Iran, 24 August 2022 – With an estimated 2.8 million people suffering from a drug use problem, Iran also has one of the world’s highest prevalence of opiate use among its population. Women are among the affected – one household survey estimated that the lifetime prevalence of drug use among women aged 15-64 years was 1.5%.
Women in Iran who use drugs often face social stigma. Frequently equipped with fewer resources – like a job, independent income, or an educational background – women are often also responsible for dependent children or family members, making their struggles with substance use even more difficult. Cultural norms, meanwhile, make many women fearful of even acknowledging their problems.
Targeted and dedicated resources for women struggling with substance abuse are therefore crucial, which is why the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has supported the Kerman Women’s Empowerment Center. The Center provides treatment to women substance users, as well as job creation and social reintegration services, and to date have helped over 260 women to recover from drug addiction.
UNODC delivered bakery and confectionary items to the Center, who plans on using the equipment to create an ongoing, apprentice-like workshop teaching women how to bake. The aim is to provide recovered women drug users with a skill that can help them to obtain a job and income.
The venture is related to a similar initiative by UNODC Iran, whereby sewing machines will also be delivered to both the Kerman Center and Noor-e Sepid-e Hedayat, a civil society organization in Tehran. By teaching recovering women drug users to sew, just as with baking, UNODC Iran hopes to assist the organizations to help women find new livelihoods.
Further information
UNODC delivered these bakery/confectionary equipment items thanks to the generous funding received from the Kingdom of Norway, in collaboration with the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ). To learn more about UNODC Iran’s work, click here.
Today, ambassadors of member states to the EU agreed the Council’s position on the 2023 EU draft budget. In total, the Council’s position for next year’s budget amounts to € 183.95 billion in commitments and € 165.74 billion in payments. Compared to the budget agreed by the Council and the European Parliament for 2022, this is an increase of +8.29% in commitments and a decrease of -3.02% in payments.
The Council decided to pursue a prudent approach to the annual budgetary process. We will make sure that EU financial resources are focused on our current priorities. This means that we have adjusted several of the figures proposed by the Commission. I am pleased that we now have a solid basis for our negotiations with the European Parliament.
Zbyněk Stanjura, Minister for Finance of Czechia
Overall, the Council takes a prudent approach given the volatile context in which the EU is operating. Keeping margins in the budget as room for manoeuvre has proved very useful in the past. Member states stress the importance of ensuring that there will be sufficient margin in the budget to face uncertainties related to the Ukrainian crisis and inflation.
A summary of the Council’s position is set out in the table below*:
*in €; c/a: commitments, p/a: payments
Description
2023 – Draft Budget
2023 – Council position
2023 – Council position
c/a
p/a
c/a
p/a
c/a
p/a
Single Market, Innovation and Digital
21 451 979 500,00
20 793 258 735,00
– 1 437 400 000,00
– 522 950 000,00
20 014 579 500,00
20 270 308 735,00
Cohesion, Resilience and Values
70 083 017 022,00
55 836 822 774,00
– 237 600 000,00
– 31 800 000,00
69 845 417 022,00
55 805 022 774,00
Natural Resources and Environment
57 172 506 225,00
57 415 817 586,00
– 45 000 000,00
– 6 000 000,00
57 127 506 225,00
57 409 817 586,00
Migration and Border Management
3 725 881 518,00
3 065 950 252,00
– 50 000 000,00
– 50 000 000,00
3 675 881 518,00
3 015 950 252,00
Security and Defence
1 871 109 130,00
1 081 374 612,00
– 11 700 000,00
– 1 500 000,00
1 859 409 130,00
1 079 874 612,00
Neighbourhood and the World
16 781 879 478,00
13 773 937 845,00
0
0
16 781 879 478,00
13 773 937 845,00
European Public Administration
11 448 802 167,00
11 448 802 167,00
– 62 500 000,00
– 62 500 000,00
11 386 302 167,00
11 386 302 167,00
Thematic special instruments
2 855 153 029,00
2 679 794 000,00
0
0
2 855 153 029,00
2 679 794 000,00
MFF Headings
185 390 328 069,00
166 095 757 971,00
– 1 844 200 000,00
– 674 750 000,00
183 546 128 069,00
165 421 007 971,00
Flexibility Instrument
515 352 065,00
527 128 781,00
452 879 478,00
527 128 781,00
ceiling
182 667 000 000,00
168 575 000 000,00
182 667 000 000,00
168 575 000 000,00
margin
961 793 731,00
6 040 808 232,00
2 478 248 557,00
6 570 758 232,00
Appropriations as % of GNI
1,13%
1,02%
1,12%
1,01%
Commitments are legal promises to spend money on activities whose implementation extends over several financial years.
Payments cover expenditure arising from commitments entered into the EU budget during current and preceding financial years.
In addition, the Council also issues four statements: one on payment appropriations, one on the uncertainties when establishing the Council position, one on Article 241 of TFEU, and one on the European Parliament’s own section of the EU budget.
Statement on the European Parliament’s own section of the EU budget
In this statement, the Council underlines that the ceiling for heading 7 of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 is founded on the premise that all EU institutions adopt a comprehensive and targeted approach for stabilizing the number of staff and reducing administrative expenditure.
The Council recalls that the European Parliament already in the annual budget for 2022 requested and obtained additional 142 posts to its establishment plan as well as 180 external staff and recalls in this regard the Council statement of 7 December 2021. This year, the Parliament’s statement of expenditure and establishment plan for 2023 includes a request for 52 additional establishment plan posts and 116 additional accredited parliamentary assistants.
This request comes within the context of high inflation rates, where the respect for the ceiling of heading 7 in 2023 is in jeopardy, thus necessitating that all institutions exercise self-restraint, in line with the obligation to comply with the annual expenditure ceilings. In this context, the Parliament’s request further increases the pressure on heading 7, while leaving to the other institutions the effort to bear the burden of containing their administrative expenditure. It is therefore not compatible with the Parliament’s obligations under Article 2 of the MFF regulation and it runs counter to points 129 and 130 of the European Council conclusions of 17 to 21 July 2020 on a stable level of staffing in the institutions.
Respecting the Gentlemen’s Agreement rationale, including the institutional balance between the Parliament and the Council and the respect of the MFF ceilings, the Council calls on the Parliament to follow the approach adopted by the Council and ensure respect for the heading 7 ceiling. It recalls that the Council intends to respect a stable level of staffing and applies a higher abatement (vacancy) rate on its own administrative expenditure.
In light of the above, the Council expresses its strong reserves on the EP´s statement of expenditure and the establishment plan for 2023. The Council will focus further on these elements during the negotiations on the Union’s annual budget for 2023.
Next steps
The Council aims to formally adopt its position on the draft general budget for 2023 via a written procedure ending on 6 September 2022. This will then serve as a mandate for the Czech presidency to negotiate the 2023 EU budget with the European Parliament.
Background
This is the third annual budget under the long-term EU budget for 2021-2027, the multiannual financial framework (MFF). The 2023 budget is complemented by actions to support the COVID-19 recovery under Next Generation EU, the EU’s pandemic recovery plan.
Civil society groups have accused Uganda and Tanzania of rushing to sign East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) deals with TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC before locals were properly briefed on its environmental and health risks.
The groups claim citizens, who have lost ancestral land and other public properties to the project, were not adequately briefed on the project dangers or how any risks would be “avoided, minimised or mitigated”.
