Cuba Embargo Health Care DA
1NC
Easing the embargo will collapse Cuba’s health care model
Garrett, 10 – senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist (Lincoln, “Castrocare in Crisis: Will Lifting the Embargo on Cuba Make Things Worse?”,
Foreign Policy, July-August 2010, http://www.ihavenet.com/Latin-America-Cuba-Castrocare-in-CrisisLG.html)//EX
According to Steven Ullmann of the University of Miami's Cuba Transition Project, if Washington lifts its
embargo, Cuba can expect a mass exodus of health-care workers and then the creation of a domestic
health system with two tiers, one private and one public. The system's lower, public tier would be at risk
of complete collapse. Ullmann therefore suggests "fostering this [public] system through partnerships
and enhanced compensation of personnel." He also argues that officials in both governments should
"limit out-migration of scientific brainpower from the country." Properly handled, the transition could
leave Cuba with a mixed health-care economy -- part public, part locally owned and private, and part
outsourced and private -- that could compensate Cuban physicians, nurses, and other health-care
workers enough to keep them in the country and working at least part time in the public sector.
The only U.S. policy currently in place, however, encourages Cuban physicians to immigrate to the
United States. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created a special parole program
under which health-care workers who defect from Cuba are granted legal residence in the United States
while they prepare for U.S. medical licensing examinations. An estimated 2,000 physicians have taken
advantage of the program. Although few have managed to gain accreditation as U.S. doctors, largely due
to their poor English-language skills and the stark differences between Cuban and U.S. medical training,
many now work as nurses in Florida hospitals.
The Castro government, meanwhile, is in a seemingly untenable position. The two greatest
achievements of the Cuban Revolution -- 100 percent literacy and quality universal health care -- depend
on huge streams of government spending. If Washington does eventually start to normalize relations,
plugging just a few holes in the embargo wall would require vast additional spending by the Cuban
government. The government would have to pay higher salaries to teachers, doctors, nurses, and
technicians; strengthen the country's deteriorating infrastructure; and improve working conditions for
common workers. To bolster its health-care infrastructure and create incentives for Cuban doctors to
stay in the system, Cuba will have to find external support from donors, such as the United Nations and
the U.S. Agency for International Development. But few sources will support Havana with funding as
long as the regime restricts the travel of its citizens.
In the long run, Cuba will need to develop a taxable economic base to generate government revenues -which would mean inviting foreign investment and generating serious employment opportunities. The
onus is on the Castro government to demonstrate how the regime could adapt to the easing or lifting of
the U.S. embargo. Certainly, Cuban leaders already know that their health triumphs would be at risk.
The United States, too, has tough responsibilities. How the U.S. government handles its side of the postembargo transition will have profound ramifications for the people of Cuba. The United States could
allow the marketplace to dictate events, resulting in thousands of talented professionals leaving Cuba
and dozens of U.S. companies building a vast offshore for-profit empire of medical centers along Cuba's
beaches. But it could and should temper the market's forces by enacting regulations and creating
incentives that would bring a rational balance to the situation.
For clues about what might constitute a reasonable approach that could benefit all parties, including the
U.S. medical industry, Washington should study the 2003 Commonwealth Code of Practice for the
International Recruitment of Health Workers. The health ministers of the Commonwealth of Nations
forged this agreement after the revelation that the United Kingdom's National Health Service had hired
third-party recruiters to lure to the country hundreds of doctors and nurses from poor African, Asian,
and Caribbean countries of the Commonwealth, including those ravaged by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
In some cases, the recruiters managed to persuade as many as 300 health-care workers to leave every
day. Although the agreement is imperfect, it has reduced abuses and compensated those countries
whose personnel were poached.
Cuba's five decades of public achievement in the health-care sector have resulted in a unique cradle-tograve community-based approach to preventing illness, disease, and death. No other socialist society
has ever equaled Cuba in improving the health of its people. Moreover, Cuba has exported health care
to poor nations the world over. In its purest form, Cuba offers an inspiring, standard-setting vision of
government responsibility for the health of its people. It would be a shame if the normalization of
relations between the United States and Cuba killed that vision.
Current Cuban health care effective model for elimination of disease
Cooper et al, 6 - Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University Stritch School
of Medicine (Richard S., Joan F Kennelly, and Pedro Orduñez-Garcia, “Health in Cuba,” International
Journal of Epidemiology, http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/4/817.full)//SY
Two aspects of the Cuban experience serve as reasonable demonstrations of the value of that strategic
approach. In the area of infectious disease, for example, the operative principles are particularly
straightforward: once a safe and effective vaccine becomes available the entire at-risk population is
immunized; if a vaccine is not available, the susceptible population is screened and treated; where an
arthropod vector can be identified, the transmission pathway is disrupted by mobilizing the local
community which in turn requires effective neighbourhood organization and universal primary health
care. The joint effect of these strategic activities will result in the elimination or control of virtually all
serious epidemic infectious conditions . In terms of child survival, a ‘continuum of care’ that provides
for the pre-conceptional health of women, prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, and a comprehensive
well-baby programme can quickly reduce infant mortality to levels approaching the biological minimum.
Many observers will regard these propositions as reasonable, yet hopelessly too ambitious for the
poorer nations of the world. It must be recognized, however, that these principles have been
successfully implemented in Cuba at a cost well within the reach of most middle-income countries.
Infectious diseases cause extinction – threat higher than ever
Platt, 10 – Science journalist, Scientific American (John R., “Humans are more at risk from diseases as
biodiversity disappears,” Scientific American, 12/7, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinctioncountdown/2010/12/07/humans-are-more-at-risk-from-diseases-as-biodiversity-disappears/)//SY
Well, according to new research published December 2 in Nature, the answer is yes—healthy
biodiversity is essential to human health. As species disappear, infectious diseases rise in humans and
throughout the animal kingdom, so extinctions directly affect our health and chances for survival as a
species. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)
"Biodiversity loss tends to increase pathogen transmission across a wide range of infectious disease
systems," the study’s first author, Bard College ecologist Felicia Keesing, said in a prepared statement.
These pathogens can include viruses, bacteria and fungi. And humans are not the only ones at risk: all
manner of other animal and plant species could be affected.
