencies recognize that their acquisition systems are not designed to keep up with the pace of tech innovation. The Pentagon's acquisition system treats the purchase of smartphone software much like it does a nuclear submarine. Generals know that has to change, Singer said.

''Everyone knows there is a problem, but we want to disentangle the drivers of that problem,'' said Singer, who also mentioned a research effort by Brookings to further study how to the government and military can better spur technological innovation.

But there are success stories inside the Beltway of entrepreneurs who have created companies despite the litany of challenges that come with working through government bureaucracies. Steven Chen is a self-described serial entrepreneur who worked with Carlos R. Aguayo Gonzalez to stand up Power Fingerprinting, a cybersecurity company that established a system to search for malware by examining a processor's power consumption.

Chen has worked with multiple tech start-ups in the D.C. region for the past two decades. He has utilized government grants such as the Small Business Innovation Research grants to establish these companies and commercialize products that have become ingrained at government agencies.

For example, his former company, Ultra Electronics, 3eTI, developed technology to secure government computers connected to Wi-Fi. The company eventually was acquired by Intel as the government mandated the company install the technology before buying their laptops.

Chen, who is also a member of the Blu Ventures venture capital firm, said it's possible to work with the government as a small company. In fact, the government needs to make it a priority as cyber threats advance and become more advanced.

''The government relies on young companies to respond to new attacks and come up with new solutions,'' Chen said.

Many tech start-ups come from research done by graduate students at universities. It's no coincidence that Stanford University is so close to Silicon Valley and Harvard and MIT are next to Boston, another hub for tech start-ups.

Gonzalez developed the technology for Power Fingerprinting at Virginia Tech while working on his doctorate. Chen and Aberman said more work needs to be done with local universities to encourage the establishment of more tech start-ups.

Aberman said there is also plenty of potential working with the government research agencies such as DARPA to produce tech companies.

''Too many times great ideas just end up left in desk drawers and these never become products that the government can actually use,'' Aberman said.

The fear of risk can often prevent these ideas that the government has invested millions in to becoming a product, Aberman explained. By its nature, the government is ''risk adverse'' when it comes to investing in new companies. The tendency is to go with the company, especially in the Defense Department, that has executed on contracts in the past.

Compare this outlook to Silicon Valley where a failed start-up is seen not as a failure, but a badge of honor. The mindset is different, Aberman said. However, the tide is starting to change as these government agencies find themselves falling behind the technological curve.

''There's a tremendous pressure to go with the path of least resistance, which is to go with the current vendor,'' Aberman said. ''The establishment is very structured and comfortable, but I've found more and more pockets of people that are thinking this town has to change.''

The Defense Department created agencies to increase the pace of acquisition over the past ten years to keep up with demands for the wars. Those organizations, such as the Army's Rapid Equipping Force, has allowed the military to respond to developing threats over the past ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The CIA recognized a need to also keep pace with threats and realized traditional acquisition systems wouldn't allow them to shepherd tech start-ups through the development of their products. Therefore, CIA officials created its own non-profit venture capital firm called In-Q-Tel that has invested in smaller companies that have since been acquired by the larger tech companies like Google and Apple.

Aberman said In-Q-Tel is an example of outside the box thinking that the government needs more of in order to foster these next generation technologies. But he said the government needs to go further. Rather than just an organization helping bring technologies in, he said more needs to be done to help entrepreneurs and researchers working inside the government to get technologies and products out.

''You have an organization to get stuff in, I want to create an organization to get stuff out,'' Aberman said.

Establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem is D.C. is a first step. It's one that will be aided by the increase in local venture capital investments. However, those venture capital firms need to see more success stories like Ghosh's Invincea.

Ghosh is confident the talent is here, but these entrepreneurs just need help getting over the hump.

''There are a lot of good software people here, they just need to be pushed in the right direction,'' Ghosh said. ''The only thing that will drive the [venture capital] money back here is success.''

February 4th, 2014 | Cyber | 222793 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2014%2F02%2F04%2Fcyber-spending-attracts-tech-start-ups-to-nations-capital%2FCyber+Spending+Attracts+Start-Ups+to+Nation%27s+Capital2014-02-04+21%3A57%3A54Mike+Hoffmanhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D22279

Source: Federal Register Latest Entries

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:23

Notice Of Stakeholder Meeting.

Pursuant to the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-302), the United States Mint announces a stakeholder meeting for the purpose of obtaining direct, first-hand input on the impacts of alternative metal compositions for circulating coinage from interested members of businesses, industries, and agencies.

Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014.

Time: 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EDT).

Location: United States Mint; 801 Ninth Street NW.; Washington, DC, 2nd floor.

Subject: The purpose of this meeting is to invite members of stakeholder organizations to directly share their perspectives concerning circulating coins and the impacts of alternative metal compositions. This input will support the Secretary of the Treasury in understanding the balance of interests and impacts to the public, private industry stakeholders, and the Government.

Information: Attendees are invited to the following link for a copy of the United States Mint's bi-annual report to Congress, December 2012 and the Alternatives Metals study, completed August 2012. http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=biennialreport. The study discusses alternative metals that could potentially change the following attributes: Weight, color, electromagnetic signature. The study also touches on implementation and transition periods.

Under the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010, in conducting research and development on circulating coins, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to consider:

(A) Factors relevant to the potential impact of any revisions to the composition of the material used in coin production on the current coinage material suppliers;

(B) Factors relevant to the ease of use and ability to co-circulate new coinage materials, including the effect on vending machines and commercial coin processing equipment and making certain, to the greatest extent practicable, that any new coins work without interruption in existing coin acceptance equipment without modification; and

(C) Such other factors that the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with merchants who would be affected by any change in the composition of circulating coins, vending machine, and other coin acceptor manufacturers; vending machine owners and operators; transit officials; municipal parking officials; depository institutions; coin and currency handlers; armored-car operators; car wash operators; and American-owned manufacturers of commercial coin processing equipment, considers to be appropriate and in the public interest.

Special Accommodations: This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other related accommodations should be directed to the Office of Coin Studies (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) as soon as possible but no later than March 3, 2014.

This is not a public meeting. Attendance is by invitation only. Persons interested in attending the meeting should use the contact information provided in this notice no later than Monday, March 10, 2014 to request an invitation and obtain additional meeting information. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Input will be gathered orally, at the stakeholder meeting, and in writing via a subsequent Federal Register notice requesting comment. The oral comments will be documented by a transcription service provider.

Leslie Schwager, Office of Coin Studies at OfficeofCoinStudies@usmint.treas.gov, or by calling 202-354-6600.

Dated: January 29, 2014.

Richard A. Peterson,

Deputy Director, United States Mint.

[FR Doc. 2014-02332 Filed 2-3-14; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE P

Transport for London: Bus drivers will no longer accept cash for fares in the capital - Mirror Online

Watson

War on Crazy

Medical Marijuana Users in Illinois to Forfeit Right to Bear Arms

Link to Article

Archived Version

Source: BlackListedNews.com

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 06:57

Illinois is allowing patients with over 41 medical conditions, including cancer and AIDS to legally smoke pot, but a new plan proposed by state officials Tuesday will require them to give uptheir Second Amendment rights '' the right to own a gun. They will also be fingerprinted, have a background check run on them, and pay $150 a year for the right to smoke up.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will take public comments about the proposed measure until February 7th, at which time they will be submitted to a legislative panel for approval by the end of April. From there, the rules to govern medical use of marijuana in the state will be outlined and put forth legally for residents to follow.

While parameters are expected to govern the responsible use of cannabis, it makes no sense that a state would try to remove someone's right to bear arms. If someone drinks a glass of wine, should they not be able to stand up to the ever-more Orwellian government which currently has the right to seize your property or enter your home without a warrant?

Currently, patients desiring medical marijuana must carry an ID card and can only have access to 2.5 ounces at a time (and not replenishable for two weeks). This is hardly a drug-cartel that needs to be stripped of its artillery. There are many rules already which establish how a patient can even qualify for their ID card. And a doctor must certify their use of more than 2.5 ounces, only if it is medically needed.

The new proposal would strip marijuana users of their Second Amendment rights even if they currently have a state firearm owner's identification card or a concealed carry license. Violators would be subject to the 'sanctions' of the police. While the rules would allow patients to designate a caregiver to hold their marijuana for them so they could carry a gun, called a 'caregiver', they also would be required to have a background check. The Illinois State Police could reject anyone with a felony conviction or violent crime on their records, but also for any reason they see fit '' including, how ironic '' the possession of marijuana.

The proposal also requires all applications to be for a person 18 years of age or older and the state would have 180 days to review and either deny or approve the annual application, and process the fee.

The state Department of Agriculture still must develop rules for cultivation centers, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation still must draw up rules for dispensaries. You can bet they are getting direction from the National Security bodies (CIA, NSA, etc.). Make sure to voice your opinion to lawmakers if you want to hold onto your Constitutional rights and still enjoy a joint.

EARaq

36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification

Link to Article

Archived Version

Source: Federal Register Latest Entries

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:17

Ms. B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 601-3740.

The following is a copy of a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Transmittals 13-18 with attached transmittal, policy justification, and Sensitivity of Technology.

Dated: January 30, 2014.

Aaron Siegel,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.

Transmittal No. 13-18Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended(i) Prospective Purchaser: Iraq

(ii) Total Estimated Value:

Major Defense Equipment$1.9 billionOther$2.9 billionTOTAL$4.8 billion(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase: 24 AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack Helicopters, 56 T700-GE-701D Engines, 27 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight, 27 AN/AAR-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars with Radar Electronics Unit (LONGBOW component), 28 AN/AAR-57(V)7 Common Missile Warning Systems, 28 AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Sets, 28 AN/APR-39A(V)4 or APR-39C(V)2 Radar Signal Detecting Sets, 28 AN/ALQ-136A(V)5 Radar Jammers, 52 AN/AVS-6, 90 Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets, 60 HELLFIRE Missile Launchers, and 480 AGM-114R HELLFIRE Missiles. Also included are AN/APR-48 Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers, AN/APX-117 Identification Friend-or-Foe Transponders, Embedded Global Positioning Systems with Inertial Navigation with Multi Mode Receiver, MXF-4027 UHF/VHF Radios, 30mm Automatic Chain Guns, Aircraft Ground Power Units, 2.75 in Hydra Rockets, 30mm rounds, M211 and M212 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munitions flares, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical data, personnel training and training equipment, site surveys, U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services, design and construction, and other related elements of logistics support.

(iv) Military Department: U.S. Army (WAQ)

(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: None

(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered or Agreed to be Paid: None

(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense

Services Proposed to be Sold: See Annex attached

(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: 27 January 2014

* as defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.

POLICY JUSTIFICATIONIraq'--AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack HelicoptersThe Government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of 24 AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack Helicopters, 56 T700-GE-701D Engines, 27 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight, 27 AN/AAR-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars with Radar Electronics Unit (LONGBOW component), 28 AN/AAR-57(V)7 Common Missile Warning Systems, 28 AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Sets, 28 AN/APR-39A(V)4 or APR-39C(V)2 Radar Signal Detecting Sets, 28 AN/ALQ-136A(V)5 Radar Jammers, 52 AN/AVS-6, 90 Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets, 60 HELLFIRE Missile Launchers, and 480 AGM-114R HELLFIRE Missiles. Also included are AN/APR-48 Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers, AN/APX-117 Identification Friend-or-Foe Transponders, Embedded Global Positioning Systems with Inertial Navigation with Multi Mode Receiver, MXF-4027 UHF/VHF Radios, 30mm Automatic Chain Guns, Aircraft Ground Power Units, 2.75 in Hydra Rockets, 30mm rounds, M211 and M212 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munitions flares, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical data, personnel training and training equipment, site surveys, U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services, design and construction, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $4.8 billion.

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner. This proposed sale directly supports the Iraq government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the United States.

