Turkey’s environment minister pledged on Sunday to defeat a plague of “sea snot” threatening the Sea of Marmara, using a disaster management plan he said would secure its future.A thick, slimy layer of the organic matter, known as marine mucilage, has spread through the sea south of Istanbul, posing a threat to marine life and the fishing industry.Harbors, shorelines and swathes of seawater have been blanketed by the viscous, greyish substance, some of which has sunk below the waves, suffocating life on the seabed.Environment Minister Murat Kurum said Turkey planned to designate the entire Sea of Marmara a protected area, reduce pollution and improve treatment of wastewater from coastal cities and ships, which has helped the sea snot to spread.He also called on local residents, artists and nongovernmental organizations to join what he said would be Turkey’s biggest maritime cleanup operation, starting Tuesday.”Hopefully, together we will protect our Marmara within the framework of a disaster management plan,” Kurum said, speaking from a marine research vessel that has been taking samples of the slimy substance.”We will take all the necessary steps within three years and realize the projects that will save not only the present but also the future together,” he added.Kurum said the measures Turkey planned would reduce nitrogen levels in the sea by 40%, a move he said scientists believed would help restore the waters to their previous state.Scientists say climate change and pollution have contributed to the proliferation of the organic matter, which contains a wide variety of microorganisms and can flourish when nutrient-rich sewage flows into seawater.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the outbreak on untreated water from cities, including Istanbul, home to 16 million people, and vowed to “clear our seas from the mucilage scourge.”   
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In advance of World Food Safety Day, U.N. agencies are calling for concerted action to ensure food is free of the toxins that every year cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.A U.N. report on global food security finds nearly 690 million people suffered from chronic hunger in 2019, before COVID-19.  The full impact of the pandemic on food insecurity is not yet known.  However, the report estimates as many as 132 million more people will have been short of food in 2020 because of COVID-19 lockdowns.Dominique Burgeon is director of the Food and Agriculture Organization Office in Geneva. He said food safety is key to food security.“Every year, 600 million people fall ill and one in 10, about 420,000 die from eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, or chemicals.  Yet, this is the tip of the iceberg as comprehensive surveillance data for foodborne illnesses is not available everywhere,” said Burgeon.Moreover, he said unsafe food causes significant financial burdens in low-and-middle income countries, amounting to productivity losses of some $90 billion a year.U.N. agencies say food safety is a shared responsibility and everyone has a role to play in keeping food safe and keeping people healthy. Burgeon said this includes those who produce the food, industry, governments, and consumers.“The way you store your food, the way you cook it.  But, of course, I would say it goes from farm to fork.  So, really at the beginning of the process.  The way food is being produced…the way the food is stored, and then the way it is transported, processed, etc.,” he said.U.N. agencies say food safety involves a holistic approach that considers human, animal, plant and environmental health. Understanding and keeping all aspects of the food chain safe they say will contribute to a healthy life and a healthy planet. 
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A bipartisan delegation of three United States senators landed in Taiwan on Sunday and announced that Washington would donate 750,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to its ally.The high-profile delegation and gift comes as Taiwan accuses China of hampering its efforts to secure enough doses as part of Beijing’s ongoing campaign to keep the island isolated.Senators Tammy Duckworth, Christopher Coons and Dan Sullivan — two Democrats and a Republican — landed on Sunday morning at Taipei’s Songshan Airport in a U.S. military plane.”We are here as friends, because we know that Taiwan is experiencing a challenging time right now, which was why it was especially important for the three of us to be here in a bipartisan way,” Duckworth said.”It was critical to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive vaccines, because we recognize your urgent need, and we value this partnership.”President Joe Biden announced last week that the United States would give around 25 million vaccine doses to countries that needed them, mostly through the global Covax vaccine sharing program.It is highly unusual for the United States to use a military plane to fly officials to Taiwan.Washington remains Taiwan’s biggest ally but it does not maintain full diplomatic relations with Taipei because the U.S. officially recognizes Beijing.Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu was among those greeting the senators.”Taiwan is facing unique challenges in combating the virus,” he said.”While we are doing our best to import vaccines, we must overcome obstacles to ensure that these life-saving medicines are delivered free from trouble from Beijing.”Until recently, Taiwan navigated the pandemic in an exemplary fashion, recording just a handful of deaths.But cases have soared to more than 10,000 in the last month after an outbreak that began with airline pilots.Taiwan has struggled to secure enough doses for its 23 million people.Taipei has blamed Beijing for making it difficult — a charge China has flat out rejected.China’s ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan but it views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.Beijing has heaped economic, military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan in recent years and keeps it locked out of international bodies such as the World Health Organization.It bristles whenever countries send delegations to Taiwan or push for its recognition on the world stage.Earlier this week China hit out at Japan for donating more than 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Taiwan.   