The rise in diseases and other pathogens seems to occur when so-called "buffer" species disappear. Coauthor Richard Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies points to the growing number of cases
of Lyme disease in humans as an example of how this happens. Opossum populations in the U.S. are
down due to the fragmentation of their forest habitats. The marsupials make poor hosts for the
pathogen that causes Lyme disease; they can also better defend themselves from the black-legged ticks
that carry the affliction to humans than can white-footed mice, which, on the other hand, are thriving in
the altered habitat—and along with them disease-carrying ticks. "The mice increase numbers of both
the black-legged tick vector and the pathogen that causes Lyme disease," Ostfeld said.
1NC Biotech Scenario
US embargo key to preserving innovation of Cuban biotechnology industry
Cárdenas, 9 – Bachelors in Economics, University of Havana and Masters in Economics, University of
Leipzig (Andrés, “The Cuban Biotechnology Industry: Innovation and universal health care,” Institute for
Institutional and Innovations Economics, University of Bremen, November,
http://www.theairnet.org/files/research/cardenas/andrescardenas_cubab_biotech_paper_2009.pdf)//SY
Indeed, the development of the Cuban biotechnology industry is the result of very particular
circumstances . In order to attenuate the hardships imposed by the US embargo29 on Cuba over the
last five decades, the Cuban government, based on its previous health and education achievements,
committed, from the beginning of the 80s, to create an industry which could produce the greatest
possible number of biomedical applications at a domestic level. This became even more relevant after
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the real existing socialist world in the 90s. In fact, as stated by a
2004 study in Nature Biotechnology, “the economic conditions called for more exploitation of domestic
capabilities, because the country simply lacked the resources to import solutions”. As the country had
already developed some capability in the health biotechnology (see below Cuban biotechnology: A
short story), the field was viewed as a chance the country could use to maintain a healthy population
and diversify exports.
However, innovative investments, especially in biotechnology, are very uncertain and require long-term
commitment from financial institutions. This allows the capabilities resulting from collective learning to
develop over time, despite the intrinsic uncertainty which the innovation process entails (Lazonick
2006). Moreover, it guarantees the allocation of funds to sustain the cumulative innovation process
until it generates financial returns. Between 1990 and 1996, a critical period of biotech development,
the government invested around US$1 billion to give rise to what is currently known as the Western
Havana Biocluster, which comprises around 52 institutions30. The whole complex includes hospitals,
R&D institutions, manufacturing plants, universities, regulatory agencies and other specialised facilities
(labs that house more than 10 000 of workers, of which more than 3 000 are scientists and engineers31
. The strategic core of the industry is formed by a small group of institutions, which have been designed
to cover the entire value chain of a product (see below Closed Cycle).
Cuban biotechnology industry crucial model for other developing nations
Scheye, 11 – President, Scheye Group Ltd. Global Advisory Service (Elaine, “CUBAN HEALTHCARE AND
BIOTECHNOLOGY: REFORM, A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW OR JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED?”
Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy,
http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume21/pdfs/scheye.pdf)//SY
While Cuba’s health care system continues to erode, Cuba’s biotechnology sector remains a bright light
on an otherwise bleak economic horizon. Biotechnology is the second most significant source of
commodity exports behind nickel. While it is difficult to determine the retail value of products in USD, it
has been estimated that the value of biotechnology products will increase from $711 million in 2011 to
an estimated $1,044 million in 2016 (Vincente). Cuba’s biotechnology sector has been described by
international experts as “the envy of the developing world” (Thorsteindóttir et al. 19–24). It is a
favored child of the State and continues to be the recipient of priority funding (Cuba provided funding to
support its biotechnology sector even during the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet
Union). Similarly, Cuba nurtures its investment in human capital—scientists—working in this sector,
providing them with housing in modern apartment buildings, bus service to and from their homes, etc.
Biotechnology, especially in developing countries, key to preventing bioterrorism
Collins, 6 – Press officer (Terry, “Experts: Expanding biotechnology research in developing countries key
to countering bioterrorism,” University of Toronto Joint Center for Bioethics, 2/26,
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/uotj-eeb022006.php)//SY
Experts at the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health warn that global efforts to combat
bioterrorism are on a potential collision course with legitimate biotechnology pursuits that hold the
promise of improving life for millions of the world's poorest people.
In a report released Feb. 27, DNA for Peace: Reconciling Biodevelopment and Biosecurity,* the CPGGH,
part of the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB), calls for a global network of scientists
to both promote biotechnology research to fight disease, hunger and poverty, especially in the
developing world, and to keep vigil against the misuse of biological science.
The report, online at www.utoronto.ca/jcb/home/news_bioterrorism.htm, calls on world leaders at the
G8 meeting in July 2006 to establish a global network to help resolve potential conflicts between
bioterrorism control and biotechnology development.
"The need to foster bioscience for development, and the pursuit of biosecurity are in a delicate
balance," says study co-author Peter A. Singer, MD. "Our report says: lead with biodevelopment, and
biosecurity will follow. Lead with biosecurity, and we may end up with neither. It recommends
industrialized countries invest in scientific facilities and personnel abroad, to gain legitimacy to also
ensure that those facilities, and bioscience facilities more generally, take appropriate precautions
against science misuse.
The CPGGH report says investing in and fostering biotechnology development internationally – building
the capacity to discover new vaccines or drugs to combat HIV-AIDS and malaria, for example, to reduce
pollution or improve crop yields – will create the environment and conditions within which to fight
bioterrorism, especially in the developing world, by building the network of experts needed to spot
attempts to misuse the science. According to Dr. Singer, the proposed international network strategy is
akin to asking public transit riders or airport travelers to be alert to and report suspicious activities.
Bioterrorism is comparatively the most probable scenario for extinction
Matheny, 7 – Research associate, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University (Jason G., “Reducing
the Risk of Human Extinction,” Risk Analysis, Volume 27, Number 5,
http://www.upmchealthsecurity.org/website/resources/publications/2007/2007-10-15reducingrisk.html)//SY
We already invest in some extinction countermeasures. NASA spends $4 million per year monitoring
near-Earth asteroids and comets (Leary, 2007) and there has been some research on how to deflect
these objects using existing technologies (Gritzner & Kahle, 2004; NASA, 2007). $1.7 billion is spent
researching climate change and there are many strategies to reduce carbon emissions (Posner, 2004, p.
181). There are policies to reduce nuclear threats, such as the Non- Proliferation Treaty and the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as well as efforts to secure expertise by employing former nuclear
scientists.