This proposed sale supports the strategic interests of the United States by providing Iraq with a critical capability to protect itself from terrorist and conventional threats, to enhance the protection of key oil infrastructure and platforms, and to reinforce Iraqi sovereignty. This proposed sale of AH-64E APACHE helicopters will support Iraq's efforts to establish a fleet of multi-mission attack helicopters capable of meeting its requirements for close air support, armed reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare missions.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The prime contractors will be The Boeing Company in Mesa, Arizona; Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, Florida; General Electric Company in Cincinnati, Ohio; Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Owego, New York; Longbow Limited Liability Corporation in Orlando, Florida; and Raytheon Corporation in Tucson, Arizona. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of three U.S. Government and two hundred contractor representatives to Iraq to support delivery of the Apache helicopters and provide support and equipment familiarization. In addition, Iraq has expressed an interest in a Technical Assistance Fielding Team for in-country pilot and maintenance training. To support the requirement a team of 12 personnel (one military team leader and 11 contractors) would be deployed to Iraq for approximately three years. Also, this program will require multiple trips involving U.S. Government and contractor personnel to participate in program and technical reviews, training and installation.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

Transmittal No. 13-18Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control ActAnnexItem No. vii(vii) Sensitivity of Technology:

1. The AH-64E APACHE Attack Helicopter weapon system contains communications and target identification equipment, navigation equipment, aircraft survivability equipment, displays, and sensors. The airframe itself does not contain sensitive technology; however, the pertinent equipment listed below will be either installed on the aircraft or included in the sale:

a. The AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radar (FCR) is an active, low-probability of intercept, millimeter-wave radar, combined with a passive AN/APR-48A Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometer (M-RFI) mounted on top of the helicopter mast. The FCR Ground Targeting Mode detects, locates, classifies and prioritizes stationary or moving armored vehicles, tanks and mobile air defense systems as well as hovering helicopters as well as helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in normal flight. The M-RFI detects threat radar emissions and determines the type of radar and mode of operation. The FCR data and M-RFI data are fused for maximum synergism. The content of these items are classified Secret.

b. The AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/AN/AAQ-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensor (MTADS/MPNVS) provides day, night, limited adverse weather target information, as well as night navigation capabilities. The MPNVS provides thermal imaging that permits nap-of-the-earth flight to, from, and within the battle area, while MTADS provides the co-pilot gunner with search, detection, recognition, and designation by means of television and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) sighting systems that may be used singularly or in combinations. Hardware is Unclassified. Technical manuals for authorized maintenance levels are Unclassified.

c. The AAR-57(V)7 Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) detects energy emitted by threat missile in-flight, evaluates potential false alarm emitters in the environment, declares validity of threat and selects appropriate counter-measures. The CMWS consists of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Electro-Optic Missile Sensors (EOMSs), and Sequencer and Improved Countermeasures Dispenser (ICMD). The ECU hardware is classified Confidential; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Secret.

d. The AN/APR-39A(V)4/APR-39C(V)2 Radar Signal Detecting Set provides warning of a radar directed air defense threat and allow appropriate countermeasures. This is the 1553 databus compatible configuration. The hardware is classified Confidential when programmed with U.S. threat data; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Confidential; releasable technical data (technical performance) is classified Secret.

e. The AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Set is a passive laser warning system that receives, processes and displays threat information resulting from aircraft illumination by lasers on the multi-functional display. The hardware is classified Confidential; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Secret.

f. The AN/ALQ-136A(V)5 Radar Jammer, or equivalent, is an automatic radar jammer that analyzes various incoming radar signals. When threat signals are identified and verified, jamming automatically begins and continues until the threat radar breaks lock. The hardware is classified Confidential; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Secret; releasable technical data (technical performance) is classified Secret.

g. The highest level for release of the AGM-114R HELLFIRE II missile is Secret, based upon the software. The highest level of classified information that could be disclosed by a proposed sale or by testing of the end item is Secret; the highest level that must be disclosed for production, maintenance, or training is Confidential. Reverse engineering could reveal Confidential information. Vulnerability data, countermeasures, vulnerability/susceptibility analyses, and threat definitions are classified Secret or Confidential.

2. If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge of the specific hardware and software elements, the information could be used to develop countermeasures which might reduce weapon system effectiveness or be used in the development of a system with similar or advanced capabilities.

[FR Doc. 2014-02265 Filed 2-3-14; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5001-06-P

36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification

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Archived Version

Source: Federal Register Latest Entries

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:21

Ms. B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 601-3740.

The following is a copy of a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Transmittals 13-29 with attached transmittal, policy justification, and Sensitivity of Technology.

Dated: January 30, 2014.

Aaron Siegel,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.

Transmittal No. 13-29Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended(i) Prospective Purchaser: Iraq

(ii) Total Estimated Value:

Major Defense Equipment$ .095 billionOther$1.275 billionTOTAL$1.370 billion(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase: 8 AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System, 3 T-700-GE-701D engines, 3 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (MTADS), 3 AN/AAQ-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors (PNVS), 152 AGM-114 K-A HELLFIRE Missiles, 14 HELLFIRE M299 Launchers, 6 AN/APR-39A(V)4 Radar Warning Systems with training Universal Data Modems (UDM), 2 Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation System (EGI), 6 AN/AVR-2A/B Laser Warning Detectors, 12 M261 2.75 inch Rocket Launchers, M206 Infrared Countermeasure flares, M211 and M212 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munitions (AIRCM) flares, Internal Auxiliary Fuel Systems (IAFS), Aviator's Night Vision Goggles, Aviation Mission Planning System, training ammunition, helmets, transportation, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical data, personnel training and training equipment, site surveys, U.S. Government and contractor technical assistance, and other related elements of program and logistics support.

(iv) Military Department: U.S. Army (UAK)

(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: None

(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None

(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: See Annex attached

(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: 27 January 2014

* As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.

POLICY JUSTIFICATIONIraq'--Support for APACHE LeaseThe Government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of 8 AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System, 3 T-700-GE-701D engines, 3 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (MTADS), 3 AN/AAQ-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors (PNVS), 152 AGM-114 K-A HELLFIRE Missiles, 14 HELLFIRE M299 Launchers, 6 AN/APR-39A(V)4 Radar Warning Systems with training Universal Data Modems (UDM), 2 Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation System (EGI), 6 AN/AVR-2A/B Laser Warning Detectors, 12 M261 2.75 inch Rocket Launchers, M206 Infrared Countermeasure flares, M211 and M212 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munitions (AIRCM) flares, Internal Auxiliary Fuel Systems (IAFS), Aviator's Night Vision Goggles, Aviation Mission Planning System, training ammunition, helmets, transportation, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical data, personnel training and training equipment, site surveys, U.S. Government and contractor technical assistance, and other related elements of program and logistics support. The estimated cost is $1.37 billion.

The proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner. This proposed sale directly supports the Iraq government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the United States.

The proposed sale supports the strategic interests of the United States by providing Iraq with a critical capability to protect itself from terrorist and conventional threats. This will allow Iraqi Security Forces to begin training on the operation and maintenance of six leased U.S. APACHE helicopters in preparation of their receipt of new-build aircraft.

This proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The principal contractors will be The Boeing Company in Mesa, Arizona, Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, Florida, General Electric Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Robertson Fuel Systems, LLC, Tempe, Arizona. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of 1 U.S. Government and 67 contractor representatives to travel to Iraq on an as-needed basis provide support and technical reviews.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

Transmittal No. 13-29Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control ActAnnexItem No. vii(vii) Sensitivity of Technology:

a. The AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/AN/AAQ-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensor (MTADS/MPNVS) provides day, night, limited adverse weather target information, as well as night navigation capabilities. The MPNVS provides thermal imaging that permits nap-of-the-earth flight to, from, and within the battle area, while MTADS provides the co-pilot gunner with search, detection, recognition, and designation by means of television and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) sighting systems that may be used singularly or in combinations. Hardware is Unclassified. Technical manuals for authorized maintenance levels are Unclassified.

b. The AAR-57(V)7 Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) detects energy emitted by threat missile in-flight, evaluates potential false alarm emitters in the environment, declares validity of threat and selects appropriate counter-measures. The CMWS consists of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Electro-Optic Missile Sensors (EOMSs), and Sequencer and Improved Countermeasures Dispenser (ICMD). The ECU hardware is classified Confidential; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Secret.

c. The AN/APR-39A(V)4/APR-39C(V)2 Radar Signal Detecting Set is a system, that provides warning of a radar directed air defense threat and allow appropriate countermeasures. This is the 1553 databus compatible configuration. The hardware is classified Confidential when programmed with U.S. threat data; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Confidential; releasable technical data (technical performance) is classified Secret.

d. The AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Set is a passive laser warning system that receives, processes and displays threat information resulting from aircraft illumination by lasers on the multi-functional display. The hardware is classified Confidential; releasable technical manuals for operation and maintenance are classified Secret.

e. The Embedded Global Positioning Systems Inertial Navigation (EGI) is an export controlled device containing a GEM III/IV GPS Receiver card with a Precise Positioning Service-Security Module (PPS-SM).

f. The highest level for release of the AGM-114 K-A HELLFIRE missile is Secret, based upon the software. This missile variant adds a blast fragmentation sleeve to the HEAT warhead's anti-tank capability, giving it added versatility against unarmored targets in the open. The highest level of classified information that could be disclosed by a proposed lease or by testing of the end item is Secret; the highest level that must be disclosed for production, maintenance, or training is Confidential. Reverse engineering could reveal Confidential information. Vulnerability data, countermeasures, vulnerability/susceptibility analyses, and threat definitions are classified Secret or Confidential.

[FR Doc. 2014-02266 Filed 2-3-14; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5001-06-P

Turkey

Tim Cook to Meet With Turkish President Ahead of Istanbul Apple Store Opening [Updated] - Mac Rumors

Turkey's rising political star set for major fight - European News | Latest News from Across Europe | The Irish Times - Tue, Feb 04, 2014

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Archived Version

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:21

Mustafa Sarigul, taking on the AK Party for the mayoral seat of Istanbul.

The walls of the local municipality's conference room are lined with pictures of Mustafa Sarigºl meeting the famous: Pope Benedict, Kofi Annan, Shimon Peres. There's even one of him with Abdullah Gul '' Turkey's president and a chief political foe.

But today, it's Istanbul mayor and AK Party member, Kadir Topbas, who's in Sarigºl's sights.

Born in a rural hamlet in eastern Turkey in 1956, Mustafa Sarigºl has made Sisli in Istanbul his den: he's been mayor of the financial hub since 1999. With the mayorship of Istanbul up for grabs next month, a powerful political position the ruling AK Party is loath to lose its grip on, it also means that Sarigºl is now the focus of much attention, both good and bad.

Political tensions in Turkey have been growing in recent months, escalated by a graft probe against family members of government figures in December that prompted a ruthless backlash against the investigating police and judiciary.

On a recent Monday night, two gunmen emptied 15 bullets into Sarigºl's local municipality building, but no one was injured. ''This is an attack against democracy ahead of the elections,'' Sarigºl told Turkish media.

At an extraordinary congress of the opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) in 2005, Sarigºl was ousted ''due to some unjust claims made against me'', he says. Fists apparently flew. Differences have recently been overcome and last November Sarigºl was invited to return. Sensing an opportunity, in December he was voted by CHP members to take on the AK Party for the mayoral seat of Istanbul.

''Mr Topbas has been mayor for 10 years '' he is tired, that party is tired, they have lost the energy for Istanbul, for the future of Istanbul '... Istanbul needs a new dynamism, a new energy,'' he said.

InterferenceIstanbul, he says, has not been governed from Istanbul for a long time. ''The central government interferes in Istanbul's affairs. There are many projects that are put by the government, not by Istanbul municipalities.''

Though Istanbul is replete with districts inhabited by liberals and secularists, there are vast swathes that identify with the AK Party's conservative Islamist principles. In the district of Fatih, pictures of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and deposed Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi line street corners. But Sarigºl is unperturbed. ''Most of our time is consumed in such areas because we know that if we go there and talk to people, we can get their support.''

The residents of Istanbul are perhaps most annoyed by the spate of construction projects engulfing a city that boasts a 2,600-year history. Since last May, urban regeneration and its various forms have become a lightning rod for public dissent. Last summer, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to support a sit-in of environmentalists at Istanbul's Gezi Park that was violently put down by police. Sarigºl's aides say he was in Gezi from the start. Not only that, the police pepper-sprayed him.

Thousands of Immigrants Expected in Greece From Turkey | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece

Israel offers Turkey $20m in compensation over Gaza flotilla raid - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

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Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:57

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a ceremony in Ankara December 18, 2013.Photo by Reuters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum last week. Has he changed hias political direction?Photo by Reuters

By Barak Ravid and The Associated Press

By Zvi Bar'el| Feb. 3, 2014 | 6:08 PM

Israel has offered Turkey $20 million in compensation for the families of the nine Turkish nationals killed and to those wounded during the 2010 Israel Defense Forces raid on the Mavi Marmara, Western diplomats told Haaretz.

The diplomats, who were briefed on the negotiations but asked to speak anonymously, said that progress was being made but there was still no agreement.

The reconciliation talks between Turkey and Israel, which had petered out for many months, were revived in early December when the Turks invited the Israeli negotiating team '' national security adviser Yossi Cohen; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's special envoy, Joseph Ciechanover; and Foreign Ministry director general Nissim Ben Sheetrit '' to return to Istanbul.

During that round of talks, the Turks softened their position and lowered their compensation demands. Western diplomats told Haaretz that the Turks had demanded $30 million, which was still double the $15 million Israel was prepared to pay.

In the weeks after the negotiators returned home, Netanyahu held several consultations with them, after which he decided to up Israel's offer to $20 million. Western diplomats said Netanyahu even gave the team permission to go up to $3 million higher if necessary to secure an agreement. It's not clear whether Turkey will be willing to show flexibility again in its stance and lower its compensation demands to match that being offered by Israel.

The money will not be paid directly to the wounded or the families of the dead. It will be deposited in a humanitarian fund and distributed to the victims in accordance with defined criteria.

Officials in Jerusalem involved with the Turkish talks refused to confirm the sums mentioned by the Western diplomats, but did not deny them, either. They would only say that contacts between the sides were continuing, and that the outlook was positive.

Jerusalem, however, does not expect any agreement to be reached before the Turkish local elections on March 30, since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to fear that an agreement with Israel and a compromise on the compensation will hurt him politically.

The Israeli officials noted that, aside from the compensation '' which is important to the Turks '' a reconciliation agreement between the countries is also dependent on issues important to Israel that have yet to be concluded.

A major issue for Israel is the cancellation of lawsuits against the IDF soldiers and officers who were involved in intercepting the flotilla. Israel is demanding that, as part of the agreement, Turkey passes a law that will void the pending legal actions and block such actions in the future.

Jerusalem also wants the normalization of relations with Turkey to go beyond the symbolic return of ambassadors to Tel Aviv and Ankara. Israel wants to resume its diplomatic dialogue with Turkey, ministerial meetings, mutual visits and other steps. Israel also expects Turkey to commit not to act against Israel in international forums and to stop haranguing Israel in the media.