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The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that the global count of COVID-19 cases has reached 173 million, while the death toll is approaching 4 million.India which has the second-highest number of cases reported early Sunday that it had recorded 114,460 new infections in the previous 24-hour period, the lowest count in 60 days. The daily death toll of 2,677 was the lowest tally in 42 days. Public health officials have warned, however, that India’s infection and deaths totals are likely undercounted.The U.S. has the most coronavirus infections at 33.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins, followed by India with 29 million and Brazil with 17 million.On Sunday, a bipartisan trio of U.S. senators — Democrat Christropher Coons of Delaware, Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska — stopped in Taiwan. The democratically ruled island has complained that China is blocking their efforts to obtain COVID-19 vaccines.“I’m here to tell you that the United States will not let you stand “alone,” Duckworth said. “We will be by your side to make sure the people of Taiwan have what they need to get to the other side of the pandemic and beyond.”The White House has announced that it is donating millions of vaccines doses to the global community and Taiwan will receive 750,000 shots.When the leaders of the world’s industrialized nations meet this week in Cornwall, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask them to commit to “vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022,” according to a statement Saturday.”Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m calling on my fellow G-7 leaders to join us to end this terrible pandemic and pledge we will never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again.”He may run into some pushback from his own country.New cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, have dropped dramatically since the United Kingdom began its vaccination campaign. Now nearly 68 million people have received at least one shot and nearly 27 million are fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins. That’s 40% of the population.But cases of the Delta variant are on the rise and that could threaten the nation’s progress. As Britain opens up, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Reuters, a rise in cases is expected. The vaccine, he said, has broken the link between rising cases and rising deaths.“But it hasn’t been completely severed yet, and that’s one of the things that we’re watching very carefully,” he added.In China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, new restrictions took effect Saturday because of a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.The war-torn country reported nearly 7,500 new cases in the week ending Saturday, a record, according to Johns Hopkins, and 187 deaths, also a record. The official figures are no doubt an undercount because they include only those in hospitals, while most people who become sick stay home and die there, the AP said.Afghan health officials are blaming the Delta variant, first discovered in India, for its soaring infection rate. Travel to India is unrestricted and many students and those seeking medical care go there, according to the AP.While the government has tried to enforce mask wearing and social distancing, most Afghans resist.”Our people believe it is fake, especially in the countryside,” Dr. Zalmai Rishteen, administrator of the Afghan-Japan Hospital, the only hospital dedicated to COVID-19 patients, told the AP. “Or they are religious and believe God will save them.”About 626,000 Afghans have received one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, with about 145,000 fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins. 
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When the leaders of the world’s industrialized nations meet next week in Cornwall, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask them to commit to “vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022,” according to a statement Saturday.”Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m calling on my fellow G-7 leaders to join us to end this terrible pandemic and pledge we will never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again.”He may run into some pushback from his own country.New cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, have dropped dramatically since the United Kingdom began its vaccination campaign. Now nearly 68 million people have received at least one shot and nearly 27 million are fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. That’s 40% of the population.But cases of the Delta variant are on the rise and that could threaten the nation’s progress. As Britain opens up, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Reuters, a rise in cases is expected. The vaccine, he said, has broken the link between rising cases and rising deaths.“But it hasn’t been completely severed yet, and that’s one of the things that we’re watching very carefully,” he added.In China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, new restrictions took effect Saturday because of a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.A man is admitted at the COVID unit of the Moscoso Puello hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 2, 2021, as the country suffers a spike in the number of positive cases.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.The war-torn country reported nearly 7,500 new cases in the week ending Saturday, a record, according to Johns Hopkins, and 187 deaths, also a record. The official figures are no doubt an undercount because they include only those in hospitals, while most people who become sick stay home and die there, the AP said.Afghan health officials are blaming the Delta variant, first discovered in India, for its soaring infection rate. Travel to India is unrestricted and many students and those seeking medical care go there, according to the AP.While the government has tried to enforce mask wearing and social distancing, most Afghans resist.”Our people believe it is fake, especially in the countryside,” Dr. Zalmai Rishteen, administrator of the Afghan-Japan Hospital, the only hospital dedicated to COVID-19 patients, told the AP. “Or they are religious and believe God will save them.”About 626,000 Afghans have received one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, with about 145,000 fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Johns Hopkins reported Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million. 