Of current extinction risks, the most severe may be bioterrorism. The knowledge needed to engineer a
virus is modest compared to that needed to build a nuclear weapon; the necessary equipment and
materials are increasingly accessible and because biological agents are self-replicating, a weapon can
have an exponential effect on a population (Warrick, 2006; Williams, 2006).5 Current U.S. biodefense
efforts are funded at $5 billion per year to develop and stockpile new drugs and vaccines, monitor
biological agents and emerging diseases, and strengthen the capacities of local health systems to
respond to pandemics (Lam, Franco, & Shuler, 2006).
Links
2NC Link
Lifting the embargo would undermine health care in Cuba – causes massive brain
drain
Garrett, 10 – senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist (Lincoln, “Castrocare in Crisis: Will Lifting the Embargo on Cuba Make Things Worse?”,
Foreign Policy, July-August 2010, http://www.ihavenet.com/Latin-America-Cuba-Castrocare-in-CrisisLG.html)//EX
Overlooked in these dreamy discussions of lifestyle improvements, however, is that Cuba’s health-care
industry will likely be radically affected by any serious easing in trade and travel restrictions between the
United States and Cuba. If policymakers on both sides of the Florida Straits do not take great care, the
tiny Caribbean nation could swiftly be robbed of its greatest triumph . First, its public health network
could be devastated by an exodus of thousands of well-trained Cuban physicians and nurses. Second,
for-profit U.S. companies could transform the remaining health-care system into a prime destination for
medical tourism from abroad. The very strategies that the Cuban government has employed to develop
its system into a major success story have rendered it ripe for the plucking by the U.S. medical industry
and by foreigners eager for affordable, elective surgeries in a sunny climate. In short, although the U.S.
embargo strains Cuba’s health-care system and its overall economy, it may be the better of two bad
options.
Lifting the embargo causes medical tourism – overtaxes the Cuban health care system
and encourages Cuban brain drain
Garrett, 10 – senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist (Lincoln, “Castrocare in Crisis: Will Lifting the Embargo on Cuba Make Things Worse?”,
Foreign Policy, July-August 2010, http://www.ihavenet.com/Latin-America-Cuba-Castrocare-in-CrisisLG.html)//EX
But a lot may change if the United States alters its policies toward Cuba. In 2009, a group of 30
physicians from Florida toured Cira García and concluded that once the U.S. embargo is lifted, the facility
will be overwhelmed by its foreign patients. It takes little imagination to envision chains of private
clinics, located near five-star hotels and beach resorts, catering to the elective needs of North Americans
and Europeans. Such a trend might bode well for Canadians seeking to avoid queues in Ottawa for hip
replacements or for U.S. health insurance companies looking to cut costs on cataract surgery and
pacemakers. But providing health care to wealthy foreigners would drain physicians, technicians, and
nurses from Cuba's public system.
And any such brain drain within Cuba might be dwarfed by a brain drain out into the rest of the world,
as Cuban doctors and nurses leave the country to seek incomes that cannot be matched at home.
Countries facing gross deficits in skilled medical talent are already scrambling to lure doctors, nurses, lab
technicians, dentists, pharmacists, and health administrators from other nations. In 2006, the WHO
estimated that the global deficit of medical professionals was roughly 4.3 million, and the figure can only
have grown since then. As the world's population ages and average life expectancies rise from the
United States to China, millions more patients will need complex, labor-intensive medical attention. And
in countries with falling life expectancies and high rates of HIV/AIDS, donor resources aimed at
combating the disease often have the unintended consequence of further straining meager supplies of
human medical resources by drawing talent away from less well-funded areas of medicine, such as basic
children's health care.
Economic embargo creates environment for strong biotechnology sector and health
care system within Cuba
Camion and Morrissey, 13 – MD and Senior Deputy Editor, New England Journal of Medicine AND PhD
and Managing Editor, New England Journal of Medicine (Edward W. and Stephen, “A Different Model –
Medical Care in Cuba,” New England Journal of Medicine, 1/24,
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1215226)//SY
As a result of the strict economic embargo , Cuba has developed its own pharmaceutical industry and
now not only manufactures most of the medications in its basic pharmacopeia, but also fuels an export
industry. Resources have been invested in developing biotechnology expertise to become competitive
with advanced countries. There are Cuban academic medical journals in all the major specialties, and
the medical leadership is strongly encouraging research, publication, and stronger ties to medicine in
other Latin American countries. Cuba's medical faculties, of which there are now 22, remain steadily
focused on primary care, with family medicine required as the first residency for all physicians, even
though Cuba now has more than twice as many physicians per capita as the United States.4 Many of
those physicians work outside the country, volunteering for two or more years of service, for which they
receive special compensation. In 2008, there were 37,000 Cuban health care providers working in 70
countries around the world.5 Most are in needy areas where their work is part of Cuban foreign aid,
but some are in more developed areas where their work brings financial benefit to the Cuban
government (e.g., oil subsidies from Venezuela).
Isolation from US embargo key to self-sufficiency and innovation in Cuban healthcare
and biotechnology sectors
Spiegel and Yassi, 4 – Director, Global Health Research Program and Professor, Liu Institute for Global
Issues & School for Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia AND Professor, School
of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (Jerry M. and Annalee, “Lessons from the
Margins of Globalization: Appreciating the Cuban Health Paradox,” Journal of Public Health Policy,
Volume 25, Number 1, pp.85-100,
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3343449.pdf?acceptTC=true)//SY
Resourcefulness and invention: Because Cuba has, and continues to suffer from, severe supply
shortages, it has developed a self-reliance approach . It relied, for example, on its own biotechnology
capacity to develop new vaccines, such as to prevent meningitis. Innovation in healthcare practice has
been driven by necessity. When U S-made medicines were rendered unavailable by the trade
embargo, Cuba had limited alternatives. Operations, for example, were performed using acupuncture
when anaesthetic gases were in short supply (75). Traditional and alternate treatments have been
melded into the provision of care. Virtually every medical facility now has an adjunct alternative clinic.
Pharmacies, too, dispense a combination of conventional and alternative treatments. Children learn
the uses of medicinal plants in elementary school (75).
Research, under Cuban policies, consumes a large share of resources. The Commission for Health
Research and Development, operating under the auspices of the WHO, recommends that low- and
middle-income countries" allocate at least two percent of national health expenditures and five percent
of externally funded programs to research and capacity-strengthening"(7 6). In I998, only Brazil and
Cuba came close to the two-percent goal for investment in health research (76).