For a long time, Turkey had demanded that Israel lift the blockade on Gaza as a condition for normalizing relations, but on November 8 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoˆÑülu said that his country was satisfied with the altered Israeli policies toward allowing humanitarian goods into Gaza.

''In terms of Turkish aid, and also the others, Israel has opened its doors, relatively, and contributed to the arrival of the aid in Gaza following the negative stand by Egypt '... Our final goal is to finalize the compensation talks and, in parallel, spend efforts to improve the humanitarian conditions in Palestine to be followed by the steps to lift the embargo. As long as developments take place in this direction, Turkish-Israeli relations will improve,'' DavutoˆÑülu said.

The deterioration in relations with Turkey, which began in early 2009 following Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, reached rock-bottom in May 2010, after the Marmara raid. The crisis led to a downgrading of official relations and the eventual expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Ankara in September 2011.

In March last year, during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, the president mediated a phone call between Erdogan and Netanyahu, during which Netanyahu apologized to the Turkish people for the Marmara incident and agreed with Erdogan to begin a process of normalizing relations.

CAR

Fresh fighting claims more than 70 lives in Central African Republic

Central African Republic town retaken by international forces

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Archived Version

Source: Reuters: World News

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 07:04

By Paul-Marin Ngoupana

BANGUISun Feb 2, 2014 11:08am EST

1 of 2. A French soldier keeps guard amongst damaged homes in the district of Combattant, from which Muslims have fled due to the continuing sectarian violence, in Bangui February 1, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Siegfried Modola

BANGUI (Reuters) - International forces in the Central African Republic have retaken a strategic town occupied for days by Muslim Seleka fighters, witnesses said on Sunday.

The fighters agreed to quit the central town of Sibut peacefully following talks with French troops from Operation Sangaris and African MISCA peacekeeping forces.

Almost a million people have been displaced by fighting since the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power last March in the majority Christian country of over 4 million. At least 2,000 people are estimated to have been killed.

Seleka fighters have abandoned the riverside capital Bangui in recent days, leaving Muslim civilians vulnerable to Christian militia and mobs who have engaged in looting and killings.

Sibut, a town of around 24,000, is seen as a gateway to the northeast of the country where many Seleka fighters are regrouping. They occupied Sibut last week, and there were reports of killing of civilians there, international aid workers said.

"I am right now in the center of Sibut and all the roads and strategic points are occupied by MISCA and Operation Sangaris," Roland Mongonou, a resident of Sibut, told Reuters by telephone.

A spokesman for MISCA confirmed that Sibut was in the hands of peacekeepers, and said there was no gunfire and no conditions had been accepted before the town was retaken.

Mongonou said he and many other residents had returned to the town on Sunday morning after spending five days in the bush because they feared for their security.

The Seleka fighters left the town after negotiations in which they demanded incorporation into government security forces and financial reparations, but no conditions were granted, said Marcelin Yoyo, a national counsellor in the town.

Some fighters left in a column of vehicles for Bambari, east of Sibut, while others headed to Kaga-Bandoro due north at around 11 p.m. on Saturday night, he said.

Both towns were scenes of atrocities after Seleka came to power, and the peacekeepers' next task is to secure those towns too, Yoyo said.

In a possible sign of the direction of the conflict, an unidentified group said last week it was forming a new body, the Independence Movement of northern Central African Republic, to protect northern interests against neglect and oppression.

MISCA has more than 5,000 soldiers in the Central African Republic, where a 1,600-strong French force is also deployed.

(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Mike Collett-White)

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NA-Tech

FreeSpeechMe | Open-Source Free Browser Plug-In Protection Against Website Censorship and Hijacking

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Archived Version

Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:56

Q. What is FreeSpeechMe?

A. FreeSpeechMe is a free open-source plug-in for Firefox that allows you to effortlessly view Dot-Bit websites. It works on Windows and on Linux.

Q. What is Dot-Bit?

A. Dot-Bit (.bit) is a new top-level domain that, unlike Dot-Com, Dot-Net, Dot-UK, etc., is NOT controlled by any government or corporation.

Q. How much do these domains cost? Are they hard to register?

A. You can register a Dot-Bit domain today using the inexpensive cryptocurrency, Namecoin (a derivative of BitCoin). Dot-Bit domains currently cost about 7 cents US to register, and you don't have to go through anyone else to do it. It's easy to do, and we've written tutorials on how to do it and where to get Namecoin.

Q. What are the advantages of Dot-Bit?

A. Dot-Bit domains are extremely resistant to being shut down or hijacked by governments, corporations or criminals. Dot-Bit domains are THE decentralized alternative to building your whole web presence on a Dot-Com or other top-level domain that can be shut down at any time for any reason by any government without due process.

FreeSpeechMe is also resistant to DNS or HTTPS hijacking, which are common and easy with normal top-level domains. DNS or HTTPS hijacking is when someone redirects your traffic to an impostor website, which allows them to steal passwords or install malware.

With our FreeSpeechMe browser plug-in, all that hassle and danger is eliminated. The FreeSpeechMe plug-in doesn't require changing anything, so your surfing stays fast and secure. You can now navigate from the regular Web to Dot-Bit sites and back, effortlessly and safely.

Q. So, is this just an idea? Or is it real?

A. It's real. Here. Now. Today.

This isn't vaporware. We already have working versions of the FreeSpeechMe open-source plug-in for Windows and Linux. You can download and start using themthis minute. We're raising money to further develop FreeSpeechMe, and to spread adoption of Dot-Bit websites. Because widespread adoption is instrumental to making this work.

And website owners don't even have to start a new website. We've written tutorials on setting up a Dot-Bit domain for your Dot-Com or other top-level domain-website. Just give the .bit domain name out to your users and tell them about our plug-in. If anyone ever shuts down your Dot-Com domain, users will still be able to effortlessly get to your site using your Dot-Bit address and our FreeSpeechMe plug-in.

And there are already some Dot-Bit websites. But for now, we need to get the widest user adoption possible for our plug-in, and educate many more Website owners on adding .bit versions of their sites. We've also written clear tutorials on installing and using our plug-in, and on registering Dot-Bit names with Namecoin.

Q. OK, sounds great. What's next? How can I help?

A. FreeSpeechMe is a game-changing world-advancing leap for freedom. Please help us raise 50,000 dollars to perfect the FreeSpeechMe open-source plug-in, spread its adoption and help save the Internet from the central scrutinizers of the world. Thank you!

And tell two friends about FreeSpeechMe, and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends'.....

Please consider Donating to help out. Thanks!

Dread Pirate Roberts 2.0: An interview with Silk Road's new boss | Ars Technica

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Archived Version

Thu, 06 Feb 2014 03:47

Aurich Lawson

Silk Road, the infamous and anonymous online marketplace specializing in illicit goods, sells everything from pot to black tar heroin. If you can smoke it, inject it, or snort it, there's a good chance Silk Road has it.

Well, had it. Late last year, the FBI burst into a local branch of the San Francisco Public Library and arrested one Ross Ulbricht, the alleged kingpin who ran the site. It all happened while Ulbricht's laptop was open and he was logged into his encrypted accounts. In the days that followed, the feds dropped a host of charges on Ulbricht, including severalsalaciousaccusations that Ulbricht attempted to arrange hits on various people he thought had betrayed him or blackmailed him. The feds also arrested several people accused of being major sellers, creating anxiety for those who ever bought or sold on the site. The Silk Road was closed.

Further ReadingWhat he wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak.

It didn't take long to return. Just as the previous Silk Road operator had done, the new owner called himself ''Dread Pirate Roberts'' (DPR). The name came from a character in The Princess Bride who passes his piratical business down from one individual to the next, each of whom uses the same name to ensure continuity. So in a move that would seem to tempt fate, the new DPR built another version of Silk Road and restarted the drug marketplace.

As a consequence of law enforcement's keen interest in the site, paranoia today hangs over Silk Road like a heavy fog. The tone of conversation on the discussion board resembles, at times, noir fiction. Recriminations fly about whether other users are law enforcement, debates rage about which software/hardware setup best conceals a user's identity, and theories abound as to how several of the site's old administrators were recently arrested.

Before our interview with the new enigmatic owner of the rebuilt site, we asked DPR how to prove we weren't law enforcement. The answer was simple: No need. DPR had ''already done a full background search."

It was a fitting introduction into the cyber underworld known as the "dark Web."

Sites on the dark Web can't be visited with an ordinary browser. Instead, they are designed to be accessible solely via Tor, due to Tor's ability to render one's Web browsing anonymous by routing it through several computers and wrapping it in layers of encryption before dumping it back onto the public Internet through some far-off "exit node." I watched as a friend of mine once tried logging into his Gmail account through Tor. Immediately, Gmail prompted him to verify his identity, telling him, ''It looks like you're signing in from an unusual location'''--Germany. (At the time we were in the US.)

Silk Road also relies on the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, which can help to obscure the identities of both parties in a transaction.

The system works to a point, but as the federal takedown of the old Silk Road site showed, it can be risky to put too much trust in it. So why, in the face of that risk, would someone new step forward to rebuild the site and assume the mantle of DPR? We decided to ask.

Our interview with the new DPR took place over heavily encrypted channels. S/he uses an e-mail service that encrypts incoming and outgoing information and is known to, in the site's own words, ''actively fight any attempt to subpoena or otherwise acquire any user information or logs.'' Additionally, DPR uses another layer of encryption and avoids discussing any topic that could reveal too much personal information.

What follows is a transcript of our conversation, edited for space and clarity.

Editor's note: We have done our best to verify that we were speaking with DPR, operator of the revamped Silk Road site, by communicating through the site itself, via DPR's Twitter account, and over e-mail in the course of this interview. Despite those efforts, it is impossible to know much more, including whether DPR is male or female, a single person or multiple people, or even a law enforcement plant designed to lure dealers out of the shadows. We believe the information in the interview'--and the window it provides into Silk Road and its operations'--makes it worth running, but as in all such interviews, caveat lector.

Ars Technica: You've said that, contrary to popular belief, your site "does not represent drugs." What does it represent?

Dread Pirate Roberts: We represent a right for the individual to choose what they would or wouldn't like to put into their own bodies. The state is no longer a protector of the people in many ways. It has chosen to limit the choice of individuals, and it feels almost compelled to "educate" people about what they think is best. Just like many institutions, the state is no better than a private corporation, and indeed there are times when you could mistake some governments for a board of directors who have nothing but power and wealth on their minds.

Even the use of legal drugs like alcohol has negative social consequences; what do you think about the distribution of more dangerous substances?

The role government plays should not be to infringe upon individual rights but to protect them. If a person was to lose control of themselves and cause harm or issue to others, then they are acting outside of their individual rights and infringing upon the rights of another'--in which case there is reasonable ground to detain a person.

Did prohibition at all stop people drinking? No. Did prohibition stop people seeking help? Yes, and many people paid with their lives for it. Does prohibition take otherwise productive citizens who've done no harm to others out of society and let them sit in a jail cell to drain resources? I'll let you consider that.

Now we can say how alcohol does affect society, but we are then talking about what people do to others and not what the drug itself is doing. DoctorX [a user on the Silk Road message boards who claims to be a Spanish medical doctor specializing in cocaine, cannabis, and synthetic drugs] pointed out that if you leave a drug on the table, it will not get up and hurt you. The individual is responsible for looking after themselves and not damaging others. If they do so, then perhaps prison is a solution for the protection of society, but putting millions of people behind bars for being responsible drug users'--not harming others'--is a disgrace.

[Ulbricht] is the one rolling and bringing his own moderators down for a plea deal. Damn coward.

You've said, "I believe that right now, we are living in a society where our enemy is no longer foreign but domestic." Could you elaborate on this?

After 9/11, there was a vast amount of scaremongering over terrorism, and the higher echelons of society saw fit to strip the rights of everyone in the process. This is not to say that, of course, there aren't terrorists, but so many times we hear in religion, money, and nationality that we must not judge many by the actions of the few'--yet we can see such hypocrisy from the US government where everyone must surrender their rights for the actions of a few. Is the government any better than the people?

You're a libertarian. Do your views differ at all from those of the previous ''Dread Pirate Roberts?"

A person can hold any school of libertarian view they would like to, but do they actually support their views through action? A person screaming their libertarian principles who then has those around him brought down with him for his own gain is not a person with any morality in them and in my view is a fraud of a genuinely good cause...

You've said, "Silk Road while under my watch will never harm a soul. If we did, then we are no better than the thugs on the street." I take it you thought it was wrong of the previous DPR to'--allegedly'--order multiple hits on people in the course of doing business.

I think at this time it is inappropriate for me to comment on too many specifics as there is a lot that still is not public that I hold in gross contempt. There are probably actions I have done for which the community will hold me in contempt, which will not come to light just yet or maybe ever, if I am lucky. I do not say they are as foolish as hiring an online hitman, but I cannot excuse myself for having human moments. We are all still human, and I do make mistakes. Fortunately, they are limited to simple policy issues so far.

What is more important to me is ensuring I am not a single point of failure and any mistake I do make will only compromise my own freedom without hurting others.

You've said, "With enough time and data, identifying our servers would actually be a trivial task for the NSA." How much does this worry you?

It is of course a credible threat. People like the FBI do their job in finding people through non-technical measures, such as when somebody has poor OPSEC [operational security], but the NSA wants to break the very foundations we stand on.

The NSA also has a huge budget, and anything they can do against Silk Road they can do against all Tor users, so we have to assemble some of the greatest minds in the world to defend our cause. When it comes to some kind of cyberwarfare, the NSA is undoubtedly the heavyweight, but they still have us to contend with.