The activists, including Diana Nabiruma of Africa Institute for Energy Governance, a Ugandan public policy research and advocacy group, warn that Uganda is yet to enjoy benefits of oil bonanza that seemed near when crude oil deposits were discovered in 2006.
“Total and CNOOC still need to secure insurance and raise $2.5bn in debt financing for the EACOP to move forward and they are going to struggle mightily to find enough banks and insurance providers willing to associate themselves with such a project,” she claimed.
Total have repeatedly said it had undertaken “rigorous” environmental and social risk assessment and mitigation strategies in relation to the projects.
Since Uganda discovered commercial petroleum deposits in 2006 in the Albertine Graben region near the border with DR Congo, Kampala has embarked on establishing effective management procedures to promote growth and development.
The discovery was done by British giant Tullow Oil.
In April 2020, the company sold its interest in the project to TotalEnergies but the company has not yet secured investors for the extraction.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is the proposed 1,443-kilometer pipeline that will transport oil from Hoima, Uganda to port city of Tanga in Tanzania.
EACOP project starts at Hoima, close to Lake Albert, and cross Uganda – Tanzania border between Masaka and Bukoba, past Lake Victoria, following its western border, traversing Tanzania, passing close to Kahama, Singida, Kondoa, into Tanga.
Tilenga project comprises oil exploration, a crude oil processing plant, underground pipelines, and infrastructure in the Buliisa and Nwoya districts of Uganda.
The refinery will be built on a 29 square kilometre piece of land at Kabaale Township, Buseruka Sub-county, Hoima district, western region, near the international border with DR Congo, along eastern shores of Lake Albert
This will be close to Uganda’s largest oil fields at Kaiso-Tonya area, about 60 km by road, west of Hoima.
Kaiso is approximately 260 km by road, north-west of Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city.
Uganda has proven crude oil reserves of 6.5 billion barrels, about 2.2 billion of which are recoverable.
IMF was quoted in 2013 as saying the reserves are fourth-largest in sub Sahara Africa behind Nigeria, Angola and South Sudan.
Approximately 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil were discovered in 2006. Drilling will take place at two oil fields of Kingfisher field, operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC Ltd), and Tilenga field operated by French multinational Total Energies.
Ownership of oil discovery includes TotalEnergies 56.67 per cent, China’s CNOOC Group 28.33 pc and Uganda government taking the remaining 15 per cent stake.
Extracted oil deposits will be partly refined in Uganda for local market supply but the lion share exported to international market through the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline.
Once completed, the facility will be the world’s longest heated pipeline.
But international and local environmental groups are still warning over dangers posed by extraction sites and EACOP to environment and social risks to protected wildlife areas, water sources and communities throughout Uganda, Tanzania and DR Congo.
The groups have mounted fierce opposition to the project.
And despite the final investment decision being signed on February 1, involving US$10 billion, broad opposition and obstacles to securing funding may undo one of Africa’s most ambitious fossil fuel projects
At Lake Albert in western Uganda, project developers will build oil wells, a crude oil processing plant, underground pipelines, and infrastructure in the Buliisa and Nwoya districts for domestic oil consumption.
The Tilenga oil field to the north of Lake Albert, will include operations within Murchison Falls National Park, and is operated and owned 56.67% by TotalEnergies.
Controversies
Developers insist the projects will transform social and economic fortunes of Uganda and Tanzania. But the multinationals face significant resistance from local communities and civil society groups.
A total of 260 community groups from Uganda, Tanzania and other African countries, along with international organisations, have coalesced to push #StopEACOP campaign, a global movement largely premised on public mobilisation, legal actions, research, shareholder activism and media advocacy.
The groups insist large-scale oil extraction and crude oil export pipeline pose serious environmental and social risks to protected wildlife areas, lakes and rivers, forests, wetlands, national parks and communities throughout Uganda and Tanzania.
They say the pipeline will extract 250,000 barrels of oil daily at a time when much of the world is racing to reduce emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.
Calculations by researchers at Stockholm Environment Institute show carbon emissions associated with EACOP peak production at Lake Albert oil fields would equal over 33 million tonnes per year, more than 30 times current combined annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania.
Omar Elmawi, a Kenyan lawyer with environmental group 350.org, which is part of the campaign, says the alliance had influenced 11 banks to withdraw funding for the pipeline.
The NGO claims it has mobilised a million people to sign a petition asking TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné and other financiers to halt operations on the project by challenging the investment in court and holding public protests.
Coleen Scott, a legal and policy associate with Inclusive Development International (IDI), a participant in #StopEACOP campaign, says the project will irreparably harm many of ecosystems supporting sustainable jobs such as tourism and fishing.
British NGO, Oxfam, claims more than 100,000 people will be directed affected by the project in Uganda and Tanzania.
More than 14,000 others risk being displaced from their 5,300 hectares of land to give way for construction.
The Stockholm Environment Institute in its 2021 analysis claims oil extraction and pipeline will disturb a total of 2,000 square kilometres of protected wildlife habitats.
These include Bugoma Forest hosting 12% of Uganda’s chimpanzees, Wambabya and Taala forests in Uganda, and Minziro Nature Forest Reserve and Burigi-Biharamulo Game Reserve in Tanzania.
Tilenga oil field includes operations inside Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s oldest nature reserve that is relied upon by more than a million people for fishing and water.
The Tilenga oil field will operate within Tilenga National Park, the only source of food and water for more than one million people poor, rural residents.
Nabiruma says though Ugandan law does not bar oil exploration in protected areas, as a member of International Union for Conservation of Nature, the country has pledged to avoid industrial activities in protected areas.
She says the pipeline poses high freshwater pollution risks, particularly to Lake Victoria basin, on which 40 million people rely on for water, food production and industrial production.
TotalEnergies and partners claim the project will create 12,000 direct jobs and nearly 50,000 indirect working opportunities during construction and production phases.
But Simon Nicholas, an energy finance analyst with Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, warns that poor track record of other fossil fuel projects in Africa offers little hope for optimism.
EACOP investors claim contractors will invest US$1.7 billion in business opportunities that will create jobs and enhance Uganda and Tanzania’s foreign direct investment by 60%.
It is also expected to generate annual revenues of up to US$2 billion from oil exports to countries, including China and India, says Stephanie Platat, TotalEnergies’ media relations officer.
He claims out of 18,800 households affected in Uganda and Tanzania, only 723 will be physically displaced by Tilenga and EACOP projects.
“These projects often come with promises for jobs and development yet always disappoint,” Nicholas warns. “African nations relying on fossil production see slower economic development than countries that are not.”
Elmawi of #StopEACOP campaign warns TotalEnergies and CNOOC hold 70% ownership of the pipeline, with Uganda and Tanzania left to share the remaining 30%. “This doesn’t sound like Uganda and Tanzania’s resources, but Total’s and CNOOC’s,” he told China Dialogue.
Elmawi and Simon Nicholas warn that instead of more oil and gas extraction, which would ship fossil fuels away from Africa, Tanzania and Uganda should look to renewables, tourism, sustainable agriculture and fishing.
In the recent past, three insurers and 15 international banks have terminated their links with the project throwing its financing into uncertainty.
“We suspect that Total and CNOOC are struggling to find banks willing to endure the reputational hit that will come with financing such a controversial project,” said IDI’s Coleen Scott.
“Last year, we saw the project costs rise sharply, roughly by 30%… due in part to the increased cost of loans resulting from so many financial institutions turning their backs on the project.”