Empirics prove – isolation key to sustaining successful healthcare system in Cuba
Spiegel and Yassi, 4 – Director, Global Health Research Program and Professor, Liu Institute for Global
Issues & School for Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia AND Professor, School
of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (Jerry M. and Annalee, “Lessons from the
Margins of Globalization: Appreciating the Cuban Health Paradox,” Journal of Public Health Policy,
Volume 25, Number 1, pp.85-100,
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3343449.pdf?acceptTC=true)//SY
While historical factors explain why Cuba was able to assert its independent course, the enduring lesson
is still that the policies have produced impressive health results. Similar lessons have been observed
elsewhere. Where independence from prevailing ideology survived, for example, in Kerala, India,
policies favoring equity have also produced impressive health outcomes( 9I). Empirical evidence of
positive outcomes may demonstrate the merits of policies, but the challenge remains to sustain them in
the face of strong neo-liberal pressures in an increasingly globalized world. Countries such as Vietnam,
for example, charting their own course toward increased global integration, have been confronting
serious challenges to maintaining equitable access to health services and improved non-medical health
determinant(s9 2).
The challenges being faced by Cuba are similar to what is faced by any other country negotiating its
future within a globalized world economy. Countries adopting poverty reduction strategies to replace
structural adjustment measures all face comparable pressures among competing objectives. While part
of Cuba's achievements may have been made feasible by the geo-political realities of the Cold War that
led to considerable external support, it nevertheless did choose to concentrate its capital accumulation
in human capital. It created the health systems required to produce and sustain its health achievements.
In that sense, it has provided what has been called "the threat of a good example" (93) to a world
dominated by a TINA mentality.
Cuba’s isolated healthcare system key to state sovereignty for implementing economic
reforms
Spiegel and Yassi, 4 – Director, Global Health Research Program and Professor, Liu Institute for Global
Issues & School for Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia AND Professor, School
of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (Jerry M. and Annalee, “Lessons from the
Margins of Globalization: Appreciating the Cuban Health Paradox,” Journal of Public Health Policy,
Volume 25, Number 1, pp.85-100,
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3343449.pdf?acceptTC=true)//SY
To survive in a global economy, isolated by the US, Cuba has embarked on a series of fundamental
reforms and is pursuing a much greater integration with the global economy and an increased openness to other forces of globalization (cultural, ideological, technological, demographic, etc.). Reforms
include greater openness to foreign investment and to tourism with its associated cultural influences
and movements of people. The US dollar has become an increasingly rec-ognized currency on the island.
These forces at the same time facili-tate growth and economic activity while threatening to undermine
forces that have emphasized equity and related values (90).
Nowhere is this contrast associated with Cuba’s new approaches to stimulating economic growth seen
more sharply than in basic services, such as healthcare. Income earned in national currency is dwarfed
by those formally or informally working in the tourism sector, with access to US dollars. Those earning
national currency, and receiving benefits of subsidized necessities such as food and housing, find themselves unable to pay for goods that increasingly require dollars. How Cuba adapts to these challenges
that bring greater inequalities will be fundamental to minimizing negative effects to retaining a capac-ity
to mitigate them. What seems clear to us is that Cuba’s capacity to manage this change will depend on
its capacity to exert sovereignty in developing and implementing policies that promote health.
US embargo key to stimulating strong health system in Cuba to cope with social
consequences
De Vos et al., 10 – Researcher, Public Health Department, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerpen,
(Paul, Pedro Ordunez-García, Moisés Santos-Pena, and Patrick Van der Stuyft, “Public hospital
management in times of crisis: Lessons learned fromCienfuegos, Cuba (1996–2008),” Health Policy,
Volume 96, pp.64-71, http://ac.els-cdn.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/S0168851010000102/1-s2.0S0168851010000102-main.pdf?_tid=e1c931ea-e7fd-11e2-907b00000aab0f26&acdnat=1373309017_500199d2d7e780f391b4bf35da07c452)//SY
Cuba is a noteworthy exception. Cuba, a small and singular nation in the LAC-region, was extremely hit
by the breakdown of the Soviet Union, which led to a sudden reduction of the country’s foreign trade by
almost 80% and a fall in gross national product (GNP) of 34% between 1989 and 1993. The United States
reinforced the now almost 50-year economic blockade, deepening the suffering of the Cuban people [8].
Nevertheless, Cuba is well known to have been able to limit the social and health consequences of this
dramatic period, with the health system playing a pivotal role[9,10]. At international level Cuba remains
one of the notable exceptions of maintaining an exclusive public health system with a strong community
oriented health services network and a well developed and quite effective primary care[11]. Ample
bibliography exists by now on Cuba’s public health strategy of answering this crisis by the further
development of its first line health services through full coverage of the population by family doctors
and nurses, ensuring direct accessibility, free services and integrated care [12,13].
Less known – but definitely also important – is the Cuban experience in public hospital management.
During the 1990s also the Cuban hospitals came under strain, and – not unlike the rest of society – had
serious difficulties to cope with their function. The experience of the main public hospital of Cienfuegos
provides interesting elements on how public services – embedded in a well developed national public
health system – can cope with such socioeconomic constraints.
Changes to Cuba’s economic system would destroy their successful health care model
Radford University, No Date – (“THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CUBAN HEALTH CARE AND VALUE SYSTEM:
TWO SYSTEMS, ONE IDEOLOGY,” http://www.radford.edu/~junnever/law/cuba.htm)
The Cuban health care system has developed immensely. At the time of the revolution, the socialists
started with run-down hospitals, poverty and disease stricken citizens, a severe shortage of physicians,
and a nation and its people recovering from a long struggle with oppression. From creative ideas rose a
new nation. Step-by-step the communities picked up the broken pieces and with collaborative effort,
they have successfully put them together. The new Cubans developed their own Constitution with their
own ideals. They transformed demolished facilities into the innovative hospitals that people from
around the world come to receive treatment. They have built themselves research facilities that make
worldwide medical contributions. The Cuban’s have replaced the profit-oriented physicians with bright
new doctors, both male and female, that do not let the distraction of wealth interfere with the delivery
of service to their patients. There is no competition among them, they work cooperatively to achieve
the same purpose. The Cubans have transformed a nation that benefited only the wealthy few into a
country that reaches out to all: young or old, rural or urban, leader or peasant. They have reinvented the
concept of health care, and have stood as an example to many countries, even to some that are
wealthier than Cuba. The Cubans have ultimately brought "first world care to a third world country"
(Hemmes, 1994:53).