Can the new Silk Road site be taken down as easily as the previous incarnation?

There is only one person in the world that knows who [my second in command] ''Defcon'' is'--me. So unless the feds have me they can never take down the Road, because as soon as I am missing he knows to just move servers and hit the killswitch on my access. Just think how much the FBI will be squirming in their seats and red-faced again if they could arrest the Dread Pirate Roberts and the Road continues to function in their face.

How long did it take to build the new Silk Road'--and did you do so from scratch or from existing code?

The initial build took several days, but testing and ensuring no security leaks are present takes weeks for every feature. No comment regarding what part of our source code comes from the original market.

You were involved in an incident involving a competitor named TorMarket, in which you managed to hack and subsequently leak TorMarket's database code. You said later that this attack was undertaken to prove that TorMarket's promises of ''secure codebase, competent operators, and common sense'' were falsehoods. Do you stand by your actions?

That began as a private affair between myself and the TorMarket leaders and raged out of control when they sought to attack the wider community. We hope this serves as a warning for those wishing to take their anger out at people who are innocent, and I stand by my actions. At the time, reddit in particular gave me a hard time for striking back at TorMarket in the way I did, but if I let them stand any longer, then more bitcoins would have been lost to TorMarket's greed.

When it comes to cyberwarfare, the NSA is the heavyweight, but they have us to contend with.

If my actions seem unreasonable to people, then it is not because I am ignorant of the consequences or on some emotionally charged knee-jerk reaction; it is more likely that there is information the public is not aware of, as in almost every part of my work.Nobody complains to me when they know I am breathing down the neck of would-be infiltrators and have already locked down over 15 law enforcement honeypot vendors or when our team is busy fighting off an armada of hackers. I do, however, confess it was quite boring the third time law enforcement decided to use the ''SuperTrips'' moniker and claiming to be him as a free man, when I know just as well as ICE where he is now.

Thanks to Edward Snowden and other, leaks have been in the news quite a bit, and there's been some discussion on Silk Road about having the site host leaks of government secrets. Is that something you're considering?

"Government secrets" is a very broad term and one I don't want to let there be confusion over. You can say there would be government secrets to cover up human rights abuses or to protect corrupt officials, in which case I wouldn't hesitate to let the world know them at the right time. An inescapable fact is that even with my own ideology and what I represent, there must still be some secrets to protect people, and so each "government secret" must be judged upon whatever individual merit it carries'--though the sale of such things will never be permitted on Silk Road. A person must release the information for the right moral reasons and not for profit or gain.

Most of your competitor sites' discussion boards are all business; yours is one of the only sites to have things like a ''philosophy and politics'' section. Why is that?

I hope recent events highlight why we are the only market who discusses and openly allows people to challenge our beliefs.

Some still have the audacity to call my ideology "fake" and [say] that I am here just for the profit, then support some new market that swiftly closes the door (and runs with their money). I've had the opportunity to run off with more than 10 times the annual salary of Obama, but I have returned'--at my own risk, if you knew the circumstances'--to give the money to the rightful owners.

Any final thoughts?

I knew the risk when I took this position, and I am never going to be a truly free man/woman now. All I now seek to ensure is that if I do go down that I don't take Silk Road down with me. Having a single point of failure is no longer acceptable simply because we believe it will protect our users from internal threats.

I have brought Silk Road back to life this time around, but the future of free markets is in the hands of those who are willing to step up after Silk Road falls. There is a revolution coming that is larger than Silk Road has been or will ever be.

Ken Klippenstein is a journalist who can be reached via Twitter @kenklippenstein or by e-mail at ken.klippenstein@riseup.net

Verizon using recent Net Neutrality victory to wage war against Netflix - Dave's Blog

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:12

UPDATE: The team over at Speedchecker Ltd has created a speedtest oriented around this issue. They are going to be collecting data and presenting findings if they get enough data:

http://netneutralitytest.com/

I usually don't post articles about current affairs. However, a recent series of events has inspired me to write about this.

Towards the end of January, the president of our company '' iScan Online, Inc., was complaining that our service was experiencing major slowdowns. I investigated the issue, but I couldn't find anything wrong with our production environment. We were stumped.

One evening I also noticed a slowdown while using our service from my house. I realized that the one thing in common between me and our president was that we both had FiOS internet service from Verizon.

Since we host all of our infrastructure on Amazon's AWS '' I decided to do a little test '' I grabbed a URL from AWS S3 and loaded it.

40kB/s.

WTF.

I also noticed that our Netflix streaming quality is awful compared to just a few weeks ago.

Next, I remoted into our office '' about a mile away from my house. I tested the same link ''

5000kB/s.

WTF.

So I contacted Verizon support over their live chat.

Verizon had me do a speedtest.

75Mb/s.

He says ''You have excellent Bandwidth '' is there anything else I can help you with?''

I replied '' ''Yes. Why are these files slow'...''

So he proceeded to walk me through various troubleshooting:

''reboot your router'...''''make sure your system has latest updates'...''change your wifi channel''After about 30 minutes of this '' I grew impatient. I explained to him that there was something limiting the speed on their side. He remoted into my system with a screen sharing tool, and I showed him my remote screen to the connection at the office. He kept on saying that bandwidth is different for different locations etc'...

That's when I decided to press him. Here is a screen capture of the final part of our chat:

Frankly, I was surprised he admitted to this. I've since tested this almost every day for the last couple of weeks. During the day '' the bandwidth is normal to AWS. However, after 4pm or so '' things get slow.

In my personal opinion, this is Verizon waging war against Netflix. Unfortunately, a lot of infrastructure is hosted on AWS. That means a lot of services are going to be impacted by this.

PS> a number of folks have questioned the expertise of the support individual. I completely understand. I'm not a networking expert, but I did want to share 2 more pieces of data that I think are significant:

Traceroute from Residential Side:

Tracing route to iscanonline.com [23.21.158.115]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

March 11 Keynote Speaker: Chelsea Clinton to Inspire at SXSW Interactive | SXSW 2014

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:23

At SXSW Interactive 2014, attendees surround themselves with thousands of bright people and thousands of transformative ideas. What should attendees do with the renewed sense of energy, creativity and inspiration after experiencing four days of the Interactive event? Attend the Tuesday Keynote at 2:00pm on March 11 and discover how you can apply your newfound knowledge to make the world a better place.

We're honored that our guide to inspiration and impact will be none other than Chelsea Clinton, who is currently Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation.

Chelsea focuses especially on the Clinton Foundation's health programs, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which strengthens health care and access to lifesaving services in the developing world; the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which fights childhood obesity in the United States; and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which addresses preventable disease in the United States. She also established '' and continues to lead '' the Clinton Foundation Day of Action program, which identifies and organizes meaningful service opportunities for people across the country. As one of the strongest champions of the Clinton Global Initiative University, Chelsea works to empower the next generation of change makers to take action on some of the world's most urgent challenges. And through the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network, she plays an integral role in inspiring young leaders and philanthropists to get involved in the work of the Foundation.

Join us at 2:00pm on Tuesday, March 11, in Exhibit Hall 5 of the Austin Convention Center when Chelsea Clinton takes the stage to share insights on how you can best transform the world around you.

Other keynotes for the 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival include Austin Kleon (Friday, March 7); Neil deGrasse Tyson (Saturday, March 8); Anne Wojcicki (Sunday, March 9); and Adam Savage (Monday, March 10). Also, visit the Sessions page for the full lineup of programming for the 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival.

To attend all these incredible sessions at the 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival, purchase an Interactive, Gold or Platinum badge. Save considerably on walkup fees if you purchase your badge before prices increase at the end of the day on Friday, February 7.

Chelsea Clinton photo courtesy of the Clinton Foundation.

PedoBear

An Open Letter From Dylan Farrow

OM start strafrechtelijk onderzoek Demmink | nu.nl/binnenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl

Agenda 21

Blog: Debunking the 97% 'consensus' on global warming

Will Smallpox Reemerge in Siberia as Corpses Thaw from Climate Change?

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:13

In an article primarily about the potential folly of holding onto stockpiles of smallpox virus for research purposes'--a now-eradicated plague that humans no longer have natural immunity to and that would very likely cause a worldwide catastrophe should it escape from the lab'--the BBC includes one awesomely horrible detail. Could the frozen bodies of smallpox victims in Siberia, now thawing because of climate change, re-release the virus into the environment and thus start a global pandemic?

There has apparently been speculation about this for more than a decade. "In the past," the BBC explains, "some researchers and news outlets speculated that smallpox in the frozen graves of former victims might remain in suspended animation, ready to begin a new cycle of infection should those bodies ever be dug up and unthawed [sic]. Scientists have attempted to excavate corpses in frozen graves in Alaska and Siberia that contain the remains of smallpox victims, however none of the bodies contained viable viruses."

Writing for Science back in March 2002, for example, in an article straight-forwardly entitled "Is Live Smallpox Lurking in the Arctic?," author Richard Stone describes a scene that he likens to the Blair Witch Project. It's both stomach-turning and awesomely macabre:

Worried that spring flooding might wash the remains into inhabited areas'--and possibly resurrect the smallpox virus'--authorities in Yakutsk had summoned the team to this nightmarish place near the Kolyma River. The camera zooms in as the researchers huddle around a mummified child half-submerged in thawing mud. They gently peel away a few layers of deerskin clothing to reveal blackened skin pocked with blemishes characteristic of smallpox pustules. As they cut into a wizened leg, liquid oozes from the spongy flesh. Some minutes later they finish their work and douse the tomb with disinfectant to try to prevent anyone else from carrying smallpox out with them'--accidentally or otherwise.

This terrifying possibility'--a plot straight out of a future horror film'--is all but immediately quashed, however, by Michael Lane of the CDC. Lane previously worked on smallpox eradication programs from 1970 to 1981 and he, for one, is not worried. "No one feels there's a serious chance that global warming will melt the permafrost and unleash an epidemic," he quips.

BUT: what an amazing plot possibility for a future biomedical thriller, as thawing corpses in the global north unleash waves of weird infectious terror on the people of the present day. Perhaps an oil exploration crew or a small group of archaeologists'--or a few urban explorers, best friends taking a quick summer vacation to some ruined villages in the forest'--find rotten body parts emerging from the mud and, unbeknownst to them, bring this virus back home to the city. It could be the plot of 28 Years Later.

Like something out of Jeff Long's airport thriller Year Zero'--in which an ancient virus is accidentally released from a vial of Jesus Christ's own holy blood, leading to a global catastrophe'--viruses once thought conquered emerge from the ice once again, virulent, unstoppable, and coming soon to a film screen near you.

Briefly, though, the BBC post coincides with an article in Smithsonian that seemed worth mentioning in this context.

The idea of long-frozen things coming back to life'--or, at least, emerging once again into fresh air'--was also raised last week by Smithsonian's look at one of my favorite stories of recent times: the blood-red "waterfall" that has emerged in Antarctica as the glacier above it melts.

Photo by Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation

As the magazine explains, "in addition to being cut off from the rest of the continent, the water that feeds Blood Falls is completely cut off from the atmosphere'--it has never seen sunlight and is completely devoid of oxygen. It's also extremely rich in iron, which was churned into the water by glaciers scraping the bedrock below the lake."

I mention this because, as Smithsonian puts it, "the color of Blood Falls isn't the only weird thing about it, however'--it's what lives inside the subglacial lake that interests scientists more than the waterfall's creepy color." Here, we get into good ol' John Carpenter territory:

Millions of years ago, when those glaciers covered the salt lakes, there were microbes living in the water, and those microbes haven't gone anywhere, even though the water is now an extremely salty, oxygen-free bowl of complete darkness buried 400 meters under a glacier. Much like bacteria found living near deep sea thermal vents, the microbes of Blood Falls get their energy from breaking apart sulfates, which contain oxygen. After that, something eerily magical happens with the by-products'--the iron in the water interacts with them to restore the sulfates, basically recycling the sulfates for the microbes to break down into oxygen over and over again.

The idea that million-year old organisms might be able to re-enter our world after a long thaw, seen in the context of the'--yes'--entirely speculative possibility of a global smallpox epidemic caused by melting corpses in the Arctic, only adds to the awesome fictional possibilities here, dreaming up strange tales of long-dormant organisms and the frozen landscapes that hold them suddenly exhibiting malicious influence on human history. [BBC''via @nicolatwilley''and Smithsonian]

Lead image by Jane Rix/Shutterstock

Benghazi

2030

2030-Which? - Consumers in 2030 | Forum for the Future

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:58

Just launched: 8th February 2013, download the report on the left-hand side of this page

Watch the recording of our webinar on 21st February on the left-hand side of the page. Hear from Forum and Which? Consumer Insight as we uncover the research, the findings, the five concepts and how your organisation can use them.

Consumers in 2030 asks 'what might consumers need from Which? in 2030?' The result of a partnership between Forum and Which?, it aims to spark debate about the changing needs of UK consumers in the 21st century among policy-makers, think-tanks, regulators, politicians, consumer brands and consumers themselves. It shares research and projections about what life might be like for UK consumers, and gives us a window into future needs, opportunities, issues and markets by imagining five products and services we could find at home.

It uses a detailed historical analysis of consumer trends from the mid-1950s to the present, modelling these trends forwards to 2030. Forum worked with Which? to 'flex' the model to include the potential impact of behavioural shifts and uncertainties about the future, and to explore the practical implications for home life. The report explores how a low growth UK economy could interact with mega trends like resource scarcity, collaborative consumption, demographic aging and immersive technology to shape consumer markets over the next 17 years.