Project’s future
EACOP project has been seeking US$3 billion loan. But as major global financiers ditch funding of oil and gas exploration to fight climate change, questions hang over the project’s future and success.
“Financing of EACOP project with bank debt is still being arranged with interested international financial institutions,” Platat was quoted saying in China Dialogue.
She says the project has been approved by shareholders who have committed to provide finance, yet commitments still leaves a US$3 billion shortfall that requires bank loans.
Scott warns an oil extraction project of EACOP scale could lock Uganda into fossil fuel dependency and undermine the country’s opportunity for green transition and expose Ugandans to more poverty. Critics, including Already, argue Ugandan investment in tourism, clean energy, agroforestry and other green economic sectors could generate nearly 4 million jobs, increase GDP by 10%. The move could save the country 30.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2031.
“The oil projects pose major environmental risks. Resources, some shared with countries such as DRC, Tanzania and Kenya, including Lake Albert, Lake Victoria and rivers, are at risk of oil pollution,” she says.
Vanessa Nakate, founder of Rise Up Climate Movement in Uganda, says: “There is no reason for Total to engage in oil exploration and construction of EACOP because this means fuelling destruction of the planet and worsening already existing climate disasters in the most affected areas.
“There is no future in the fossil fuel industry and we cannot drink oil. We demand Total to rise up for the people and planet,” she says.
Lucie Pinson, of Reclaim Finance, which works to de-carbonise the financial system, added: “We call on banks to publicly commit to stay clear of the project and investors to vote against Total’s climate strategy and the renewal of the mandate of its CEO Patrick Pouyanné at the group’s AGM in May.”
David Pred of Inclusive Development International, which supports communities to defend their rights against harmful corporate projects, said: “The oil companies are trying to dress up the investment decision signing ceremony, but fortunately this climate-destroying project is far from a done deal.
But TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné claims all partners are committed to implementing the projects in an exemplary manner and taking into highest consideration the biodiversity and environmental stakes as well as local communities’ rights.
“The Tilenga development and EACOP pipeline project are major projects for Total and are consistent with our strategy to focus on low break-even oil projects while lowering the average carbon intensity of the group’s upstream portfolio. These projects will create significant in-country value for both Uganda and Tanzania.
“Total is also taking into the highest consideration the sensitive environmental context and social stakes of these onshore projects. Our commitment is to implement these projects in an exemplary and fully transparent manner, he says.
Pouyane’s position is backed up by Robert Kasande, Uganda’s permanent secretary in the ministry of energy and mineral development. “We are mindful of the environment that we work in. It’s a very sensitive ecosystem. So we have put everything that we need to do in place.”
But renowned US ecologist Bill McKibben warns that East African Crude Oil Pipeline threatens one of the most ecologically diverse and wildlife-rich regions of the world.
He says nearly 1,445 km pipeline runs through numerous important habitats and nature reserves that are home to iconic and endangered animals, such as lions, elands, lesser kudu, buffalo, impalas, hippos, giraffes, roan antelopes, sitatungas, sables, zebras, aardvarks, and the red colobus monkey.
He warns that “the proposed route looks almost as if it were drawn to endanger as many animals as possible.”
On its way from Uganda to Tanzanian coast, the pipeline will disturb nearly 2,000 square kilometres of protected wildlife habitats, including the gorgeous Murchison Falls National Park, Taala Forest Reserve, Bugoma Forest, and Biharamulo Game Reserve.
The sites include multiple reserves critical to the preservation of vulnerable species such as Eastern Chimpanzee and African Elephant.
The African elephant, the largest animal walking the Earth, has herds walking in 37 countries around the world.
The creatures are not only magnificent in their own right, but play a critical role in maintaining suitable habitats for many other animals.
McKibben says: “If we care about animals and preserving what biodiversity we have left, we must do all we can to stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.”
And though EACOP poses significant climate risks and faces widespread resistance, members of civil society and journalists who have highlighted the dangers, continue to be intimidated and arrested.
On October 22, 2021, six staff members of Africa Institute of Energy Governance, including director Dickens Kamugisha, were arrested in Kampala. AFIEGO is one of the four Ugandan groups which have filed legal cases against the project, including one against TotalEnergies in France and in East African Court of Justice.
This has led to the project scrutiny by the UN Special Rapporteurs. Communities along the project line are also living in fear. More than 5,300 hectares of land are needed for construction and operation of the pipeline, which means around 14,000 households stand to lose small pieces of peasant, ancestral land.
Of the total figure, 200 households in Uganda while 330 in Tanzania will have to be resettled. Another 3,500 households in Uganda and 9,513 in Tanzania will be economically displaced
Climate impact
Ryan Brightwell of BankTrack warns that with EACOP pipeline expected to carry 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day at ‘plateau production’, the oil is likely to result in CO2 emissions of more than 33 million tonnes each year.
This will be significantly greater than the current combined emissions of Uganda and Tanzania. Financing the project will undermine other work by investors, regulators, and some of the same banks to address climate risk.
MIVILUDES (acronym for French Inter-ministerial mission for monitoring and combating cultic deviances) is a government agency belonging to the French Ministry of Interior, tasked with reporting on, and fighting against, what they call “cultic deviances”, a term that has no legal definition but means in fact that they are fighting against movements they consider to be “cults”. They have complete arbitrary autonomy to determine which religion, movement or spirituality should be included in that concept.
Throughout the years, the French MIVILUDES has been working shoulder to shoulder with FECRIS (European Federation of Research and Information Centers on Sects and Cults), an umbrella organization funded by the French government, that gathers and coordinates “anti-cult” organizations throughout Europe and beyond. Unfortunately for French officials, throughout the years, they have supported and shared panels with Russian members of FECRIS, most of them being Russian Orthodox extremists with a very anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian agenda.
Every year, FECRIS organises a symposium with the participation of the MIVILUDES’ representatives.
In 2021 in Bordeaux, France, the newly appointed Chief of Miviludes Hanène Romdhane participated to the FECRIS symposium, along with Alexander Dvorkin, Vice-President of FECRIS. Dvorkin has been described by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan governmental entity, as a threat to religious freedom to be publicly censured for his ongoing disinformation campaigns against religious minorities. He has been one of the main propagandists against Ukraine for years, spreading that the Ukrainians’ appetite for liberal democracy was the product of various “cults” working for the West. Dvorkin also heads organizations that gather information on Russian dissidents and opponents to the war to share them with police and FSB. He is also known for his anti-gay[1], anti-Muslim[2] and anti-Hindus diatribes[3], as well as for considering that the only acceptable religion is the one professed by the Russian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate and that almost any other Christian movement is part of a cult.
In 2019, in Paris, the representative of the MIVILUDES, Anne-Marie Courage, also shared the stage with Alexander Dvorkin.
In 2018, in Riga, Latvia, the representative of the MIVILUDES, Laurence Peyron, also shared the stage with Alexander Dvorkin.
In 2017, the Secretary General of the MIVILUDES, Anne Josso, shared the stage in Brussels with Dvorkin and Alexander Korelov, Dvorkin’s personal lawyer. Korelov is known for his theoretical developments on the “war of information”. For example, he explained that the fall of Spain in the 8th century was because of the “Jews, who generally and openly supported” the Arab conquerors. [4] For him, only a Christian State (to be understood as orthodox only) can create a civilization. As regards Ukraine, he declared that while the Ukrainians were certainly not “combat-ready”, they “howl much better than gay Europeans”.[5] He also advocates to denounce at once any “cult activities” to the FSB,[6] which includes (as for some of his fellow FECRIS members) not only Pentecostals, Baptists, Jehovah Witnesses, Hindus, etc., but also Orthodox “dissidents”, not aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. For him, these same “cults” are responsible for the fact that Ukraine emancipated itself from Russia, a serious crime in his mind.