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Analysts say there is increasing interest in determining whether the coronavirus leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, China, where the deadly virus was first detected in humans, as the U.S. intelligence community acts on President Joe Biden’s directive to “redouble” efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19.Michael Pillsbury, director for Chinese strategy at the conservative FILE – The P4 laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen behind a fence during the visit by the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Wuhan, China, Feb. 3, 2021.One of the Science letter signatories, David Relman, is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University medical school. He criticized the WHO report in a May 20 interview with the medical school newsletter.”The report dedicated only 4 of its 313 pages to the possibility of a laboratory scenario, much of it under a header entitled ‘conspiracy theories,'” he said. “Multiple statements by one of the investigators lambasted any discussion of a laboratory origin as the work of dark conspiracy theorists.”Relman continued to say, “Given all this, it’s tough to give this WHO report much credibility. … Fortunately, WHO’s director-general recognizes some of the shortcomings of the WHO effort and has called for a more robust investigation, as have the governments of the United States, 13 other countries and the European Union.”Then on May 26, The Wall Street Journal A security guard watches residents wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus line up to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the Central Business District in Beijing, June 2, 2021.He continued to say that intelligence services “have experts and scientists that can bring in a formal, systematic, unbiased assessment. Because, at the end of the day, it’s this intelligence assessment (that) is going to the president of the United States. The intelligence community has no incentive to manipulate the data or information that is out there.”Pillsbury, when suggesting an examination of satellite imagery, pointed to a study conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers who put forward that the coronavirus may already have been spreading in China as early as August 2019.The Harvard researchers based this on “satellite imagery of hospital parking lots and Baidu search queries of disease related terms. … We observe(d) an upward trend in hospital traffic and search volume beginning in late Summer and early Fall 2019. While queries of the respiratory symptom ‘cough’ show seasonal fluctuations coinciding with yearly influenza seasons, ‘diarrhea’ is a more COVID-19 specific symptom and only shows an association with the current epidemic. The increase of both signals precedes the documented start of the COVID-19 pandemic in December.” Baidu is the dominant internet search engine in China.Beijing has dismissed the Harvard study as “ridiculous.”Pillsbury said the more important questions for investigators to ask should focus on the possibility of a cover-up and on when China’s President Xi Jinping knew of the existence of the virus that eventually became known as COVID-19.Pillsbury also told VOA Mandarin that the U.S. government’s involvement in WIV should be investigated.From late 2017 to early 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing sent three teams of health and science diplomats to visit WIV, according to Politico. The diplomats suggested that Washington increase its funding to the WIV because of concerns over the lab’s lax safety standards. But the warning was ignored at the time, according to Politico and other media outlets.Referring to the 2017 and 2018 lab visits, Pillsbury said the new investigation into the origin of COVID-19 should be led by the scientists.Relman, when asked why it is important to understand the origins of COVID-19, told the Stanford newsletter, “Evidence favoring a natural spillover should prompt a wide variety of measures to minimize human contact with high-risk animal hosts. Evidence favoring a laboratory spillover should prompt intensified review and oversight of high-risk laboratory work and should strengthen efforts to improve laboratory safety. Both kinds of risk-mitigation efforts will be resource intensive, so it’s worth knowing which scenario is most likely.”