It contains five products and services that we might find at home in 2030. These express the changes we might see in society at large, in our life-styles, our household budgets and in the innovations that could hit the mainstream - giving us insight into the motivations for new consumer markets and allowing Which? and others to explore the positive and negative sides of consumers' experience.

Will your children or grand-children be sporting Super Genius Trainers? Could you be saving for your pension through a Crowd Mortgage? Could Bathroom GP be a permanent resident? We'll feature a blog series next week to consider the questions, surprises, opportunities and alarm bells raised by each product and service from 2030 '' and their implications for us today in 2013.

2030-UK carbon capture industry potential estimated at up to £35bn by 2030 | Environment | theguardian.com

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:34

A scientist holds a pressure monitor beside a new carbon capture test unit at Longanet power station in Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Pursuing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the UK could create a new industry worth £15bn-£35bn by 2030 employing tens of thousands of people, a report from the industry and trade unions has found.

It could also eventually cut energy bills by about £80 a year, according to the study by an independent consultancy for the CCS Association, which represents the industry, and the TUC.

CCS involves removing carbon dioxide from power stations and large industrial installations, compressing it and piping it under the ground. While proponents say the method is technically feasible, there are no commercial projects on power stations around the world as yet, though there are some small-scale trials.

If the UK is to carry on using fossil fuels such as coal and gas beyond 2030, it will be essential to cut greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with carbon budgets and the need to tackle climate change.

According to the report from the CCS Association, which represents the industry, and the TUC, the market for CCS could be worth between £15bn and £35bn in total to the UK by 2030.

This could also reduce energy bills by 2030 by about £80 a year for households by then, according to the report '' however, this calculation is very uncertain given the difficulty of forecasting energy prices even a few years out.

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: "CCS offers a way to meet our environmental targets, while creating thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs and transforming regional economies. New CCS plants would create thousands of new jobs and safeguard many more in energy-intensive industries such as steel, chemicals and cement.

"This is a great opportunity to reinvigorate our manufacturing sector and bring new R&D, design and construction jobs to areas such as Yorkshire, the north-east and Scotland.

"But without stronger government backing the UK risks losing its competitive advantage and all the jobs and economic activity that CCS could bring."

Each large-scale plant would create about 1,000 to 2,500 jobs in the construction phase, though only a few hundred while in operation. The CCSA envisages between 15 and 25 plants by 2030, suggesting between 15,000 to more than 60,000 construction jobs. The report does not estimate how much investment this would require, but few expect plants to be built for less than £1.5bn to £2bn.

A crucial further component of the economic benefit will be the supply chain, including steel manufacturers and companies involved in making infrastructure such as pipes and cement.

What is certain is that any vision of a large CCS industry will require billions in public and private investment that have so far not been forthcoming. The government has been promising sums ranging from £1bn to potentially £5bn for almost 10 years, but nearly all of the projects that have been brought forward have been withdrawn, as their feasibility has been questioned.

After protracted planning, the last Labour government finally kicked off a competition for public funds in 2007, which was carried on in a modified form by the coalition.

But by late 2011, all of the bidders had pulled out. The competition, under which £1bn in total will be made available, has subsequently been restarted and was winnowed down to two projects last spring. These are at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, led by Shell and SSE; and the White Rose project in Yorkshire, spearheaded by Drax, Alstom and BOC.

When the projects are in operation, they will not receive a specific subsidy but could benefit from the government's electricity market reforms, under which low-carbon generation projects may gain an economic advantage in selling their energy in the market.

A spokesman for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said: "CCS has the potential to make an important contribution to the UK's decarbonisation efforts.

"We have put in place one of the best offers to support the technology in the world, with £1bn of capital funding available, operating support through the contracts for difference in our electricity market reforms and a £125m R&D programme."

A final decision is not expected until late 2015, at which time both, one or neither of the projects could gain the go-ahead. It could then take five years to become operational.

Lord Browne, former chief of BP and now a venture capitalist and chairman of the fracking company Cuadrilla, expressed scepticism over the future of the technology last week. In 2005, he led BP into one of the first CCS proposals, at Peterhead, but it was later halted.

He told a meeting of the thinktank Policy Exchange: "CCS is a very interesting idea '' I tried to do the first CCS [in the UK] but there was a gap between what it would cost and what we could afford.

"There are very few places in the world where CCS could be made to work. I would not rule it out but I would not rule it in."

2030-WHO Warns of Sharp Rise in Cancer Cases by 2030

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:34

Reuters

Doctors perform on a cancer patient in Beijing Cancer Hospital. Cancer is spreading in China and is one of the country's leading killers, with 2.1 million deaths annually.

The number of cancer cases will increase about 40% in the next two decades, from 14 million to 22 million new cases per year, the World Health Organization's cancer wing has warned.

The report published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says that the rapid increase in cancer cases will partly be accounted for by an ever-increasing ageing population.

Cancer is already the second largest cause of deaths after cardiovascular diseases in the developed world, but new evidence suggests that the trend is emerging in less-developed countries as well, particularly "transition" countries in South America and Asia.

The report says that already about 60% of all cancer cases recorded are in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Central and South America, covering over 70% of the world's population.

The report says that prostate, breast and colon cancers are most common in developed countries, while liver, stomach and cervical cancers are prevalent in the developing countries.

The highest number of causalities is from lung cancer and the trend is expected to continue in the next two decades.

To combat this, the WHO has suggested intensification of global tobacco control efforts.

Common risk factors associated with development of cancer are tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy life styles which include malnutrition and inadequate physical activity, apart from occupational, environmental and infectious issues.

About 40% of all cancer deaths can be prevented, making cancer prevention an essential feature of protocols for tackling the disease.

The agency says prevention strategies must be paired with effective and affordable treatments to save more lives around the world, the National Post reports.

Cancer death projections will also rise to about 13 million every year by 2030, and around 70% of causalities are expected to be reported from the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Central and South America.

"We cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem," Christopher Wild, Director IARC, said in a statement.

"More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in cancer burden globally."

2030-Cancer cases set to rise by half by 2030: UN - Financial Express

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:34

AFP | Paris | Updated: Feb 04 2014, 14:54 ISTSummaryCancer deaths, meanwhile, will likely rise from 8.2 million to 13 million per year as the world's population grows...

New cases of cancer will rise by half by 2030, reaching 21.6 million per year compared to 14 million in 2012, the UN said today in a global analysis of the scourge.

Cancer deaths, meanwhile, will likely rise from 8.2 million to 13 million per year as the world's population grows and ages and more people adopt risky lifestyle habits, said the report compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

It took aim at Big Tobacco, saying its sales drive was "inextricably linked" to a likely surge in lung cancer.

Released on the eve of World Cancer Day, the report was compiled by more than 250 scientists from over 40 countries. It is the first such overview in six years.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan, whose agency oversees the IARC, said the overall impact from cancer would "unquestionably" hit developing countriesthe hardest.

These nations are already grappling with poverty-associated cancers caused by infection or disease, she said.

Added to that will be cancers blamed on more affluent lifestyles- high tobacco and alcohol use, eating processed foods and not exercising enough.

IARC director Christopher Wild said the focus should be on prevention.

"The particularly heavy burden projected to fall on low- and middle-income countries makes it implausible to treat our way out of cancer, even the highest-income countries will struggle to cope with the spiralling costs of treatment and care," he said.

Cancer overtook heart disease as the number one cause ofdeath in the world in 2011.

New cases will likely rise to 19.3 million in 2025, with 11.4 million deaths, said Wild. By 2035, new cases would number about 24 million per year.

The report found a slight gender bias: 53 per cent of cancer cases and 57 per cent of deaths were among men.

In men, cancer most often attacked the lungs (16.7 per cent) followed by the prostate (15 per cent), colorectum (10 per cent), stomach (8.5 per cent), and liver (7.5 per cent).

For women, cancer was most common in the breast (25.2 per cent), colorectum (9.2 per cent), lung (8.7 per cent), cervix (7.9 per cent) and stomach (4.8 per cent).

There were also

2030-Apocalypse, Man | VICE United States

2030-If you really care about carbon... - Atomic Insights

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:24

By Paul Lorenzini

Two recent reports ought to frame the conundrum for environmental activists who oppose nuclear power and offer guidance for all who are concerned about carbon.

Renewables and efficiency are not enoughThe first was BP's Energy Outlook 2035. It challenges the prevailing narrative that has been driving the thought of many environmentalists for four decades: the notion that we can meet all our energy needs, including carbon reduction, with renewables and energy efficiency alone.

Partly the narrative claims we haven't been giving enough support to these initiatives. BP's report shows that is not the case. First, energy efficiency is not only working, it is a major assumption in the plan. They project a decline of 35% in energy intensity (the amount of energy required per unit of GDP), with an expectation that this trend will accelerate: ''the expected rate of decline post 2020'', they report, ''is more than double the decline rate achieved 2000-2010.'' OECD countries have, they argue, ''started to 'crack the code' of sustaining economic growth while reducing energy demand''.

Even so, global energy production rises by 41% by 2035, with 95% of that growth coming from emerging economies. Embedded in this assumption is an increasing trend toward electrification, with electricity accounting for 57% of the growth in primary energy consumption.

In other words, efficiency has limits. Energy consumption still grows, driven mostly by the need for improved living conditions in emerging countries.

Second, the report shows a major shift toward renewable energy resources. ''Renewable energy'', they write, ''will no longer be a minor player'', growing more than three times faster than any other resource:

Yet even with these successes with efficiency and renewables, carbon emissions increase by 29% through the period. Coal and gas each contribute 38% of the increase, and coal remains the largest source of power through 2035:

Taken together there is a critical point here: focusing only on efficiency and renewables will not solve the carbon problem; carbon emissions continue to grow in spite of global efforts to move forward with efficiency and renewables and don't approach the levels needed to achieve the kinds of reductions most consider necessary, illustrated above by the IEA 450 scenario.

Seeking a real non-carbon energy policyThe pervasive dependence on fossil fuels that is driving carbon emissions has been and will be intractable until we alter our thinking on energy policy. The IEA has attempted to frame the magnitude of the challenge with their ''450 Scenario'', a path forward that would keep atmospheric carbon concentrations at levels below 450 ppm. It will require a significant course change.

By way of background, in their World Energy Outlook for 2013, the IEA compares their ''450 scenario'' with a ''Current Policies'' scenario (only policies enacted by mid-2013), a ''New Policies'' scenario (includes commitments not yet enacted). Focusing on the period we can most influence today '' 2020 to 2035, the contrast between energy futures in the three scenarios is shown below:

The message here is pretty clear: to achieve the kinds of carbon reductions required by the ''450 scenario'', global coal generation must decline significantly and gas generation does not grow. To replace gas and coal, nuclear, hydro and renewables all increase: nuclear by 2.5x and renewables by 2x.

The nuclear challengeThe second report, released in December, draws attention to one of the major challenges to be faced as we think about a future role for nuclear power. To fully utilize nuclear power, not only must we consider policy support for new builds, we must assure existing plants continue to operate safely. The American Physical Society's Panel on Public Affairs studied the pending problem of nuclear plant license renewals beyond their current regulatory limit of 60 years, drawing attention to the fact that 100 gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity will begin shutting down by 2030 and would need to be replaced by other resources.

APS stressed the urgency of this situation by observing:

Nuclear plants ''do not emit any of the six air pollutants identified in the Clean Air Act'';In contrast to coal and gas, ''nuclear plants provide near carbon-free energy, currently accounting for over 60% of the nation's near-zero carbon energy production and displacing an estimated 600 million tons of carbon per year''; and''Renewing licenses preserves a low-carbon energy source at a time when there is no economical way to replace that capacity.''There are technical and regulatory issues that must be addressed and resolved in order to achieve these license extensions and the focus of the report was on steps needed to address them. An important point was the urgent need to achieve resolution since resource replacement or life extension choices will need to be made well before plants retire, roughly by ten years.

Putting nuclear power back on the tableMore broadly, however, the APS report reaches beyond life extension issues to address basic policy questions, arguing for three major policy initiatives.

The first is an ''Enhanced Energy Strategy Pathway'', emphasizing not just license renewals, but arguing that ''the federal government or more individual states could enact policies that support lowest-carbon sources; or, financial institutions could weigh environmental impact in evaluating utilities''. One of the major recommendations is the adoption of ''Clean Energy Standards'' (CES) that include nuclear power. A second suggestion relates to financing and the inclusion of nuclear power in Environmental Societal Governance Criteria, a means of encouraging nuclear investments.

The second is an ''Enhanced Research Pathway'' aimed at addressing issues specifically related to life extensions, while the third calls for an ''Enhanced Leadership Pathway'', calling upon the U.S. to adopt ''a concentrated program to support the development, manufacturing and licensing of new nuclear reactors that can be built, operated and eventually decommissioned in a manner that is safe, environmentally sound, and cost effective.

Nuclear power in a post-Fukushima worldThe growth of nuclear power is problematic given the persistent opposition from environmental groups. It surfaces in several ways, one of the most important being the exclusion of nuclear power from renewable portfolio mandates, a problem not just in the US, but with many global policies as well. Last November, for example, the World Bank announced that $600-$800 billion will be needed to support the United Nation's ''Energy for All'' program, targeting universal access to electricity; yet nuclear power would be excluded: ''we don't do nuclear energy'', said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

For nuclear power to be considered a real option, it must be recognized nationally and globally as an important resource to be added to the mix and that interest needs to be reflected in energy policies. It is especially critical that it be done in the post-Fukushima world given the obvious public concerns left in its wake. There are reasonable answers to these concerns if we look for them, such as newer, safer nuclear plants of many stripes.

