Climate change related extreme events have seriously damaged the countries of the European Economic Area, accounting for loss of almost 3 percent of GDP for each country, per year.
When it comes to job status and mental wellbeing, the young are the most affected by the pandemic among Europeans, reveals a recent report by Eurofound.
Pharmaceutical giants producing COVID-19 vaccines are open to collaboration with third parties, as long as they retain control on vaccine licenses and profits. EU member states complain about supply shortages, but fail to question the power of Big Pharma.
The European Union shifts between defending citizens’ health and defending pharmaceutical industry monopoly by opposing the liberalization of vaccine production. This might only delay achieving the immunisation necessary for economic recovery. We delve into this issue in a three-part investigation.
The clash between the EU and AstraZeneca over delayed vaccines has revealed a stack of questionable contracts signed with Big Pharma. Problems include manufacturers’ ambiguous delivery dates, but lawyers investigating the deals show that companies have a clear advantage over the EU.
The EU’s vaccine distribution delays could be solved through voluntary collaborations established by pharmaceutical giants. However, civil society and several EU countries are calling for the liberalization of patents, to be able to independently produce doses and ensure vaccine coverage for the largest possible number of people. The second part of Stefano Valentino’s report on the monopolistic practices of pharmaceutical companies.
The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has been put in place by the European Commission to provide food and feed control authorities with an effective tool to exchange information about measures taken responding to serious risks detected in relation to food or feed.
Over the last ten years, there were significantly fewer homicides in the EU. Suicide rates have also dropped. While the situation in certain northern countries is less rosy, there were considerably fewer violent deaths per 100,000 people in the South.
Last year, more than half of the alerts issued by the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed concerned products from non-EU countries. If these countries are unable to adapt their production chains to EU food safety regulations over the next few years, the risks to European citizens will continue to grow.
In many European countries, the availability of psychological treatment in the public healthcare system is inadequate or even non-existent. Barriers such as long waiting lists, co-payments and inadequate resources push people with anxiety or depression – those who can afford it – to the private system.