In 2016 in Sofia, the former President of the MIVILUDES, Serge Blisko, shared the stage with Dvorkin and Roman Silantiev. The latter was appointed to Alexander Dvorkin’s deputy as head of the Expert Council on Religion at the Russian Ministry of Justice, and recently, in June 2022, went to the self-proclaimed Republic of Luhansk (Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces) to teach seminars on “destructology, cults, Satanism, and terrorism”. During his presentation, after calling the Ukrainian leadership “neopagan and occult”, he announced that soon Ukraine will no longer exist as an independent state and added “no one will need a Ukrainian Church in the unliberated Ukraine. Normal people there will go underground and will just wait for the Russian military to arrive.”[7] Already on March 18, 2022, Silantiev stated that it was “better [for Russia] to hit first”, after having explained that what the media described as school shootings by disturbed teenagers in Russia had been organized by “the centers of information and psychological operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. He then envisioned “the upcoming parade of victory over Ukrainian Nazism”.[8]
In 2015 in Marseille, in 2014 in Brussels, in 2013 in Copenhagen and in 2012 in Salses-le-Chateau, Serge Blisko shared the stage with Dvorkin again. In 2012, Georges Fenech, the then outgoing president of the MIVILUDES, was also present, as well as attending with Dvorkin a 2011 symposium in Warsaw.
In 2011, Fenech also shared the stage with Alexander Novopashin, number 2 of the Russian FECRIS organisation. Novopashin calls Ukrainians “Nazis”, “Satanists” and “cannibals”, drives with a huge “Z” printed on his car[9], insists that Western cults were behind the Euromaidan and Ukrainian authorities, that “the special operation of denazification is carried out not only to destroy the hydra in its lair, but to protect the whole Russian world”, and that “after an end will be put to Ukrainian Nazism, some other aggressor country will appear, through which the United States will begin to threaten Russia. A civilizational war cannot be avoided.”[10]
Support of the Russian occupation of Crimea by a MIVILUDES’ current member and former President
Fenech was replaced as President of MIVILUDES in 2013 but came back to join its Orientation Council in 2021. Nevertheless, his acquaintance with the Putin’s regime had not stopped in the meantime. In 2019, he was part of a delegation led by French MP Thierry Mariani that visited the occupied Crimea, a trip paid and organized by Russians (The “Russian Fund for Peace”, according to Mariani). They were received by Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs in the Russian State Duma, and Vladimir Konstantinov, a Crimean MP who is accused of high treason in Ukraine, sanctioned by the European Union since 2014, and a strong supporter of Putin and the Russian annexation of Crimea. The purpose for the French delegation was to testify about how well Crimea was doing under Russian occupation. When journalists asked Mariani who was part of the delegation[11], Georges Fenech asked him to lie and say that he was not there, which Mariani reluctantly accepted to do. Unfortunately, French journalists from Liberation had recognized Fenech in a Russian documentary that flanked the visit, and Mariani had to admit Fenech was part of the delegation which had even met Vladimir Putin himself in Simferopol.
Picture of the French delegation in occupied Crimea, with Georges Fenech, former President of MIVILUDES, in the back.
At that time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had strongly condemned this trip, considering the actions of these French politicians as direct connivance with the aggressor in “his unacceptable policy of expansionism, intolerance and discrimination, the militarization of Crimea and the creation of security threats in the region of the Black and Azov Seas, as well as massive and systematic violations of human rights on the occupied Crimean Peninsula.”
Concluding remarks
It is fairly certain that the current MIVILUDES is not an outspoken supporter of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, nor of its propagandists, per se. It’s also quite certain that the current Macron government would not provide any support for Moscow’s propagandists, should they realize that they have some in their ranks. Nevertheless, MIVILUDES continues to list FECRIS on its website as international partners, despite being informed about the extremist position of their Russian members for years.
The current war in Ukraine is not the product of a one-week preparation. It has been prepared with more than a decade of propaganda, and in fact started already in 2014 with the invasion and occupation of Crimea, and the support and participation of Russia to the war in Donbass. This should have been a strong warning light for the French MIVILUDES with regards to collaborating with Russian propagandists spreading hate of the West on behalf of the Kremlin. Surprisingly, given all the above, there has been no public announcement by MIVILUDES distancing itself from FECRIS and its hatemongers.
[9] The letter « Z » is a symbol painted on vehicles of the Russian army since the invasion of Ukraine started, and became a symbol for supporters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The drought situation in many regions of Europe remains severe, according to the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) latest ‘Drought in Europe – August 2022‘ report, an update of the assessment of Europe’s drought situation based on the data and analyses of the European Drought Observatory.
The evolution and impacts of the prolonged drought in the EU confirms the worrying situation of July 2022: 47% of the EU is still under warning conditions, meaning that precipitation has been less than usual and soil moisture is in deficit, and 17% of the EU is in alert, meaning that also vegetation and crops show the negative effects of drought. Cumulatively, 64% of Europe is under warning or alert, which is also contributing to spread widely the areas of fire danger across the EU.
Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “The combination of a severe drought and heatwaves has created an unprecedented stress on water levels in the entire EU. We are currently noticing a wildfires season sensibly above the average and an important impact on crops production. Climate change is undoubtedly more noticeably every year; the European Commission and its scientists are working tirelessly to map and study this crisis with the best technology available, from the space and on the ground, and are leading the efforts to protect our environment and our citizens from emergencies.”
Drought in Europe – August 2022 Soil Moisture – Anomaly beginning of August 2022. JRC Global Drought Observatory (GDO) of the Copernicus Emergency
Water and heat stresses worsen significantly previous negative outlook on yields for summer crops, as reported in the JRC MARS Bulletin of August 2022. Current yield forecasts for grain maize, soybeans, and sunflowers at the EU level are, respectively: 16%, 15%, and 12% below the 5-year average. The severe precipitation deficit has affected almost all rivers across Europe, affecting the energy sector for both hydropower generation and cooling systems of other power plants, as well as river transport. Several EU Member States took measures to restrict water as supplies may still be compromised in the coming weeks. Warmer and drier than usual conditions are likely to occur in the western Euro-Mediterranean region in the coming months, until November 2022.
In the last days, precipitation events have alleviated drought conditions in some regions of Europe. However, they brought new challenges as in some areas they occurred in the form of severe thunderstorms. According to JRC experts, the current drought still appears to be the worst since at least 500 years. Final data at the end of the season will confirm this preliminary assessment. The Joint Research Centre produces real-time drought information through the European and Global Drought Observatories (EDO and GDO), which are part of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS).
Matter is represented in the human body, no doubt, in the most enigmatic, mysterious and complex way. Brain?! What marvelous mysteries are performed between his matter and soul! No matter how much experience the human race has, these mysteries can neither be understood nor comprehended. Only a few of them are accessible to human sensory-rational knowledge. In the same way, the human heart is all woven from heavenly and earthly secrets. Every cell in the human body, and every molecule, and every atom are woven in the same way. Everything and everything is on its mysterious path to God, to the God-man. After all, matter was created by the God Logos, and thus it is God-centered. By his coming into our earthly world and by his chain-like divine-human economy of saving the world, the Lord Christ clearly showed that not only the soul, but also matter was created by God and for God; showed that there is a God-man. After all, the matter created by the God Logos with all its inner nerve is God-striking and Christ-centered.