During the past year a shift has begun to take place within the environmental community, influenced to a great extent by Robert Stone's documentary ''Pandora's Promise'', reinforced by numerous articles in the punditry calling for a re-examination of nuclear power (see this discussion between Michael Moore and Robert Stone following a recent showing); a study co-authored by climate change scientist James Hansen showing the real environmental and safety benefits of nuclear power measured in lives saved for the past few decades; and a letter signed in November by four leading climate change scientists including Hansen, urging their colleagues to re-consider their historical opposition to nuclear power.

It has been an encouraging development, but it is a shift that needs to be translated into policy actions, such as those recommended by the APS leaders.

The environmental movement is key here. Over the years they have gained credibility and influence and their thoughtful consideration of nuclear power, urged as noted above by key climate scientists, will be an important step forward. Ultimately we need to stop thinking about renewables and nuclear power as competing resources. It is not ''either/or'', but ''both/and''. To that end, we also need to rethink the way we integrate resources to create the least cost, lowest carbon and most reliable operating grid.

Integrating wind and solar into the gridCurrent thinking is that renewables need gas generation to complement their intermittency. Gas works because capital costs are low and it is a suitable resource for load following and intermittent operations. The contrasting cost profiles are shown below.

(Source: http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/pdf/electricity_generation.pdf)

There are, however, some issues here that don't get the attention they deserve.

First, as gas runs at lower capacity factors (CF) its economics deteriorate (see above). Once the CF reaches levels near 30%, its economic advantages over nuclear power and coal in terms of life cycle costs are virtually lost, ignoring completely the impacts of carbon penalties or adding carbon capture/sequestration technologies. This is not an academic number: the global capacity factor for gas generation in 2035 under the 450 scenario in WEO 2013 is roughly 31%, reflecting a diminished role for gas to accommodate the growth of renewables.

Second, gas is, after all, gas. Other than coal, it is, by at least an order of magnitude, the largest carbon emitter in our energy portfolio. As California considered its future, they found the heavy use of gas can compromise carbon goals:

''If electric generation is predominantly intermittent renewable power, using natural gas to firm the power would likely result in greenhouse gas emissions that would alone exceed the 2050 target for the entire economy.''

While gas has been popularized as a ''bridge fuel'', rational common sense says that is not compatible with reducing carbon emissions. The whole point of the 450 scenario is that reliance on gas needs to be curbed. While gas is clearly the cleanest fossil fuel, it is still a carbon emitter and it should be a last resort, especially if non-carbon alternatives such as nuclear power are available.

Losing the plot?The notion that gas is the best approach for integrating wind and solar has become so locked into our thinking that it can lead to some strange thinking. One emerging narrative is that the benefits of wind and solar are measured by their ability to ''displace'' existing fossil generation. A co-author of the NREL's recent study on the cost impacts of cycling fossil fueled plants (Dr. Debra Lew) was quoted by Greentech Media making this point: ''we all know that the primary benefit of 1 megawatt-hour of wind and solar is to displace 1 megawatt-hour of other generation, typically fossil fueled generation because that is what's on the margin. Displacing a megawatt-hour of fossil-fueled generation displaces the costs and emissions associated with that fuel.'' Stop and think about this: gas generation is installed to be sure the system can serve load at all times, then solar and wind are installed to make sure the gas does not generate unless absolutely necessary.

This is basically what California has done. During the last decade they installed over 14 GW of gas generation, accounting for roughly 88% of new capacity; wind and solar installations during the period were less than 10%. By the end of the decade, there was sufficient excess gas generating capacity that gas plants were running, on average, at under 30% capacity factor. Now, with plenty of excess generating capacity in hand, they had the luxury of turning to wind and solar, which they did not need to meet load '' they had plenty of gas '' but was required by their renewable portfolio standard. During the next two years, over 90% of all new generating capacity was wind and solar. When the San Onofre nuclear plants were taken out of service, the deficit was easily accommodated with increased gas generation as capacity factors for gas facilities in California increased from 23% in 2011 to 31% in 2012. Renewables played virtually no role in filling the San Onofre deficit.

In the end, a state that is bleeding red is spending billions on renewable generation they don't need.

Rethinking the link between gas, nuclear and renewables: is there a role for nuclear power?As more and more intermittent generation is being installed under the force of mandates and subsidies, there is a growing appreciation of the challenges the system will face.

In CitiGroup's recent analysis of Germany's grid, they note the role solar is currently playing, picking up peak loads during the day, with a typical winter workday (left), a sunny workday (middle) and a sunny weekend (right).

They then show what is expected to happen as more solar is added to the grid for the same three scenarios:

What they observe is the daily solar loads eventually close down baseload generating facilities pushing them to the shoulder periods.

The picture at the far right is not dissimilar to the so-called ''duck curve'', named for its duck-like shape, generated by California's system operator as they face the realities of growing solar installations:

As more and more solar is added to the grid, solar generation during peak hours increases and dispatchable resources such as gas are cut back. As the sun sets later in the day, dispatchable resources must increase in both amounts and ramp rates to match the dropping levels of solar generation. Today it is not a big problem, but by 2020, the increased solar generation causes the ''belly'' of the duck to increase in size, magnifying the rapid changes in generation as the sun goes down, just as loads are increasing toward the end of the day when people return home and fire up air conditioners.

The solution will be difficult as even gas generation will be stressed by these rapid changes. Some form of fast acting storage will be needed.

But it is only a problem because of the way we have chosen to integrate solar into the grid. If adequate storage were used instead to store solar generation during peak hours for use during off-peak periods, management of the grid would be greatly eased. But thinking this way poses another opportunity: if intermittent generation were integrated with some form of storage, they could together provide an energy resource that becomes dispatchable, facilitating both load management and control of frequency and voltage fluctuations. Excess energy generated during peak periods could be stored and used to balance the system while operating baseload generating facilities such as nuclear plants at high capacity factors where they are most economic. As a by-product, nuclear plants would replace gas facilities, minimizing carbon from gas and avoiding the capital investment in gas generating facilities that were never intended to carry much of the load anyway.

The need for a national nuclear policyNone of this will happen unless there is a recognized national interest to be served by encouraging the role of nuclear power in national energy policies, much as the APS report recommended.

We have for too long been guided by utopian visions that are impractical, and uneconomic. At issue is the ''renewables-only, no-nukes'' energy vision first articulated four decades ago by Amory Lovins and now embedded in the DNA of too many long time environmental advocates. As many studies have shown, it is possible in theory, but at what cost and with what infrastructure challenges?

The problem was summed up well by Kevin Bullis, editor of MIT's Technology Review:

'''... delve into these roadmaps and you'll often find jaw-dropping numbers of solar panels and wind turbines, radical changes to existing infrastructure, and amazing assumptions about our ability to cut energy use that make switching to renewable energy seem more daunting.''

In October 2013, a study was released by Megan Nicholson and Matthew Stepp of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation critiquing what they called the ''clean energy deployment consensus'', meaning the view held by so many that such futures are a legitimate aspiration. They conclude these scenarios ''downplay significant and possibly infeasible renewable capacity scale-up'', they ''overlook or misrepresent persistent storage and integration challenges that will pose significant costs to consumers at high levels of renewables penetration'' and they are weakened by limiting ''the technology options of a renewable future to wind, solar, and water resources, instead of incorporating other low- and zero- carbon solutions into the projections to maximize cost effectiveness''. They further argue that nuclear energy ''should not be excluded from future plans when considering economically feasible futures.''

It is long past time to face the global realities of the energy challenge facing this generation: decarbonization, serving emerging nations, and doing so with an achievable and sustainable pathway that will actually achieve these ends. It is not that renewables per se are the problem, but that the focus has been too intent on using renewables only with gas as a bridge fuel while excluding nuclear power, in some cases taking on the character of a parlor game (e.g., ''Wind power is poised to kick nuclear's ass''), with various interests competing against each other.

If the same intellectual and financial energies were invested in an alternate vision, one that uses our best non-carbon resources including nuclear power in the most cost effective, complementary and resource efficient ways, it would be possible to pursue policies that offer a much greater chance of achieving our energy and environmental goals with lower social costs. Getting there will require a shift in old paradigms, and agreement that such a vision serves the national interest. Given developments during the past year, there is positive hope for such a change.

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VIDEO-David Cameron's attempts to 'stage manage' Prime Minister's Questions - Telegraph

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Thu, 06 Feb 2014 14:04

The disclosure follows warnings by John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, that ''soundbites'' and ''planted questions'' have helped to damage the reputation of Parliament in the eyes of the public.

It has long been understood that MPs are often primed by party whips to ask particular questions during the weekly sessions.

However, this is thought to be the first time that efforts '' apparently unsuccessful '' by No 10 to ''stage manage'' the exchanges have been laid bare.

The Telegraph has seen a series of emails sent by Mr Williamson to Tory MPs in the last two months. Each is timed at around 11am on a Wednesday '' an hour before PMQs begins at midday in the Commons.

The vast majority of questions appear not to have been asked by MPs during the period '' a disclosure likely to be seen as a further sign of poor relations between Downing Street and Conservative backbenchers.

The party's leadership has faced a series of rebellions over the European Union and human rights laws in recent months.

One question '' a dig at Labour's call for cheaper gym membership '' has been put forward repeatedly by Mr Williamson in the last three weeks having originally been distributed on Jan 15 without success.

It was most recently sent out to Tory MPs on Wednesday Jan 29 in an email timed at 10.51am.

The email, titled ''PMQS- Free Hits'' and addressed to ''colleagues'', said: ''Please find below some questions, should you want to take the opportunity of a free hit today. Good news on the economy features heavily '' any mentions would be greatly appreciated.''

Other questions include whether Mr Cameron agrees that a ''growing economy means more economic security for our country and a more financially secure future for hardworking people''.

Mr Williamson also suggests asking the Prime Minister whether he agrees that the Government's economic plans were ''delivering a sustainable recovery''.

Not all MPs appear to decline the opportunity to ask Mr Williamson's questions.

A question asked on Dec 11 by Stephen Metcalfe, who joined the Commons as MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock at the last election, bears a close resemblance to one sent out by Mr Williamson an hour earlier.

Mr Williamson's list of ''free hits'' included: ''Does the Prime Minister agree with me that the only way to raise my constituents' living standards is to stick to the Government's long-term plan to fix our economy, rather than abandoning the plan through more borrowing and more taxes as the party opposite propose?''

Mr Metcalfe went on to ask the Prime Minister: ''Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to raise the living standards of my constituents is for the Government to stick to their long-term plan to rebuild this economy and not abandon it in favour of more borrowing and more taxes, as proposed by the Labour party?''

Mr Cameron responded by saying Mr Metcalfe was ''entirely right'', going on to explain the importance of reducing the financial deficit and continuing with the Government's ''difficult spending decisions''.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, described the emails as ''depressing''.

''If it continues like that it just helps people's disengagement from politics because they don't think it's a serious engagement, it's a manufactured bear garden,'' he said.

A spokesman for Mr Bercow warned that PMQs is the ''shop window to the House of Commons'' for members of the public, adding that backbenchers had a responsibility to use the sessions ''wisely''.

Although MPs are selected in advance to speak during PMQs, in practice they generally do not have to submit specific questions before the session, making them free to ask what they like.

In 2012 The Telegraph disclosed that Desmond Swayne, one of Mr Williamson's predecessors as Mr Cameron's PPS was sending out emails to Conservative MPs urging them to shout down Ed Miliband every time he rose to his feet to question the Prime Minister.

''If Ed even grudgingly acknowledges anything positive in to-day's unemployment figures then instantaneously bring down the roof 'yereyereyere'...''', one of Mr Swayne's emails said.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "We don't comment on leaked emails."

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VIDEO-Narcan considered "miracle drug" to reverse overdoses

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:10

It's being called a miracle drug able to reverse an overdose. Some police officers are starting to carry the drug Nolaxa, better known as Narcan.

Andrea McCarren11:39 a.m. EST February 1, 2014

SHARE95CONNECTEMAILMORE(QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS)--Some police departments across the country are adding a new weapon to their arsenal. It's not a firearm, but a nasal spray that's capable of bringing people who have overdosed, back from the dead.

"I was holding him in my arms and he basically died," said Vince Corvelli of his son, who had overdosed on heroin.

"He was starting to turn blue, he wasn't breathing. He was gasping for breath," said Corvelli. "It was horrible."

Paramedics were carrying the drug, Naloxone, better known as Narcan.

"Within five minutes they came back in and said he was awake," said Corvelli. His son is now in recovery.

"This person is actually waking up from the dead," said Lt. Patrick Glynn of the Quincy, Massachusetts Police Department, the first local law enforcement agency to have its officers carry the Narcan nasal spray. It's part of a pilot program, launched in October of 2010. His officers are often the first on the scene of medical calls.

"It's very surreal. Literally, the person is blue. Their lips are blue. They're not breathing. This individual did not have a heartbeat," said Lt. Glynn, who witnessed a reversal firsthand. "And they're up and they're talking. It's simply amazing," he said.

This Boston suburb could be any city in America'--grappling with an equal opportunity killer: opiate overdoses. Death by heroin or painkillers.

"We're not going to arrest our way out of this epidemic of substance abuse. It's a disease, so we have to help the people," said Lt. Glynn.