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President Joe Biden turned to his old boss, former President Barack Obama, on Saturday to help him encourage Americans to sign up for “Obamacare” health care coverage during an expanded special enrollment period in the pandemic.Biden used his weekly address for a brief Zoom chat with Obama to draw attention to the six-month expanded enrollment period that closes August 15.Meanwhile, the government released a report that nearly 31 million Americans — a record — now have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.”We did this together,” said Obama, whose administration established the health insurance marketplace. “We always talked about how, if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it.”The White House effort to spotlight the expanded enrollment and claim strong numbers for the health law came as the political world and the health care system await a Supreme Court ruling on the law’s constitutionality. The Zoom call was recorded Friday afternoon and released Saturday as Biden’s weekly address.The Health and Human Services Department said in a report that nearly 31 million had obtained coverage in 2021 as a result of the law. That’s considerably higher than the more than 20 million estimate that’s commonly cited.The Biden administration launched a special sign-up period during the pandemic, and Congress passed a big boost in subsidies for private health plans sold under the law. But that alone doesn’t explain the increased coverage.The numbersThe report says 11.3 million people are covered through the health law’s marketplaces, where subsidized private plans are offered. An additional 14.8 million are covered through expanded Medicaid, the report adds. All but a dozen states have accepted the law’s Medicaid expansion, which mainly serves low-income working adults. And 1 million are covered by so-called basic health plans, an option created by the law and offered in a limited number of states.That accounts for enrollment of about 27 million people. But the Biden administration is also claiming credit for 4 million people who would have been eligible for Medicaid without Obama’s law.Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the law broke down barriers to enrollment among those who were already eligible by simplifying applications and increasing awareness. He also pointed to the establishment of community-based navigators tasked with helping newly eligible people find coverage and conducting outreach to those who were already eligible but didn’t necessarily know it.”It didn’t require a sweeping law like the ACA to get people who were already eligible for Medicaid enrolled, but the provisions of the ACA did help to get these millions of people covered,” Levitt said.States’ challengeThe Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on a challenge to the health law from Texas and other GOP-led states. They argue that because Congress has eliminated the law’s penalty for being uninsured, a now-toothless ACA requirement that almost all Americans must have health insurance is unconstitutional and therefore the law should fail.Those defending the law say that even if the Supreme Court strikes down the coverage requirement, there’s no reason to tamper with the rest of the law.The White House says 1.2 million people have signed up for health insurance through the government marketplace during the special enrollment period that began in February. That number includes people who would have qualified for a sign-up opportunity even without Biden’s special enrollment period.A life change such as losing workplace coverage or getting married is considered a “qualifying life event” that allows people to sign up any time during the year. Last year about 390,000 people signed up because of life changes from February 15 to April 30, the government said.Biden, in the conversation with Obama, spoke about the 2015 death of his son Beau Biden from cancer.”I literally remember sitting on the bed with him within a week or so him passing away,” Biden said, “and thinking, ‘What in God’s name would I do if I got a notice from the insurance company saying you’ve outrun your coverage?’ ” 
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China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, on Saturday ordered more restrictions due to a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.Also, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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Chinese state media report that scientists are developing an inhalable, fine-mist COVID-19 vaccine. The Chinese Food and Drug Administration has approved the vaccine for expanded clinical trials and is applying for emergency use of the vaccine.Also in China, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastigir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines.  “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news Friday and said he will wait for clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization regarding how the vaccine should be administered. He said Britain should have enough supply of the vaccine to inoculate the nation’s adolescents.Meanwhile, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged parents of adolescents in the United States to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, following the release of a CDC report showing a spike in hospitalizations among 12- to 17-year-olds between January and April.The study indicated one-third of those hospitalizations were intensive care patients and 5% of those patients had to be put on ventilators. Walensky said the figures saddened her and show that even young patients can get seriously ill from the virus that causes COVID-19.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.  