The obvious proof of this is that God the Word became flesh, became man (John 1:14). Thus, matter was awarded divine majesty and entered into the gracious and virtuous feat of deification and Christification. God became flesh, became human, so that, having become a man, the whole body would receive God into itself, be filled with His miraculous powers and might, supracherubic glory and eternity. And all this happens, and all this comes true through the divine-human body of the Church, which is the God-man Christ in the fullness of his divine-human personality, the fullness of “He who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). By this divine-human life in the church, the body as matter, as substance, is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and thereby is trinified by the Most Holy Trinity. Thus, matter comprehends its highest divine meaning and purpose, its eternal bliss and its divine-human immortal joy.
The holiness of the saints, the holiness of their souls and their bodies, has its source in their zealous grace-virtuous life in the divine-human body of the Church of Christ. Thus, holiness embraces the entire personality of a person: the whole soul and body, everything that enters into the mysterious structure of a human being. The holiness of the saints is not contained only in their soul, but inevitably extends to their body, the saints have both soul and body, and we, piously honoring the saints, honor their whole personality, without dividing them into a holy soul and a holy body. Hence the pious veneration of the relics of the saints – a natural component of the pious veneration and prayerful invocation of the saints. All this makes up a single indivisible feat, just as the soul and body make up a single indivisible personality of a saint. During his life on earth, the saint achieves the holiness of his personality by the unceasing and concordant gracious-virtuous cooperation of his soul and body, fills his soul and body with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thus transforms them into vessels of holy mysteries and holy virtues. Therefore, it is quite natural to give pious veneration to both vessels of God’s grace. After all, the grace-filled power of Christ permeates and blesses all the constituent parts of the human personality and the whole personality as a whole. By their unceasing evangelical deeds, the saints are gradually filled with the Holy Spirit, so that their holy bodies also become temples of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 6:19; 3:17). By faith instilling Christ in their hearts (Eph. 3:17), by active love and fulfillment of the commandments (cf. II Cor. 13:13; Gal. 5:6; John 14:28) — God the Father, by feats of grace (cf. Eph 3:16; 3:3; I Cor. 2:12) being established in the Holy Spirit, the saints trinify themselves, become the abode of the Most Holy Trinity (cf. John 14:23; 17:21-23), the temple of the living God ( II Cor. 6:16), and their whole life flows from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. And graciously venerating the holy relics of the saints, the Church venerates the temples of the Holy Spirit, the temples of the living God, in which God lives by his grace even after the bodily death of the saint, and, according to his wise good will, works miracles – from them and through them. And those miracles that happen from holy relics testify that their pious veneration by people is pleasing to God.
The pious veneration of holy relics, based on their miraculous work, originates in Divine Revelation. “Even in the Old Testament, God deigned to glorify the relics of some of his saints with miracles. So, from touching the holy relics of the prophet Elisha, the deceased was resurrected (IV Kings 13, 21; Sir. 48, 14-15). 18; compare III Kings 13:32). Patriarch Joseph left a testament to the sons of Israel that they keep his remains in Egypt and take them to the promised land at the Exodus (Gen. 50, 25).
The New Testament raised the body to an unprecedented divine height and glorified it with a glory that does not exist with cherubim and seraphim. The gospel of the New Testament: the meaning and purpose of the human body is that it, together with the soul, achieve and inherit eternal life in eternal bliss, the Lord Christ came to save-christify-deify-deify the whole person, that is, both soul and body, so that by the resurrection provide them with victory over death and eternal life. And no one has ever glorified the human body as the Lord Christ did with his resurrection in the body, his ascension in the body to heaven and eternal sitting in the body at the right hand of God the Father.
Thus, the resurrected Lord introduced the pledge of resurrection into the nature of the human body and — “created the way of all flesh to the resurrection from the dead” (liturgy of St. Basil the Great, Prayer during “Holy, holy, holy …”). From that time on, man knows that the body was created for eternity through God-manhood, and that his divine calling on earth is to fight together with the soul for eternal life (cf. I Tim. 6:12; II Cor. 4:18), to fight with the help of all gracious and virtuous means and thereby grace oneself, be filled with the grace of God, transform oneself into the temple of the Holy Spirit, into the temple of the living God (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16).
Bearing in mind that this New Testament goal of the human body has been achieved and realized in the personality of a saint, Christians also render pious veneration to the bodies of saints, their holy relics, as holy temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells in them with his grace. But the Holy Revelation shows that, due to its immeasurable love for mankind, the Holy Spirit abides by His grace not only in the bodies of the saints, but also in their clothes. Thus, the handkerchiefs and aprons of the holy Apostle Paul heal the sick and cast out unclean spirits (Acts 19:12); the prophet Elijah strikes the water with his mantle, dividing the waters of the Jordan, and the Jordan crosses the dry bed with his disciple Elisha (2 Kings 2:8); the prophet Elisha himself does the same with the same mantle after the ascension of Elijah to heaven (2 Kings 2, 1 4). And all this has its divine confirmation and explanation in the divine power that dwelt in the clothes of the Savior, which wrapped around His most pure divine body (cf. Mt. 9, 20-23). And even more – out of His unspeakable philanthropy, the Divine Lord makes it so that the servants of His Divinity work miracles not only with their bodies and clothes, but also with the shadow of their body, as evidenced by the case of the Apostle Peter: his shadow heals the sick and casts out unclean spirits (Acts 5, 15-16).
The immortal gospel of the Holy Revelation about the holy relics and their pious veneration has been witnessed and is unceasingly witnessed by Holy Tradition from the Apostolic age to our days. Countless are the holy relics of the holy saints of God throughout the Orthodox world. Their miracles are innumerable. Their pious veneration on the part of Orthodox Christians is ubiquitous. And this is undoubtedly because the most holy relics by their miracle-working induce us to pious veneration of them. From the very beginning, back in the apostolic age, Christians piously venerated the honest relics of the holy Forerunner and the holy apostles, and so their relics were able to reach us, and during persecutions they hid, hid in their homes the sacred remains of the holy martyrs. And from that time until the present day, the holy relics of the holy saints of God, with their miracles, pour the immortal joy of our God-human faith into the hearts of Orthodox Christians. The evidence for this is countless, let us recall only a few.
How touchingly St. Chrysostom describes the festive transfer and meeting of the holy relics in his Eulogy to St. Ignatius (Patr. gr. t. 50, col. 594): You, inhabitants of Antioch, dismissed the bishop, and accepted the martyr; they let him go with prayers, but received him with a crown, and not only you, but also the inhabitants of the cities that lay on his way. Think how they must all have felt at the return of his holy remains! what sweetness they enjoyed! what admiration they were! how happy they were! what praises were showered from everywhere on the crowned bearer! Like a brave warrior who defeated the enemy and returns triumphantly from the battle, the inhabitants admiringly greet him, not even letting him set foot on the ground, but they lift him up and carry him home in their arms, showering him with countless praises – in the same way, the inhabitants of all cities , starting from Rome, they carried one after another on their shoulders and handed it over to our city, glorifying the crowned bearer, praising the winner … During this time, the holy martyr bestowed grace on all those cities, confirmed them in piety; and ever since then he has enriched your city.