The Quincy Police Department's track record using Narcan is extraordinary. Its officers have administered it 221 times and have reversed 211 overdoses in just over three years.

"You can't go to treatment if you're dead," said Arlene Goldstein, the Program Coordinator for Impact Quincy. Pressure from her community coalition was instrumental in bringing Narcan to Quincy.

"It isn't like you have to go to medical school," she said, demonstrating the simple assembly of the nasal spray. "We can train someone to use naloxone in 20 minutes. So, isn't a life worth 20 minutes?"

Not only is it simple to use, it's inexpensive. The cost: just $22 a dose. And those who are revived will not face charges.

"At the end of the day, a life is a life, and if you can turn somebody's life around, it makes all the difference," said a Quincy officer, who asked not to be identified.

Quincy's success with Narcan has drawn national attention. It's made police departments across the country consider arming their officers with the drug. And left families whose loved ones have been brought back from the dead, grateful.

"I think it's a lifesaver. Absolutely," said Vince Corvelli, whose son is now alive, thanks to the drug.

Families of addicts and other residents of Quincy can now be trained and get prescriptions to carry Narcan, so they too can save a life if the need arises.

Critics question whether the drug encourages addicts to keep using and some have even wondered publicly whether an addict's life is worth saving.

Written by Andrea McCarren, WUSA9

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VIDEO-HEALTHCARE PROVIDEER-CVS to stop selling cigarettes by Oct. 1

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:01

Pharmacy chain CVS said Wednesday it will stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 locations across the United States, a move that public-health advocates hope will become a watershed and pressure other large drug store franchises to follow suit.

CVS executives said the decision could cost billions of dollars in revenue because cigarettes draw so many customers to their stores. But by jettisoning tobacco products, CVS can further define its pharmacies as full-fledged health-care providers and strike more profitable deals with hospitals and health insurers. CVS stores already are home to more than 750 MinuteClinics, the country's largest chain of pharmacy-based health clinics, offering flu shots and diagnosis of common ailments like ear infections and strep throat.

"An important and growing part of our business is the work we do with clients and health insurance plans," CVS Pharmacy President Helena Foulkes said in an interview Tuesday. "As we thought about supporting their goals about improving outcomes and lowering costs, we believe that's the future we're looking towards. As we become more connected to their health-care work, this is an important decision for us to make."

The company plans to phase out all tobacco sales by Oct. 1 and expects it could lose about $2 billion in annual revenue generated by tobacco sales and other products purchased by the same shoppers. The pharmacy chain generates about $125 billion in revenue annually.

"CVS taking this step is a giant leap forward. From a purely commercial standpoint, it doesn't make any sense," said Robin Koval, president of the Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on ending smoking. "It's a conversation that's been going on for quite some time between public health groups and retailers, but progress has been very slow."

President Obama -- himself a former smoker -- praised the CVS decision in a statement Wednesday morning, saying that the move by the pharmacy chain "sets a powerful example" that will "help advance my Administration's efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs -- ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come."

CVS expects that halting tobacco sales will reduce earnings per share by 6 to 9 cents. But the company said in a statement that it has "identified incremental opportunities that are expected to offset the profitability impact." Foulkes declined to prove additional details on those opportunities.

"I would say that we have made a decision that this is the right thing to do for our business," Foulkes says. "We have plans in place to be able to deliver the numbers that we promised [to investors] this year."

Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn said that retail chain also has been "evaluating this product category for some time to balance the choices our customers expect from us with their ongoing health needs."

He said Walgreens "will continue to evaluate the choice of products our customers want, while also helping to educate them and providing smoking cessation products and alternatives that help to reduce the demand for tobacco products.''

CVS has increasingly moved beyond its traditional role as a pharmacy in recent years, expanding its reach as a health-care provider. Its MinuteClinics services have allowed the company to increasingly enter into contracts with hospitals and health plans, often providing primary care services on the weekends and evenings, when doctors' offices tend to be closed.

CVS chief medical officer Troyen A. Brennan estimates that the company has between 30 and 40 partnerships with health-care systems across the country and is in talks with a similar number about starting additional arrangements.

He said the decision to halt tobacco sales will make it easier to strike such deals, particularly those that include financial rewards for CVS if they can help patients stop smoking and reduce their medical bills.

"Increasingly, our contracts have a particular parameter regarding performance," Brennan said. "Our clients are looking for us to be able to improve drug adherence and getting results. We're closely following that."

In tandem with the end of tobacco sales, CVS will roll out an anti-smoking campaign with both in-store and online components. The company did not elaborate but said the program will launch in the spring.

A recent report from the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that the country spends $132 billion annually treating smoking-related disease. Despite steep declines in the smoking rate over the past five decades -- and in the 50 years since the Surgeon General's Office issued its first report warning of tobacco's health risks -- tobacco use still remains the leading preventable cause of premature death in the United States. Eighteen percent of American adults are cigarette smokers, down from 42 percent in 1964.

"We were able to halve smoking rates over the past 50 years, but we still have 43 million Americans smoking daily," American Cancer Society chief executive John Seffrin said. "We've got to help them get off of cigarettes if we're not going to accept the carnage of this illness. The CVS decision is one important piece in solving the 21st century problem of tobacco use."

VIDEO-BBC News - UK storms destroy railway line and leave thousands without power

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:33

5 February 2014Last updated at 15:03 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The railway line in Dawlish is hanging in mid-air, as Jon Kay reports

Parts of Britain have been hit by a storm which destroyed a stretch of railway, forced people from their homes and left thousands without power.

A section of the sea wall in Dawlish, Devon, collapsed and left the railway to Cornwall suspended in mid-air.

Residents of homes on the Somerset Levels were evacuated amid fears flood defences could be overwhelmed.

David Cameron chaired his first Cobra meeting this year and announced an extra £100m for flood works.

At Prime Minister's Questions he pledged £75m for repairs over the next year, £10m for urgent work in Somerset - where several rivers have flooded - and £15m for maintenance.

Continue reading the main storyDavid Cameron knows he cannot afford people in the countryside to think he simply doesn't get it''

End QuoteMr Cameron said he would "ensure that everything that can be done to get stricken communities moving is being done: there are no restrictions on help".

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Cameron had given the "clearest possible sign" that he needed to "be seen to be getting a grip" on the response to the floods.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson's handling of the crisis has been widely criticised.

He will not be chairing the Cobra emergency committee or giving a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday after being diagnosed with a detached retina. Instead, Mr Paterson will undergo emergency surgery.

On the Somerset levels, police used a helicopter to advise the occupants of more than 150 properties in Fordgate and Northmoor to leave their homes.

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BBC weather presenter Matt Taylor predicts more rain and strong winds throughout February

Forecasters say there will be an "improving picture" on Wednesday evening. But there will be rain moving up from the south coast on Thursday morning which will spread to south-west England in late morning. About 20-30mm of rain is expected throughout the day.

More heavy rain and gales are forecast for Friday night into Saturday.

Dawlish resident Robert Parker said the storm was "like the end of the world".

He said: "It was like an earthquake. I've never experienced anything like it. I've been in some terrible storms in the North Sea, but last night was just a force of nature."

Western Power Distribution said about 44,000 customers had been affected by power cuts since Tuesday afternoon and 7,775 were still without power across the South West. In Cornwall, 5,412 are cut off.

Network service manager Phil Davies, said: "We've had a very busy day again, we've worked in extreme conditions overnight and yesterday evening when the storm hit us.

"And we've worked extremely hard today, but we are fighting a bit of a battle."

First Great Western said all lines between Exeter St Davids and Plymouth were closed because of the collapsed track at Dawlish and the bad weather.

Limited services are running between Plymouth and Penzance, with rail replacement services due to be provided from Thursday.

Network Rail has estimated the damage at Dawlish could take at least six weeks to fix. First Great Western said the repairs could not begin until the weather improved.

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"This is the police helicopter, the flood danger is imminent, evacuate"

Speaking after the Cobra meeting, the prime minister said he was "determined to ensure a proper alternative service" was provided while the railway line at Dawlish remained out of use, with a solution found to fix it as soon as possible.

The Environment Agency has two severe flood warnings in place in south-west England - meaning there is a danger to life - down from a high of nine earlier on Wednesday.

It has also issued about 60 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued five flood warnings and several flood alerts.

The Met Office has issued an amber severe weather warning for rain - meaning "be prepared"- from 15:00 GMT on Thursday until 23:00 GMT on Saturday across southern England.

In other developments:

Twenty people were evacuated from Kingsand in Cornwall because their homes were being damaged by stones washed ashore and coming through their windows Devon and Cornwall Police received 300 emergency calls overnight. About 100 trees were reported blown over In Brighton, a significant section of the West Pier skeleton collapsed in high winds and stormy seas Homes were evacuated on the seafront in Torcross, Devon, after waves smashed the front of four buildings Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was closed because high winds were causing roof tiles to blow around Southern said trains were suspended between Bexhill and Hastings after high tides and winds caused flooding at Bexhill South West Trains said a speed restriction of 50mph would be imposed on some routes between 10:00 and 19:00 GMT on Wednesday Winds of up to 92mph (148km/h) were reported in the Isles of Scilly Labour MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw, said damage to the railway infrastructure could "absolutely devastate" the economies of Devon and Cornwall Coastal areas of Devon suffered severe damage Looe quay, in Cornwall, is awash with sea water In Wales, a number of main roads were closed by fallen trees or flooding Firefighters have also been called out to deal with dangerous structures. There have been two incidents in the Tenby area of Pembrokeshire with roofing being blown off buildings.

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VIDEO-Thomas Bach, IOC President, Slam Politicians Over Sochi Olympics

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:48

SOCHI, Russia (AP) '-- IOC President Thomas Bach accused world leaders Tuesday of using the Sochi Olympics as a political platform "on the backs of the athletes," and of snubbing the games without even being invited.

Three days before the opening of Russia's first Winter Games, Bach used a hard-hitting speech to call out politicians for using the Olympics to make an "ostentatious gesture" serving their own agendas.

Without naming any individuals, Bach's comments appeared directed at President Barack Obama and European politicians who have taken stands against Russia's law banning gay "propaganda" among minors.

The Olympics, Bach said, should not be "used as a stage for political dissent or for trying to score points in internal or external political contests."

"Have the courage to address your disagreements in a peaceful direct political dialogue and not on the backs of the athletes," he said at a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "People have a very good understanding of what it really means to single out the Olympic Games to make an ostentatious gesture which allegedly costs nothing but produces international headlines.

"In the extreme, we had to see a few politicians whose contributions to the fight for a good cause consisted of publicly declining invitations they had not even received."

The buildup to the Olympics has been overshadowed by Western criticism of the anti-gay law and Russia's record on human rights and other issues, making Sochi among the most politically charged games in years.

Obama and key European leaders are shunning the Olympics. Obama, in a clear message against the anti-gay laws, has sent a delegation to Sochi made up of three openly gay athletes '-- tennis great Billie Jean King, 2006 Olympic hockey medalist Caitlin Cahow and figure skater Brian Boitano.

For the first time since 2000, the U.S. delegation to an Olympics will not include a president, vice president or first lady. Former Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano leads the delegation.

German President Joachim Gauck and French President Francois Hollande are also not coming to Sochi. Neither is British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Bach reiterated again that Putin had given the IOC assurances that the Olympic Charter would be upheld during the games and that homosexuals would not be discriminated against.

Bach said Olympic values stand against any form of discrimination, including on grounds of sexual orientation.

But he stressed the IOC must be "politically neutral without being apolitical" and that athletes must not use the Olympic Village and venues for "political demonstrations."

The IOC has come under criticism for not doing more to fight the anti-gay law, but Bach said the committee was a sports organization with limited responsibilities.

"We are not a supra-national government," he said. "We are not a superior world-parliament. We do not have a mandate to impose measures on sovereign states."

Bach's speech was delivered at a ceremony marking the opening of the IOC's three-day session, or general assembly, ahead of the games. The German's sharp comments marked a strong contrast with the relatively anodyne, diplomatic speeches of his predecessor, Jacques Rogge.

Bach, winner of a fencing gold medal at the 1972 Olympics, was elected in September to succeed Rogge, who served for 12 years.

Bach acknowledged there had been "a lot of skepticism in and outside the IOC" when Sochi was awarded the Olympics in 2007.

"Now, seven years later, we can see that Sochi, that Russia has delivered," he said.

Putin lauded the IOC's decision to bring the games to the Black Sea resort.

"We realize what a difficult decision this was to hold the games in a city that barely had 10 to 15 percent of the necessary infrastructure," he said. "You believed in us, you believed in the Russian character which can overcome all difficulties."

"In the space of five years," Putin added, "we built world-class sports venues and city infrastructure that normally takes decades to build."

___

Associated Press Writer Leonid Chizhov contributed to this report.

___

Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap

VIDEO-FBI Director Comey discusses legality of reporters, stolen Snowden documents - The Washington Post

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Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:35

Published: FEBRUARY 04, 12:27 PM ET Aa In Tuesday's hearing of the House Intelligence Committee on ''Worldwide Threats,'' Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) questioned witnesses, including FBI Director James B. Comey, about the documents taken by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Here is their exchange:

REP. ROGERS: You -- there have been discussions about selling of access to this material to both newspaper outlets and other places. Mr. Comey, to the best of your knowledge, is fencing stolen material -- is that a crime?

DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY: Yes, it is.

REP. ROGERS: And would be selling the access of classified material that is stolen from the United States government -- would that be a crime?