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Regulators on Friday said a new version of a popular diabetes medicine could be sold as a weight-loss drug in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy, a higher-dose version of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug semaglutide, for long-term weight management.  In company-funded studies, participants taking Wegovy had average weight loss of 15%, about 34 pounds (15.3 kilograms). Participants lost weight steadily for 16 months before plateauing. In a comparison group getting dummy shots, the average weight loss was about 2.5%, or just under 6 pounds. “With existing drugs, you’re going to get maybe 5% to 10% weight reduction, sometimes not even that,” said Dr. Harold Bays, medical director of the Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center. Bays, who is also the Obesity Medicine Association’s chief science officer, helped run studies of the drug.  In the U.S., more than 100 million adults — about 1 in 3 — are obese. Dropping even 5% of one’s weight can bring health benefits, such as improved energy, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, but that amount often doesn’t satisfy patients who are focused on weight loss, Bays said. Bays said Wegovy appears far safer than earlier obesity drugs that “have gone down in flames” over safety problems. Wegovy’s most common side effects were gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Those usually subsided, but led about 5% of study participants to stop taking it. The drug carries a potential risk for a type of thyroid tumor, so it shouldn’t be taken by people with a personal or family history of certain thyroid and endocrine tumors. Wegovy also has a risk of depression and pancreas inflammation. Wegovy (pronounced wee-GOH’-vee) is a synthesized version of a gut hormone that curbs appetite. Patients inject it weekly under their skin. Like other weight-loss drugs, it’s to be used along with exercise, a healthy diet and other steps like keeping a food diary. The Danish company hasn’t disclosed Wegovy’s price but said it will be similar to the price of Saxenda, an 11-year-old weight loss drug injected daily that now typically costs more than $1,300 per month without insurance. Dr. Archana Sudhu, head of the diabetes program at Houston Methodist Hospital, said Wegovy’s usefulness “all depends on what the price will be.” She noted patients’ health insurance plans sometime don’t cover weight-loss treatments, putting expensive drugs out of reach. Sudhu, who has no connection to Novo Nordisk, plans to switch patients who are obese and have Type 2 diabetes to Wegovy. It makes patients feel full sooner and increases release of insulin from the pancreas to control blood sugar, she said. Patients would then be more likely to get motivated to exercise and eat healthier, she added. Wegovy builds on a trend in which makers of relatively new diabetes drugs test them to treat other conditions common in diabetics. For example, popular diabetes drugs Jardiance and Novo Nordisk’s Victoza now have approvals for reducing risk of heart attack, stroke and death in heart patients. Phylander Pannell, 49, of Largo, Maryland, joined a patient study after cycles of losing and then regaining weight. She said she received Wegovy, worked out several times a week and lost 65 pounds over 16 months.  “It helped curb my appetite and it helped me feel full faster,” said Pannell. “It got me on the right path.” Shortly after she finished the study and stopped receiving Wegovy, she regained about half the weight. She’s since lost much of that, started exercise classes and bought home exercise equipment. She’s considering going back on Wegovy after it’s approved. Novo Nordisk also is developing a pill version. 
 
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The United Nations is marking World Environment Day with the launch of a decade dedicated to restoring the Earth’s ecosystem, which is rapidly approaching “the point of no return,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday.“Science tells us these next 10 years are our final chance to avert a climate catastrophe, turn back the deadly tide of pollution and end species loss,” Guterres said in a video address, a day ahead of the international day intended to raise environmental awareness and protection.”So, let today be the start of a new decade – one in which we finally make peace with nature and secure a better future for all,” he said.Guterres said the world faces a “triple environmental emergency”: biodiversity loss, climate disruption and increasing pollution.“The degradation of the natural world is already undermining the well-being of 3.2 billion people – or 40% of humanity,” he warned.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 27 MB1080p | 59 MBOriginal | 57 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioEarth’s ecosystem is rapidly approaching “the point of no return,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says June 4, 2021, a day ahead of World Environment Day.The U.N. secretary-general blamed human behavior, including deforestation, the polluting of rivers and oceans, and unsustainable agriculture practices for contributing to the planet’s poor health.“Luckily, the Earth is resilient,” he said.To reverse the damage, he said, societies need to start replanting forests, cleaning up rivers and seas, and greening cities.“Accomplishing these things will not only safeguard the planet’s resources,” Guterres said. “It will create millions of new jobs by 2030, generate returns of over $7 trillion every year and help eliminate poverty and hunger.”He acknowledged that the job ahead would be  “monumental” and called on governments, the private sector, civil society and ordinary citizens to do their share in this “global call to action.”Without action, he said, environmental degradation will undermine progress in development and threaten the health and safety of future generations.In a new report, the U.N. Environment Program says the global population is using about 1.6 times what nature can sustainably provide, which means conservation is not adequate to prevent ecosystem degradation.The report says if action is taken now, humans will benefit from cleaner air and water, as well as better health, and contribute to the slowing of climate change.
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