This transformation would never have been completed without the ideology the new socialist people
created for the benefits of all its citizens. The Cubans have recognized the intrinsic value of every
individual, and have made it their priority over the pleasures of wealth. Cubans do not pay for their
health care, they help each other achieve it because health is everyone’s human and constitutional
right. Human health has no affiliation in Cuba with the concept of riches. Significance is put instead on
the person regardless of their status. By taking money out of health care, they have put health care back
to where it should have initially stayed: the person. Cuba has the potential for advancing further than
any capitalist community. A nation of healthy people united for the same effort will leave the greedy
individuals fighting amongst themselves in the dust.
2NC AT: No Modeling
Cuba health care system developed under US embargo serves as an effective model
for other nations
Camion and Morrissey, 13 – MD and Senior Deputy Editor, New England Journal of Medicine AND PhD
and Managing Editor, New England Journal of Medicine (Edward W. and Stephen, “A Different Model –
Medical Care in Cuba,” New England Journal of Medicine, 1/24,
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1215226)//SY
Any visitor can see that Cuba remains far from a developed country in basic infrastructure such as
roads, housing, plumbing, and sanitation. Nonetheless, Cubans are beginning to face the same health
problems the developed world faces, with increasing rates of coronary disease and obesity and an aging
population (11.7% of Cubans are now 65 years of age or older). Their unusual health care system
addresses those problems in ways that grew out of Cuba's peculiar political and economic history ,
but the system they have created — with a physician for everyone, an early focus on prevention, and
clear attention to community health — may inform progress in other countries as well.
Cuban healthcare system is ideal – looked to as model by other countries
Feinsilver, 9 – Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oberlin College (Julie M., “Cuba’s
Medical Diplomacy,” A Changing Cuba in a Changing World, pp.274-275,
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/bildnercenter/publications/documents/ChangingCubaChangingWorld.pdf#page=285)//SY
A third factor, and one that facilitated the achievement of developed country health indicators, is the
establishment of a free, universal health care system that is widely respected in international health
circles. It is even considered a model primary care based system that embodies the ideals and
principles of the World Health Organization’s Health for All declaration (Alma Ata, 1977).3 Although the
Cuban model is far from per-fect and there have always been certain deficiencies and shortages, its
focus is on disease prevention and health promotion. Moreover, it has contributed to the production of
good results. A fourth factor without which the conduct of medical diplomacy would be impossible is the
overproduction of medical personnel, particularly doctors specifically for export. This was not just the
creation of the sheer volume of doctors, but also it was a change in the type of practitioner. About
twenty-five years ago medical education was changed to create specialists in Comprehensive General
Medicine, a kind of specialized family doctor. These were precisely the type of physicians that could be
sent out to the hinterlands of far-flung developing countries and work without all of the high-tech
paraphernalia developed countries’ doctors require.
Uniqueness
AT: Brain Drain now
Doctors travel now for medical diplomacy but most come back because their families
are trapped in Cuba – and Cuba cuts off medical diplomacy if defections occur now
Garrett, 10 – senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist (Lincoln, “Castrocare in Crisis: Will Lifting the Embargo on Cuba Make Things Worse?”,
Foreign Policy, July-August 2010, http://www.ihavenet.com/Latin-America-Cuba-Castrocare-in-CrisisLG.html)//EX
Cuba's doctors are increasingly strained. Physicians return from years abroad because they must, both
contractually and to avoid repercussions for their relatives in Cuba. They then must accept whatever
assignments the government gives them, including sometimes years of service in a remote village, a
Havana slum, or a sparsely populated tobacco-growing area. Many doctors and nurses leave the healthcare system altogether, taking jobs as taxi drivers or in hotels, where they can earn CUCs. In February
2010, seven Cuban doctors sued the Cuban and Venezuelan governments, charging that the mandatory
service they had performed in Venezuela in exchange for oil shipments to the Cuban government
constituted "modern slavery" and "conditions of servilism for debt." Large numbers of defections among
doctors, meanwhile, have caused the Cuban regime to cut back on physician placements to some
countries, such as South Africa.
AT: Cuba health care failing now
Cuba’s health care and biotech industry very successful despite US embargo
Nature, 9 (“Cuba’s biotech boom,” 1/7, Volume 457
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7226/full/457130a.html)//SY
For a week after Cuba marked the 50th anniversary of its revolution on 1 January, a celebratory 'Caravan
of Liberty' carried 50 people, including many university students and scientists, along the triumphal
route that Fidel Castro had taken half a century earlier. These people represented the health-care and
educational systems of which Cubans are proud, however much they bemoan their other privations
behind closed doors. And in no small measure the scientists in the caravan symbolize the foundation of
that health-care system in the developing world's most established biotechnology industry, which has
grown rapidly even though it eschewed the venture-capital funding model that rich countries consider a
prerequisite.
This growth in biotech has been a top-down affair, like most of the changes in Castro's Cuba. At the
president's personal instigation, the island nation's half-dozen university centres from before the
revolution expanded to at least 35 in the decades that followed. But the growth also owes a great deal
to individual researchers' desire to make a contribution. Ask a Cuban scientist why he or she works long
hours to earn little more than the US$20-per-month average wage, and the answer is often that they
want to make sick people better, with the kudos of having done so. The venture-capital model's promise
of riches is nice, it seems, but not essential.
But despite many constraints on interaction between Cuban and US scientists, biotech has prospered in
the nation. In 1980, with a scientifically literate workforce at hand and the biotech boom ready to take
off, Castro's interest in the fledgling industry was sparked by a meeting with Randolph Lee Clark, the
former president of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Castro accordingly sent six
scientists to a lab in Finland to learn how to make interferon from white blood cells. The knowledge
gleaned from this project has been ploughed into an industry that developed the first vaccine against
meningitis B in 1985, and subsequently a vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type B — the world's
first human vaccine to contain a synthetic antigen.