DIR. COMEY: It would be. It's an issue that can be complicated if it involves a news-gathering and news promulgation function, but in general, fencing or selling stolen property is a crime.

REP. ROGERS: So if I'm a newspaper reporter for -- fill in the blank -- and I sell stolen material, is that legal because I'm a newspaper reporter?

DIR. COMEY: Right, if you're a newspaper report and you're hocking stolen jewelry, it's still a crime.

REP. ROGERS: And if I'm hocking stolen classified material that I'm not legally in possession of for personal gain and profit, is that not a crime?

DIR. COMEY: I think that's a harder question because it involves a news-gathering functions -- could have First Amendment implications. It's something that probably would be better answered by the Department of Justice.

REP. ROGERS: So entering into a commercial enterprise to sell stolen material is acceptable to a legitimate news organization?

DIR. COMEY: I'm not sure I'm able to answer that question in the abstract.

REP. ROGERS: It's something we ought to think about, is it not?

DIR. COMEY: Certainly.

REP. ROGERS: And so if there are accomplices in purveying stolen information, shouldn't we be concerned about that?

DIR. COMEY: We should be concerned about all the facts surrounding the theft of classified information and its promulgation.

REP. ROGERS: Hmm. And interesting that over the -- again, the Munich Conference, where we had individuals tell us that in fact there are individuals who are saying to be in possession of this information who are eager to sell this information to other news organizations, would that be a legitimate exercise on behalf of a reporter?

DIR. COMEY: That's a question -- now you're getting from the general to the particular. I don't want to talk about the case in particular because it's an active investigation of ours.

REP. ROGERS: It's an active investigation for accomplices brokering in stolen information?

DIR. COMEY: We are looking at the totality of the circumstances around the theft and promulgation.

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VIDEO-Child attempts suicide after being bullied at school for being a fan of My Little Pony | abc11.com

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:17

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- An 11-year-old boy is in the hospital after trying to commit suicide -- the victim of bullying at school.

It's not a new problem in North Carolina, but this puts a new face on the age-old problem as Michael Morones remains in WakeMed with a tube down his throat and potentially life-long brain damage.

Michael tried to kill himself, apparently because he could no longer take the torrent of bullying he was facing at school.

"He's the kid that never walks. He dances everywhere," said Michael's mother, Tiffany Morones-Suttle. "He's so full of energy. He's always on the move.

Michael's parents say he was that way even in the face of daunting bullying at school. Michael likes the cartoon "My Little Pony." It turns out, the cartoon has a growing, and perhaps unlikely fan club -- men and boys known as "Bronies."

Because of that, Michael was teased so much that ten days ago he decided to do something about it.

"He hung himself off the side of the bunk bed, off the railing," said Tiffany.

His parents got him to the hospital, but the damage had already been done. Oxygen to his brain had been cut off.

"We won't know for months how much is going to heal," said Tiffany. "It could even be years before we find out what potential for healing he has."

You might think Michael's parents would be furious with the kids who were bullying their son, but then that wouldn't be in keeping with the show at the center of what they were teasing him about.

"It teaches the most basic moral values to a lot of complex thoughts," said Michael's step-father, Shannon Suttle.

Fans of the show, like Michael, try to live the motto that friendship is magic.

"I've heard a lot of people say you need to go after bullies and hold them responsible," said Tiffany. "But you know, I don't think that's what Mike would want. I would rather teach people how to do right than turn around than punish, because punishment doesn't always work."

Michael has gotten support from as far away as Ireland, and a lot of money, which is used for Michael's care, but also to start a nonprofit to help with bullying.

As Michael's father tells it. It's more than their goal. It's quickly become their mission.

Incredibly, the bullying hasn't stopped. Michael's parents say just Sunday night on a generally supportive website, a few people left very hurtful comments.

They say that just strengthens their resolve to fight bullying, and makes that mission that much more clear.

Bullying prevention expert Nancy Mullin said Michael's age is right in the prime age for suicides.

"Eleven to 15-year-old boys are very much at risk for thinking about suicide when they're perceived as being gay," said Mullin.

She credits Michael's parents with supporting his interest rather than reinforcing shameful feelings.

"The missing piece here is what the school is doing about this," said Mullin.

Mullin says while North Carolina is one of 49 states with bullying prevention laws not enough is being done to implement programs.

Meanwhile, Michael is scheduled to have a tracheotomy Tuesday.

Money can be donated at any State Employees Credit Union under the Michael Morones Recovery Fund, Checks can also be mailed to: The Michael Morones Recovery Fund, c/o Team Trivia Inc., 1380 Woodvine Way, Alpharetta GA 30005, or through PayPal at csuttle3@gmail.com.

More Information:

Website where people can leave comments, and show support:https://m.facebook.com/michael.morones.71?__user=100007641093713

Bronies Documentaries:

http://www.mediafire.com/?38kni8j1pv30n6d7v6nljrt87sopine

http://www.mediafire.com/?b0290i416qhqngjvjjc4mbpgrughx6k

http://www.mediafire.com/?kinf4c8nxr8ufnxsj8a3czq7nnv825c

A study of Bronies from researchers in South Carolina:

http://www.bronystudy.com/id1.html

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north carolina news, wake county news, local/state

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VIDEO-'An epidemic of heroin': Hoffman is a new face of growing problem - NBC News.com

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Tue, 04 Feb 2014 02:54

addictionBrian AlexanderNBC News

2 hours ago

Jordan Strauss / AP

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a new face of a growing problem with heroin addiction in the U.S.

The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent overdose of heroin has, like the death of ''Glee'' star Cory Monteith, highlighted the resurgence in use of a narcotic that once seemed to be fading away.

The number of heroin users in the U.S. nearly doubled in five years, to 669,000 in 2012 from 373,000 in 2007, according to statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The number who abused or grew dependent on heroin more than doubled in 10 years to 467,000 in 2012 from 214,000 in 2002.

Those numbers coincide with trends for drug-induced deaths. In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report declared that ''deaths from drug overdose have increased sharply in the past decade,'' claiming 40,393 people in 2010.

''Up here in the Cleveland area, we are going through an epidemic of heroin,'' Dr. Jason Jerry, a psychiatrist and addiction medicine expert at the Cleveland Clinic's Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center, told NBC News.

Heroin is not just in urban areas, either. Small towns like Lancaster, Ohio, about 25 miles southeast of Columbus, have seen a spike in heroin use and related arrests. In Ohio's Fairfield and Hocking counties, which have a combined population of 172,000, police seized 8,208 unit doses of heroin last year, compared to 1,432 unit doses in 2012.

Traci Green, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and epidemiology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island '-- mostly from opiates including heroin '-- during the first 13 days of 2014 were double the same period last year, and that the deaths were spread all over the state.

In the past, Green said, people have used more prescription opiates either legitimately, as prescribed for pain, or illicitly to get high. But in recent years, government crackdowns on illicit use of pain medications has made pills more expensive and harder to get. "And heroin is making its way into all these places," Green told NBC News.

According to law enforcement sources, about 50 bags of heroin, some used, some not, along with numerous syringes and addiction treatment medication were found in Hoffman's apartment.

If true, those items could be a sad tableau depicting the struggles of addicts trying to stay free of a drug like heroin.

As an opiate, heroin is one of the most addictive substances known. It triggers receptors in the brain's reward regions, those parts of the brain that teach us that food, sex and warmth are desirable so we'll survive.

''The problem is that drugs hijack that circuit,'' Jerry said. ''Rather than the contextual enjoyment you get from a nice meal, or sex, drugs activate that circuit directly and bypass the context so they have a much more powerful effect.''

The brain eventually accommodates this drug use, leading to physical changes in the brain and dependence. Users no longer enjoy they drug '-- they need it.

Hoffman was candid about struggles with drug addiction and said in interviews last year that after 23 years sober, he fell off the wagon and relapsed, leading to rehab. Hoffman's friends have been quoted as saying that he seemed free of drugs after emerging from rehab.

But drug addiction is a chronic disease that can flare again for any number of reasons, like stress or even a visual cue reminding a former addict of the drug.

''The 28-day rehab model, lots of out-of-pocket expenses, flying to a fancy place to get detoxed and coming home, all too often is a recipe for disaster,'' Jerry said. Statistics show that only about 10 to 20 percent of such patients maintain long-term abstinence.

A program akin to 12-step counseling with ongoing support, combined with anti-addiction drugs like methadone and suboxone produce much better results. (It was not immediately clear which anti-addiction drugs were found in Hoffman's apartment.)

When an addict does begin to use again, he or she is especially vulnerable to an overdose. By the time most addicts seek help the first time, they've developed a tolerance for the drug and may be using a dose that would kill a first-time user. When first starting to use again, a relapsing addict may return to that same dose, but now it could fatal.

In recent years, another danger has popped up. Heroin laced with the powerful anesthetic fentanyl, or fentanyl simply labeled as heroin, has killed hundreds of people.

Last spring, the CDC conducted an investigation into a sudden spike of overdose deaths in Rhode Island. It found a cluster of 12 deaths in people aged 19 to 57 attributable to a synthetic version of fentanyl called acetyl fentanyl which is much more potent than heroin.

Though acetyl fentanyl has no legitimate pharmaceutical use and is not available by prescription anywhere, similar reports of fentanyl-related deaths have occurred around the country. ''We had, I believe, about 20 ODs in a 12-hour period, back in November,'' Jerry said.

Heroin users may be unaware their drugs have been laced with fentanyl. A study by researchers from the New Jersey Department of Health Services and Rutgers University linked declining heroin purity to added fentanyl in illegal drug markets along the east coast.

Reports have stated that bags of heroin in Hoffman's office were stamped ''Ace of Spades'' and ''Ace of Hearts.'' It was too soon Monday to know if the heroin Hoffman injected was tainted.

Brian Alexander is a frequent contributor to NBC News and a co-author of ''The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction.''

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VIDEO-BBC News - Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' - EU Commission

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EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom: "Price of not acting is too high"

The extent of corruption in Europe is "breathtaking" and it costs the EU economy at least 120bn euros (£99bn) annually, the European Commission says.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has presented a full report on the problem.

She said the true cost of corruption was "probably much higher" than 120bn.

Three-quarters of Europeans surveyed for the Commission study said that corruption was widespread, and more than half said the level had increased.

"The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems," Ms Malmstroem wrote in Sweden's Goeteborgs-Posten daily.

The cost to the EU economy is equivalent to the bloc's annual budget.

For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states. The Commission says it is the first time it has done such a survey.

Bribery widespreadNational governments, rather than EU institutions, are chiefly responsible for fighting corruption in the EU.

But Ms Malmstroem said national governments and the European Parliament had asked the Commission to carry out the EU-wide study. The Commission drafts EU laws and enforces compliance with EU treaties.

In the UK only five people out of 1,115 - less than 1% - said they had been expected to pay a bribe. It was "the best result in all Europe", the report said.

Continue reading the main story''Start QuoteThe political commitment to really root out corruption seems to be missing''

End QuoteCecilia MalmstroemEU Home Affairs CommissionerBut 64% of British respondents said they believed corruption to be widespread in the UK, while the EU average was 74% on that question.

In some countries there was a relatively high number reporting personal experience of bribery.

In Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, between 6% and 29% of respondents said they had been asked for a bribe, or had been expected to pay one, in the past 12 months.

There were also high levels of bribery in Poland (15%), Slovakia (14%) and Hungary (13%), where the most prevalent instances were in healthcare.

Ms Malmstroem said corruption was eroding trust in democracy and draining resources from the legal economy.

Continue reading the main storyAnalysisThis report has not been without controversy. Its release was delayed for months, and some countries were critical of the European Commission for interfering in areas which they believed were none of its business.

Originally, the report was also supposed to have included a chapter assessing corruption within EU institutions as well as within member states. But that idea was dropped.

Nevertheless the figures revealed will certainly raise some eyebrows - Cecilia Malmstroem described the scale of the problem as breath-taking.

The commission's estimate that corruption is costing the EU economy about 120bn euros - the size of the EU's annual budget - could well be a conservative one. Other experts believe the real figure is probably higher.

One thing is clear though - a continent that is trying to put years of economic crisis behind it needs to do a better job in combating corruption.

"The political commitment to really root out corruption seems to be missing," she complained.

The EU has an anti-fraud agency, Olaf, which focuses on fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget, but it has limited resources. In 2011 its budget was just 23.5m euros.

The Commission highlighted that:

Public procurement (public bodies buying goods and services) forms about one-fifth of the EU's total output (GDP) and is vulnerable to corruption, so better controls and integrity standards are needed Corruption risks are generally greater at local and regional level Many shortcomings remain in financing of political parties - often codes of conduct are not tough enough Often the existing rules on conflicts of interest are inadequately enforced The quality of corruption investigations varies widely across the EU Swedish modelThe EU study includes two major opinion polls by Eurobarometer, the Commission's polling service.

Four out of 10 of the businesses surveyed described corruption as an obstacle to doing business in Europe.

Sweden "is undoubtedly one of the countries with the least problems with corruption, and other EU countries should learn from Sweden's solutions for dealing with the problem", Ms Malmstroem said, pointing to the role of laws on transparency and openness.

Organised crime groups have sophisticated networks across Europe and the EU police agency Europol says there are at least 3,000 of them.

Bulgaria, Romania and Italy are particular hotspots for organised crime gangs in the EU, but white-collar crimes like bribery and VAT (sales tax) fraud plague many EU countries.

Last year Europol director Rob Wainwright said VAT fraud in the carbon credits market had cost the EU about 5bn euros.

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