Narrating the miraculous power of the holy relics, Saint Ephraim of Syria speaks to the holy martyrs: even after death they act as if they were alive, heal the sick, cast out demons, and by the power of the Lord repel their every evil attack. After all, the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit is always present in holy relics (A eulogy to the martyrs all over the world who have suffered. – Creations, part II, p. 497, M., 1881).
At the opening of the holy relics of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius, Saint Ambrose addresses the audience and says with reverent admiration: You have heard and even seen many who have been freed from demons, and even more of those who have just touched the clothes of the saints with their hands and were immediately healed of their illnesses. Miracles of ancient times have been revived since the coming of the Lord Jesus poured out abundant grace on the earth: you see with your own eyes how many people were healed only by the shadow of the saints. How many handkerchiefs do believers pass from hand to hand! how many different clothes that were laid on the sacred remains and only from touching them were filled with healing power, they ask each other. Everyone tries to touch them at least a little, and whoever touches them is healed. (Episi. 22; Patr. lat. 16, col. 1022).
Justifying the pious veneration of holy relics by Christians, Saint Ambrose proclaims: In the body of a martyr, I venerate the wounds taken for the name of Christ, I venerate the one who lives by the immortality of virtue; I venerate the dust sanctified by the confession of the Lord; I honor in the dust the seed of eternity; I honor the body that teaches me to love the Lord and not be afraid of death for him … Yes, I honor the body that Christ honored with martyrdom and which will reign with Christ in heaven (Serm. 55,1.11; Patr. lat. 17, col- 718 and 719).
Narrating about miracles from holy relics, Blessed Augustine says: What else do these miracles testify to, if not about the faith that preaches that Christ was resurrected in the flesh and with the flesh ascended to heaven? For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, i.e. witnesses of this faith… They laid down their lives for this faith, being able to ask it from the Lord, for whose name they tasted death. For the sake of this faith, they first discovered extraordinary patience, so that later such strength would be manifested in these miracles (On the City of God, book 22, ch. IX, Kyiv, 1910).
Saint Damascene, summing up the life-giving teaching of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition about the pious veneration of holy relics, cherubically proclaims from the altar of his God-bearing Christ-like soul: The saints became by grace (hariti) what the Lord Christ is by nature (fusei). That is, they became gods by grace: pure and living abodes of God. For God said: I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God (II Cor. 6:16; Lev. 26:12). At the same time, Holy Scripture says: The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and torment will not touch them (Wisdom 3:1). After all, the death of a saint is more like a dream than death. And: The death of His saints is dear in the sight of the Lord (Pel. 115:6). Their same, what could be more precious than being in the hand of God!? For God is Life and Light, and those who are in the hand of God are in Life and Light, and God through the mind (dia tou vou) dwells also in the bodies of the saints, as the apostle testifies: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and Does the Spirit of God live in you? (I Cor. 3:16), the Lord is Spirit (II Cor. 3:17). And one more gospel truth: If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him “for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you (I Cor. 3, 17). Therefore, how not to honor the spiritualization of God, spiritualized bodily dwellings of God? “Being alive, they boldly stand before God. The Lord Christ gave us the relics of the saints as saving springs that exude various good deeds and pour out fragrant myrrh. Let no one doubt this! After all, by the will of God, water flowed in the desert from a solid rock for a thirsty people (Ex. 17, 6), and from the jaw of a donkey – for the thirsty Samson (Jud. 15, 14-19) Is it really more incredible that the relics of the holy martyrs abundantly exude fragrant myrrh? honoring and respecting the saints.According to the Old Testament law, whoever touches a dead body is considered unclean for seven days (Num. 19, 11).
But the saints are not dead. Since He Who Himself is Life and the Author of Life was numbered among the dead, we no longer call dead those who fell asleep, reposed in the hope of the resurrection and with faith in Him — we do not call them dead. And how a dead body could work miracles. And then – how do demons are cast out by the action of holy relics, illnesses pass away, the sick are healed, the blind receive their sight, lepers are cleansed, temptations and troubles end, and every good gift from the Father of lights (James 1:17) descends on those who pray with strong faith (de fide, IV 15).
The ecumenical faith of the church about the pious veneration of holy relics was confirmed by the God-bearing fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council by their resolution: Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the relics of the saints as a saving source, pouring out various blessings on the weak. Therefore, those who dared to reject the relics of the martyr: if the bishops – let them be deposed, if the monks and laity – are deprived of communion (AcL Vll, BiniiConcil. l.V, p.794, 1636 – Translated from Serbian). Rule 7 of the same Ecumenical Council says: If the honorable churches are consecrated without the holy relics of the martyrs, we determine: let the position of the relics be completed in them with the usual prayer. (Book of Rules of the Holy Apostle, Holy Councils of the Universe and Local and Holy Fathers. Canada, 1971, p. 177),
The fact that the pious veneration of holy relics is an integral part of the Divine-human economy of salvation is also evidenced by the following fact: according to all the most ancient testimonies of Holy Tradition, churches were built on the tombs and relics of saints, and the holy liturgy is performed only on the antimension, in which there are particles of holy relics. At the same time, the liturgical books, especially the Menaion, are full of prayers and hymns that speak of the pious veneration of holy relics. And the lives of the saints are replete with testimonies of their miracles, pouring into the hearts of Orthodox Christians the immortal joy of our Orthodox-God-human faith.
Everything is in everything: the mystery of holy relics is in the heart of the New Testament all-mystery: the Incarnation of God (cf. I Tim. 3:16). After all, the whole mystery of the human body is explained by the incarnation and incarnation of God: the God-man of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the gospel, the all-gospel about the body: The body … for the Lord and the Lord for the body (1 Cor. 6:13). And through the human body and all creation, all matter acquired its divine meaning, the divine-human universal meaning (cf. Rom. 8:19-23). After all, a person sanctified in the church with holy mysteries and holy virtues, both creature and matter are sanctified, Christified. And hence such joy: the myrrh-streaming relics of many saints. This precious miracle was given to the holy relics to show that Christians really are “Christ’s fragrance to God” (II Cor. 2:15), they are censing incense to God, heaven. The gospel truth is this: human sin is a stench before God; and every sin is a foul incense to the devil. Through the cooperation of the holy mysteries and holy virtues, Christians become “Christ’s fragrance to God.” Hence the holy myrrh-streaming relics of the saints.
NEWS PROVIDED BY EINPRESSWIRE – MADRID, MADRID, SPAIN, August 24, 2022 / EINPresswire.com / — The Church of Scientology of Spain and the MEJORA Foundation—Foundation for the Improvement of Life, Culture and Society— have just announced the celebration of the upcoming 9th edition of the Religious Freedom Awards.
The Foundation for the Improvement of Life, Culture and Society, in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 2019 and founded by the Church of Scientology in 2015, will be in charge of presenting these pioneering awards in Spain, which have now reached their 9th edition.
Ivan Arjona-Pelado, President of the Church of Scientology European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights, will host this ceremony on September 23rd 2022, near the Spanish Parliament, at the headquarters of the Church of Scientology of Spain that was inaugurated by Mr David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion.
The awards ceremony, organised by the Church of Scientology Fundacion MEJORA, will be held in person and via streaming and will be attended by experts and professors in religious freedom, as well as high-ranking officials of the public administration.