The embargo catalyzed a mini-health revolution
Cassimally, 13 – Honors Degree in Bachelor of Science degree in Monash University (Khalil, “The Only
Positive Effect Of The Cuban Embargo? Weight Loss”, Scitable, 4/19/13,
http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/labcoat-life/the_only_positive_effect_of)//EX
Despite all the atrocity and machiavellianism that trail economic embargoes, science has somehow
found a way to profit from the Cuban "special period." Thanks to the impressive Cuban healthcare
system which diligently collected health data even during the "special period," Manuel Franco, at the
University of Alcalá in Spain and colleagues from US and Cuban institutions, were able to analyse some
of the health indicators of the time. What they found underlines the atrocity of the embargo on the
Cuban people but does come with a surprising silver lining which they report in a paper published last
week by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The shortage of food caused by the embargo led to a population-wide weight loss of about 5.5 kg. The
food shortage was a direct result of Cuba's inability to import anything. Physical activity was another
important contributing factor to the weight loss. The Cuban government somehow got its hands on
more than one million bicycles for the population. During the "special period," Cubans were forced to
walk or cycle, sometimes for kilometres, as public transport was saddled due to the virtual nonexistence
of petrol.
Interestingly, the weight loss matched with declines in cases of diabetes and heart diseases. Essentially,
the embargo spurred a mini health revolution. As the authors state in the paper: "so far, no country or
regional population has successfully reduced the distribution of body mass index or reduced the
prevalence of obesity through public health campaigns or targeted treatment programmes." Where
campaigns and targeted programmes failed, the embargo succeeded.
But it gets more interesting. After 1995, the Cuban economy started to pick up again and has risen
steadily since—especially post-2000. Coupled to this steady economic rise was a resurgence of obesity,
and with it diabetes and heart diseases. The resurgence was predominantly due to an increased energy
intake from food and drinks consumed since physical activity only marginally decreased. Energy intake
reached pre-crisis levels by 2002 and obesity rates had tripled that of 1995 by 2011.
What the embargo tells us is that even meagre loss of weight throughout a population, if sustained, can
lead to a decline in non-transmissible diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases. How to achieve such
sustained decline without having an embargo imposed however is another question. The usual
strategies put forward include sensitisation through education and policy changes to promote physical
activity, taxes on unhealthy food, etcetera.
The Cuban model has substantially improved health outcomes – working now
Franco, 13 – Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, University of
Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA, Department of Epidemiology, Atherothrombosis and
Cardiovascular Imaging, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Madrid, Spain (Manuel,
“Population-wide weight loss and regain in relation to diabetes burden and cardiovascular mortality in
Cuba 1980-2010: repeated cross sectional surveys and ecological comparison of secular trends”, British
Medical Journal, 4/9/13, http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1515#aff-2)//EX
Marked and rapid reductions in mortality from diabetes and coronary heart disease were observed in
Cuba after the profound economic crisis of the early 1990s.8 These trends were associated with the
declining capacity of the Cuban economy to assure food and mass transportation in the aftermath of the
dissolution of the former Soviet Union and the tightening of the US embargo. Severe shortages of food
and gas resulted in a widespread decline in dietary energy intake and increase in energy expenditure
(mainly through walking and cycling as alternatives to mechanised transportation).
The largest effect of this economic crisis occurred over a period of about five years (1991-95, the so
called “special period”), resulting in an average weight loss of 4-5 kg across the adult population.8 This
economic crisis was not a full disruption of previous routines of daily life, but was actually characterised
by its slow process of economic decline. During these years, the whole population continued to meet
responsibilities in relation to work, school, and other social aspects, and the Ministry of Public Health
maintained its regular surveillance system activities.9 10
Since then, the Cuban economy has shown a modest but constant recovery, especially after the year
2000.11 12 In fact, surveys have shown that the prevalence of obesity has now exceeded pre-crisis
levels.13 The table⇓ shows basic sociodemographic and economic information on Cuba before, during,
and after the economic crisis.
To advance the prevention of non-communicable diseases, population-wide data remain crucial.
Comparing disease rates over time, in relation to changes in risk factor levels in the population, indicates
the extent to which disease can be prevented and what the most important risk factors are at the
population level.14 The population preventive approach articulated by Geoffrey Rose in his seminal
paper,15 is of importance when preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases, particularly
cardiovascular diseases. The current study exemplifies a unique situation where population-wide body
weight changed considerably, as a result of the combined and sustained effect of reduced energy intake
and elevated physical activity. This scenario allowed us to assess its effect on diabetes and
cardiovascular disease.16
From its lowest point in the mid-1990s, average daily intake of energy per capita increased
monotonically, reaching pre-crisis levels in 2002 and levelling off in 2005 (fig 1⇓). On the other hand,
physical activity had a slight downward trend after the mid-1990s, remaining stable from 2001, with
more than half of the population being physically active. Although 80% of the population was classified
as active in surveys conducted during the special period in 1991-95, this proportion fell steadily in the
last decade, and is currently at 55% (fig 1). These population-wide changes in energy intake and physical
activity were accompanied by large changes in body weight over this entire interval (figs 2⇓ and 3⇓).
Smoking prevalence (fig 1) slowly decreased during the 1980s and 1990s (42% in 1984, 37% in 1995),
before declining more rapidly in the 2000s (32% in 2001, 24% in 2010). The number of cigarettes
consumed per capita decreased during and shortly after the crisis. In 1990, 1934 cigarettes per capita
were consumed (fig 1). This number changed to 1572, 1196, and 1449 cigarettes per capita in 1993,
1997, and 1999, respectively. Cigarette consumption has since remained stable.
Figure 2 depicts the distribution of body mass index from the Cienfuegos surveys of 1991, 1995, 2001,
and 2010 with kernel density plots of each year’s measurements. During the special period of 1991-95,
there was a weight loss of 5.5 kg across the entire range of body mass index (that is, not only among
obese people), with a mean reduction in body mass index of 1.5 units. After a period of economic
recovery and stability, an increase in body mass index of 2.6 units was observed from 1995 to 2010;
weight regain also occurred across the entire population, irrespective of body mass index. These
distribution shifts in body mass index were consistent across surveys. The proportion of the population
in the normal weight category decreased from 56.4% at the end of the special period in 1995 to 42.1% in
2010. At the same time, proportions in the overweight and obesity categories increased by 19.4%, from
33.5% in 1995 to 52.9% in 2010 (web appendix 3).
Diabetes trends
Diabetes prevalence and incidence
Joinpoint regression analyses showed two different phases of diabetes prevalence (fig 3). The first phase
had a slow and stable increase from 1980 (1.5 per 100 people) to 1997 (1.9 per 100 people), a total
increase of 26.6% (2.9% per year). In the second phase, diabetes prevalence increased from 1.9 per 100
people in 1997 to 4.1 per 100 people in 2009 and 2010, a total increase of 115.8% (6.3% per year).
Incidence of diabetes fluctuated widely (fig 3). For the decade before the crisis, incidence was stable,
between 1980 (1.5 per 1000 people) and 1989 (1.8 per 1000 people). The only data point in the middle
of the economic crisis showed a decrease in diabetes incidence, falling to 1.2 per 1000 people in 1992.
For the years immediately after the crisis, incidence was lower than pre-crisis levels (1 per 1000 people
in 1996 and 1997 v 1.4 per 1000 people in 1999). Sharp increases were observed from 2000 onwards,
peaking in 2002 (2.2 per 1000 people) and 2009 (2.4 per 1000 people). Thus, overall diabetes incidence
decreased by 53% from its peak in the pre-crisis years (1986) to its lowest point after the crisis (1996 and
1997). Subsequently, incidence rose by 140% from 1996 to 2009.
Diabetes mortality
Joinpoint regression analysis of diabetes mortality showed four different phases (fig 3). The first phase,
from 1980 to 1989 (pre-crisis years), was characterised by an increase of 60% (5.9% per year). The
second phase from 1990 to 1996 overlapped with the special period in 1991-95, during which diabetes
mortality stabilised (0.7% decrease per year). However, from 1996 to 2002, we recorded a decrease in
diabetes mortality of 50% (13.95% per year). Finally, from 2002 onwards, mortality rose by 49% (3.31%
per year; from 9.3 deaths per 10 000 people in 2002 to 13.9 deaths per 10 000 people in 2010),
returning to pre-crisis rates.
Mortality trends
Coronary disease mortality
Mortality from coronary heart disease evolved in three phases (fig 4⇓). From 1980 to 1996, mortality fell
consistently (reduction of 8.8%, 0.5% per year). After the crisis in 1996-2002, mortality decreased
sharply by 34.4% (6.5% per year). After 2002, the rate of decline slowed to 7.4% (1.4% per year), similar
to pre-crisis rates.
Stroke mortality
Mortality from stroke mirrored the pattern of mortality from coronary heart disease, with a modest
decrease of 6.9% lasting from 1980 to 2000 (0.4% per year) and a sharp fall between 2000 and 2004 of
13.6% (5.3% per year). From 2004 to 2010, mortality fell by 1.3% (0.01% per year, similar to pre-crisis
rates).
Cancer mortality
Cancer mortality followed a distinctly different pattern to that observed in coronary heart disease,
stroke, and diabetes, with two distinct phases (fig 4). From 1980 to 1996, a slight decrease of 2.4% in
cancer mortality was observed (0.1% per year), which reverted to a slight increase of 5.4% in 1996-2010
(0.5% per year).
All cause mortality
Mortality from all causes, as expected, was highly influenced by trends in coronary heart disease and
stroke, showing three different phases (data not shown). A prolonged decrease in mortality of 1.7%
from 1980 to 1996 (0.1% per year) was followed a sharp decline of 10.5% from 1996 to 2002 (2.9% per
year). From 2002 to 2010, there has been a modest decrease of 2% (0.7% per year).
Discussion
During the deepest period of the economic crisis in Cuba, lasting from 1991 to 1995, food was scarce
and access to gas was greatly reduced, virtually eliminating motorised transport and causing the
industrial and agricultural sectors to shift to manual intensive labour. This combination of food
shortages and unavoidable increases in physical activity put the entire population in a negative energy
balance, resulting in a population-wide weight loss of 4-5 kg.8 The decline in food availability was
associated with a neuropathy outbreak in the adult population in 1993.24 25 The Cuban economy
started recovering in 1996 with a sustained growth phase from 2000 onwards. Since 1996, physical
activity has slightly declined. By 2002, energy intake had increased above pre-crisis levels.
As a result of the above trends, by 2011, the Cuban population has regained enough weight to almost
triple the obesity rates of 1995. This U shaped, population-wide pattern in body weight is historically
unique because of several factors: the initial weight loss occurred in a population that had been well
nourished previously, lasted for five years, and affected people at all initial levels of body mass index.
Diabetes trends could have been substantially influenced by these population-wide changes in body
weight. Diabetes prevalence surged from 1997 onwards, as weight started to rebound. Diabetes
incidence decreased during the crisis, reaching its lowest point in 1996. The largest economic recovery
saw diabetes incidence peaking in 2004 and 2009.
Five years after the start of the economic crisis in 1996, an abrupt downward trend was observed in
mortality from diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all causes. This period lasted an additional
six years, during which energy intake status gradually recovered and physical activity levels were
progressively reduced; in 2002, mortality rates returned to the pre-crisis pattern. A particularly dramatic
shift in diabetes mortality was observed: from 2002 to 2010, the annual increase in diabetes mortality
was similar to that before the crisis. Moreover, declining rates of coronary heart disease and stroke
slowed to annual decreasing rates similar to those before the crisis.
Cuba model successful
Cuban health care is key to its medical diplomacy
Groll, 13 – Undergraduate degree from Harvard University (Elias, “Cuba's greatest export? Medical
diplomacy”, Foreign Policy, 5/7/13,
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/07/cuba_doctors_brazil_export_medical_diplomacy)//EX
What can an impoverished island nation -- one isolated by the United States and lacking natural
resources of its own -- do to secure its influence in the world and earn hard currency? In Cuba's case, the
answer lies in its medical corps.
On Monday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota announced that his country is in negotiations to
hire some 6,000 Cuban doctors to come work in rural areas of Brazil. The plan highlights what has
become a cornerstone of Cuban foreign policy and its export economy. Since the Cuban revolution in
1959, the country has aggressively exported its doctors around the world -- sometimes for humanitarian
reasons, sometimes for cash -- and has garnered a reputation as a provider of health care to the world's
neediest countries.
Shortly after the revolution, for instance, Fidel Castro sent physicians to Algeria as a sign of socialist
solidarity and to Chile in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. Since then, Cuba has sent at least
185,000 health workers to more than 100 different countries, according to the New York Times.
But what began as a strategy for exporting revolution has in more recent years turned into a means of
ensuring the government's survival. Cuba's largest medical mission is currently in Venezuela, which
sends Havana 90,000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for 30,000 Cuban physicians. It's an elegant quid
pro quo that secures legitimacy for the Venezuelan government and keeps the Cuban economy afloat.