Last year, in an event where the Spain Prime Minister’s Office Director of Religious Freedom congratulated the Church and the initiative, it was three women who got the award Ms Zoila Combalía, Ms Mercedes Vidal and Ms Isabel Cano (all three top experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief) and they have proposed the candidates (2 each) and the Board of Trustees of the Foundation will study who of the candidates will receive the already famous replica of La Tizona, the sword of the legendary Spanish hero El Cid. Long a symbol of the honour and dignity of the knight who defends light against darkness, representing the virtues of common sense, strength, moderation, and justice.
The ceremony this year will be preceded by an introduction to the interactions that L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, had in Spain, which will be delivered by a high-ranking official of the Church in Europe who will be specifically for this occasion.
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From its beginnings, the Church of Scientology has recognized that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. In a world where conflicts are often traceable to intolerance of others’ religious beliefs and practices, the Church has, for more than 50 years, made the preservation of religious liberty an overriding concern.
The Church publishes this blog to help create a better understanding of the freedom of religion and belief and provide news on religious freedom and issues affecting this freedom around the world.
The Founder of the Scientology religion is L. Ron Hubbard and Mr. David Miscavige is the religion’s ecclesiastical leader. For more information, visit the Scientology website or Scientology Network.
American historian Nick Wilding has discovered that Galileo Galilei’s manuscript from the University of Michigan library is a forgery. It is believed to have been made by the famous forger Tobias Nicotra in the 1930s. This was reported in a press release from the University of Michigan. For nearly a century, the University of Michigan Library has held a one-page document attributed to the famous Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei. The manuscript first became known in 1934, when artifacts collected by a wealthy collector of manuscripts and old books were put up for auction. It then states that the authenticity of Galileo’s manuscript was established by the Italian cardinal and archbishop of Pisa, Pietro Maffi, who lived 1858 – 1931. University of Michigan In 1938, the manuscript was donated to the University of Michigan. The text of this manuscript consists of two parts. In the first, on behalf of Galileo, the Doge of Venice was informed about a newly built telescope. The second contains notes on observations of Jupiter and its moons. The original letter to the Doge is preserved in the State Archives of Venice.
American historian Nick Wilding of the University of Georgia, who gained notoriety after the discovery of a fake copy of Galileo Galilei’s Siderei Nuncius, has been working on a new book about the Italian physicist. He became interested in a draft of the scientist’s letter, which is kept in the library of the University of Michigan, so he approached the curator of the library, Pablo Alvarez, expressing doubts about the authenticity of the document. Wilding drew attention to the fact that the watermark on the paper contained the monograms of its manufacturer – AS, and the place of production – BMO. The latter monogram indicates the Italian city of Bergamo, but scholars are not aware of any other documents with such a watermark written before 1770 (Galileo died in 1642). The historian came to the conclusion that the preserved manuscript of Galileo is a forgery from the 20th century (presumably from the 1930s), probably created by the famous forger Tobias Nicotra. An independent review by the University of Michigan confirmed Wilding’s conclusion. Last year, another forged historical document came to light.
Then scientists from Yale University proved that the Vineland map, presented as an ancient map of America before its discovery by Columbus, was a forgery made in the 20th century. (Vinland is the name given to North America by the Scandinavian peoples at the beginning of the 11th century – AD) Yale University Scientists found that the forgery was made on parchment from the 15th century, but all the lines and inscriptions on the map were made in ink , appeared at the beginning of the last century, which is clear from the traces of titanium. Vinland’s map, showing America as a large island west of Greenland, first appeared in a Geneva bookstore in 1957 and was soon acquired by an American benefactor for Yale University. The general public first learned about it from a book published in 1965. This happened shortly after the discovery of an 11th-century Viking settlement in Newfoundland, so scientists assumed that the pre-Columbian map was authentic and belonged to the Scandinavians.
“Everything is poison, everything is medicine. Both are determined by the dose.” These words are attributed to the famous Swiss physician, alchemist and forerunner of modern pharmacology, Paracelsus. When people talk about the “most dangerous substance”, in most cases they think of the poisons cyanide, arsenic or tetrodotoxin. Although these are quite strong poisons, they are not the most dangerous.
The most lethal substance is botulinum toxin. It is the strongest organic poison known to science. It takes 1 nanogram per kilogram of mass, or one billionth of a gram per kilogram of mass, to produce a lethal dose. Although botulinum toxin is lethal to humans, it is used medically to treat neurological disorders. Also, this substance is widely used in cosmetology to fight wrinkles. Of course, in these cases a purified and weakened toxin is used, which is administered to a person in microdoses.
How the most dangerous poison became the elixir of youth
In December 2021, one of the creators of Botox – the ophthalmologist Alan Scott – died. He was looking for a cure for squint, but the world fell in love with his medicine not because of that. How was the deadly botulinum toxin tamed, and why is it not just to fight wrinkles? The word “Botox” has long since become a household word. And only 30 years ago, people thought the very idea of injecting a bit of poison straight into their face was crazy. After all, Botox is actually made up of the same toxin that accumulates in puffy jars and other spoiled products.
The Sausage Plague
In the 18th century, a wave of outbreaks of a mysterious disease engulfed Germany. Patients’ vision deteriorates, their eyelids droop, it becomes difficult for them to speak and swallow. Many suffer from great weakness. In particularly severe cases, paralysis of the respiratory muscles leads to death. At first, out of habit, the residents blame the witches. But there are those who do not accept this explanation. Germany at that time was conquered by the ideas of the Enlightenment. Universities train doctors who seek to rationally explain observed phenomena. One of them is Justinus Kerner. After graduating from university, he worked as a doctor in a small town and, as befits an enlightened person, wrote poetry and played music. But he goes down in history thanks to botulism research. Kerner became interested in the mysterious poisonings and began collecting information about them. Justinus works like a true modern scientist: after describing dozens of cases, he suggests that the fault lies in a toxic substance in unfresh sausage. Then he conducted experiments on animals, isolated and described the “sausage toxin” (the name of the disease – botulism – comes from the Latin word botulus, “sausage”). Kerner found that the toxin did not affect the cognitive abilities and sensory systems of the patients, but weakened their muscles, which was the cause of the paralysis. Through painstaking experiments, he concluded that the poison blocked signals in the nervous system, thereby disrupting what he called the chemical process of life. “This poison disrupts the conduction of nerves in the same way that rust destroys the properties of an electrical conductor,” he wrote. But Kerner doesn’t stop there. He was the first to propose a medical application of the toxin – for the treatment of diseases associated with involuntary movements. Kerner writes, for example, that in very small doses the toxin can alleviate the symptoms of the so-called dance of Saint Vitus (rheumatic chorea). Kerner’s conjectures were brilliantly confirmed many years later – but were simply ignored in his day.
The failed weapon
In the 20th century, botulinum toxin attracted the attention of the military. Laboratory experiments show that it is the most powerful organic poison known to mankind. According to research by the American Medical Association, just 1 g of the substance in crystalline form is enough to kill a million people. If dispersed from the air in the form of an aerosol, it can neutralize an entire army. In the 1930s, Japan built an extensive research complex to study biological weapons in Manchuria. Director Shiro Ishii admits to exposing Chinese, Korean and American prisoners to botulinum toxin.
Anti-Hitler intelligence had serious (but as it turns out, groundless) suspicions that the Nazis were also studying this poison and planned to use it against infantry. After the end of World War II, it was American military chemists who learned how to synthesize botulinum toxin type A. Ironically, type A was the most lethal, but it would later be used for facial rejuvenation because it worked best on motor neurons. A few decades later, the UN General Assembly banned the development, production and stockpiling of toxic weapons, including botulinum toxin. But the specialists remain. One of these specialists, Ed Shantz, who was involved in the purification of the toxin, got a job at the University of Wisconsin. In the 1970s, ophthalmologist Alan Scott, who was working on a drug for strabismus, wrote to him. At that time, the only effective treatment was eye muscle surgery. Scott was looking for a less invasive method and came across an article about botulinum toxin. In search of the substance itself, he comes across Shantz, who, without much thought, sends him powder with the deadly poison in a metal box by regular mail. Fortunately, no one was injured.
From Oculinum to Botox
Initially, there is no hint of its toxic nature in the name of the drug. Scott registered it in the late 1970s under the brand name Oculinum to treat blepharospasm, a condition in which the eyelids freeze in a half-closed position. Oculinum contains precisely calculated microdoses of botulinum toxin. When injected into a muscle, it disrupts nerve conduction and the spasm disappears. At the same time, patients immediately notice the side effect of the preparation: smoothing of “crow’s feet” around the eyes. But Scott himself does not attach any importance to this – and perhaps misses the chance to become a billionaire. Just two years after registering the drug, he sold it to the Allergan Corporation, which makes contact lenses and other eye care products. But Botox appeared thanks to the persistence of patients. Once an angry patient came to Canadian ophthalmologist Jane Carruthers. “You didn’t fix what I have here,” she says, pointing to the crease between her eyebrows. Carruthers doesn’t immediately understand what’s going on. “When you inject the drug, I get this beautiful, calm look on my face,” the patient explains. Carruthers told her dermatologist husband about the experience and quietly began practicing “beauty injections” on her patients and herself. According to legend, Ronald Reagan himself was among the first connoisseurs of such procedures. But this is unlikely. By 1990, Carruthers had only ten regular patients. At this time it is very difficult to find volunteers even for research. “The typical reaction from people was, ‘What? What do you want to inject into my wrinkles? Isn’t it a deadly poison?” shares Carruthers. The pair presented the first results at a meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery in 1991, but their colleagues dismissed it as a “crazy idea” that would lead nowhere. But the information about the rejuvenating effect leaked to the press. In 1997, The New York Times published an article with the eloquent headline: “The Drought is Over, Botox Has Arrived.” Botox (as Allergan gives it its name) did not receive official approval for cosmetic use until 2002, when the company managed to convince regulatory authorities that the injections were safe.By this time, Botox had already unofficially treated dozens of conditions, albeit related to muscle spasms: from migraines to bedwetting.
The paradoxes of pharmaceuticals
Today, Botox is primarily known for its application for aesthetic rather than medical purposes. It is often associated with the unnaturally young faces of stars and politicians, specific facial expressions and sometimes with news about victims of unscrupulous cosmetologists, and the procedure itself is offered not only in clinics, but also in spa centers, manicure salons and even in commercial centers. Since the botulinum toxin penetrates all the muscles it can “reach”, the result can be unpredictable if the needle is not inserted correctly or the dosage is not calculated. Side effects occur in one in six customers. Among them – retraction of the eyelids, a feeling of freezing, a “flowing” smile, difficulty swallowing and speech, headache and nausea. In 2003 and 2004, the FDA even sent Allergan a requirement to reduce the risk of side effects. There is also evidence that the risk of side effects increases with frequent use. But the demand is only growing – according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of Botox injections has increased by a third since 2010 among young people aged 20 to 29. Meanwhile, new healing properties of botulinum toxin have been discovered in recent years. In 2010, they approved the injection of Botox into the neck and head for the prevention of chronic migraines. And recently, an international group of scientists confirmed its antidepressant effect (this was also suggested earlier). In patients who received Botox injections for various purposes, symptoms of anxiety and depression were reduced by 22-72%. The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but one hypothesis states that when the brain does not receive a signal from “tense muscles”, the processing of negative emotions in the brain is disrupted. Ironically, in the same years that the Carruthers were touting the cosmetic benefits of Botox, scientists discovered an unexpected effect of another already popular drug. In 1992, sildenafil, which was tested as a heart drug, was found to improve blood flow in the pelvic area. This is how our familiar Viagra appears.
“Life is a mystery – says Alan Scott in one of his rare interviews. – Anything can happen and that’s fascinating.”
Photo: Landjäger German sausage by cottonbro / pexels.
Although the likelihood of being struck by lightning is small, it is important to know how to stay safe during a thunderstorm. Globally, about 24,000 people are killed by lightning each year and another 240,000 are injured.
Most people are familiar with basic thunderstorm safety rules, such as avoiding standing under trees or near a window and not talking on a corded phone (cell phones are safe).
If we are in nature during a thunderstorm, under no circumstances should we stand next to trees or use mobile phones. The best advice is to stay home during a thunderstorm.
As a rule, lightning is attracted to higher parts – trees, poles. If the storm has overtaken us in the forest, the mountain, the field, the best solution is to retract both legs, crouch, and thus the chances of survival are greater. If you do have to go out, it’s best to travel by car.
But did you know that during a thunderstorm you should avoid taking a shower or washing dishes?
To understand why, you first need to know a little about how thunderstorms and lightning work explains “Science Alert”.
Two main elements trigger the development of a thunderstorm: moisture and rising warm air, which of course go hand in hand with summer. High temperatures and humidity create large amounts of moist air that rises into the atmosphere where a thunderstorm can form. Clouds contain millions of water and ice droplets and their interaction leads to the formation of lightning. The rising water drops collide with the falling ice drops, imparting a negative charge to them, and they themselves remain positively charged. In a thunderstorm, the clouds act as huge generators that separate the positive and negative charges to create huge charge separations inside the clouds. When thunderclouds move over the Earth, they generate an opposite charge in the ground, and this is what attracts the lightning strike to the ground. The thunderstorm wants to balance its charges and does so by discharging between the positive and negative areas. The path of this discharge is usually the path of least resistance, so things that are more conductive (like metal) are more likely to be struck during a storm.
The most useful advice in a thunderstorm is: When the thunder moves, go indoors. However, this does not mean that you are completely protected from the storm. There are some activities inside that can be almost as risky as staying outside during the storm.
Unless you’re sitting in a bathtub outside or showering in the rain, it’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll be struck by lightning. But if lightning strikes your house, electricity will follow the path of least resistance to ground. Things like metal wires or water in pipes provide a convenient conduit for electricity to reach the ground.
The shower offers both (water and metal), making it an ideal path for electricity. This can turn a nice relaxing shower into something much less relaxing. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends that people avoid all water activities during a thunderstorm — even washing dishes — to reduce the risk of shock.
There are other risks to be aware of during a thunderstorm. One of them, which may not seem obvious, is leaning against a concrete wall. Although concrete itself is not that conductive, if it is reinforced with metal beams (called “rebar”), they can provide a conductive path for lightning.
Also, avoid using anything plugged into an electrical outlet (computers, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers) as these can all provide paths for lightning to travel.
As a general rule, if you hear thunder in the distance, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning, even if there is no rain.
Lightning strikes can occur up to 15 km away from the main storm.
Usually half an hour after you hear the last bang is a safe time to venture back into the shower. Thunderstorms usually like to leave their crown number for last, and you certainly don’t want to be part of the fireworks!