We hear a lot about Cuban cigars, but tobacco is far from Cuba's most important export. In 2006, 28
percent, or $2.3 billion, of Cuba's total export earnings came from medical services, according to a study
by Julie Feinsilver. As a rough measure of comparison, Cuba's cigar exports totaled $215 million in 2011.
Key to global health care
Jack, 10 (Andrew, Financial Times, “Cuba’s Medical Diplomacy,” 5/15,
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/debaad0c-5d6e-11df-8373-00144feab49a.html#axzz2Y11PLNfp)
Such “medical diplomacy” has been part of Cuba’s foreign policy almost since the revolution – and has
grown in intensity over the past few years, fuelled above all by strong demand from Venezuela. In some
of the most remote and neglected parts of the world, where western countries have “brain drained”
away most of the medical expertise, Cuban personnel are winning friends while helping to fill a
desperate need. In the past half century, some 130,000 have worked abroad, and today, 37,000 – half of
them doctors, the rest nurses and other specialists – are spread across more than 70 countries. Now
Elam is training many more from these nations too.
The Cuba model is working now – other countries train doctors in Cuba
Jack, 10 – Financial Times pharmaceuticals correspondent (Andrew, “Cuba’s medical diplomacy”,
Financial Times, 5/15/10, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/debaad0c-5d6e-11df-837300144feab49a.html#axzz2Xux5hwEU)//EX
When word reached Juan Carrizo that Hurricane Katrina had struck New -Orleans on August 29 2005, he
reacted with military precision. From his office in a former Cuban naval base just west of Havana, while
Washington um-ed and ah-ed over its own response, he began mobilising specialists to assist the
thousands of Americans affected by the disaster.
Cuba itself had been scarred by Katrina, but Carrizo’s focus at the former Granma Naval Academy – a
concrete campus on a balmy, palm--lined beach – was the other side of the Gulf of Mexico, as he helped
to --co-­ordinate an unprecedented humanitarian mission to his country’s giant neighbour and arch
political rival. Within three days, Carrizo, dean of the Latin American Medical School (Elam), had
assembled 1,100 doctors, nurses and technicians, and 24 tonnes of medicine, all ready to fly to
-Louisiana. They were dubbed the Henry Reeve Contingent, in honour of a New York-born Cuban hero
who fought against the Spanish in the 19th century.
Fidel Castro, still president of Cuba at the time, said in a speech he made later that month: “Our country
was closest to the area hit by the hurricane and was in the position to send over human and material aid
in a matter of hours. It was as if a big American cruise ship with thousands of passengers aboard were
sinking in waters close to our coast. We could not remain indifferent.”
But the US didn’t respond to the offer of assistance. It didn’t even acknowledge it. “We prepared more
than 1,500 doctors with all the necessary knowledge, equipment and supplies, who were ready to start
work as soon as we entered the country,” recalls Carrizo, shaking his head. “The US government didn’t
accept them, and many people died who could have been saved. That was a sad day for medicine, and
for American society.”
Since 1998, when Hurricanes Georges and Mitch devastated the -Caribbean and Castro resolved to train
one doctor for every person killed by the storms, Carrizo had been set to work establishing Elam, the
Latin American Medical School. It has since trained more than 33,000 students from 76 countries, who
then return home to practise, largely among poor patients. This year, for the first time, some of its
foreign graduates formally joined Cuban medical specialists on Henry Reeve Brigade missions to Haiti
and Chile, following the most recent earthquakes.
Such “medical diplomacy” has been part of Cuba’s foreign policy almost since the revolution – and has
grown in intensity over the past few years, fuelled above all by strong demand from Venezuela. In some
of the most remote and neglected parts of the world, where western countries have “brain drained”
away most of the medical expertise, Cuban personnel are winning friends while helping to fill a
desperate need. In the past half century, some 130,000 have worked abroad, and today, 37,000 – half of
them doctors, the rest nurses and other specialists – are spread across more than 70 countries. Now
Elam is training many more from these nations too.
Havana’s approach irritates many, including doctors in other countries who feel undermined by rivals
parachuted in to provide free services, and western nations whose health systems are very differently
structured. At home, Cuban doctors face modest pay and limited choices, tempting them to volunteer
overseas despite regrets about abandoning their own communities and concerns over intimidation
while abroad. Some have even defected, although Cuba’s tough emigration controls ­seriously weaken
the impact of the brain drain that prompts so many of their low-paid peers in other countries to pack
their bags. Medical diplomacy is a potent form of “soft power” – but one with a hard edge.
...
A short walk from Havana’s historic Plaza de Armas, Dr Jose Anido Gusman sits in a two-room office
awaiting patients, a fan easing the afternoon heat. On the wall, one poster describes several herbal
medicines and their uses; another urges safer sex. Most strikingly, a chart at the rear lists relevant
statistics for everyone in his neighbourhood: 3,390 residents in total; 1,191 at risk; 619 smokers; 321
sedentary. “We visit every family at least once a year in their home,” says Anido Gusman, two years out
of ­medical school. “That includes the healthy ones.”
This is not new: it has been going on almost since Castro seized power. But it has intensified sharply in
recent years as medical staff – whether Cuban or Cuba-trained – set about recreating this same model in
their host countries. “The doctor is like a member of the family,” says Dr Maria Fernandez Oliva, director
of the nearby Thomas Romay polyclinic. From her office, decorated with posters of Fidel Castro, his
brother Raúl (who became the country’s ­president in 2008) and Che Guevara, she oversees Gusman’s
clinic and dozens of others across the district. She also manages the specialists in her own larger centre,
a maze of rooms with rudimentary equipment ­colonising an old mansion block. “Doctors know patients
socially, politically, religiously,” she says. “They understand the biological, psychological and social
aspects of illness. The key to the ­system is prevention. We solve 90 per cent of the population’s
problems here. If we can’t fix a problem within a few hours, we send them to hospital.”
The approach is labour-intensive, although less costly than it would be elsewhere because doctors’
salaries average just $25 a month, -forcing many to moonlight to make ends meet. Coupled with an
exhaustive programme of vaccinations and broader efforts to tackle poverty, the system has led to
sharp reductions in the rates of infectious diseases that remain significant killers in other parts of the
Caribbean. The result has been to extend lives and create a pattern of illness and death very similar to
that in the west. As Cubans joke, they live like the poor but die like the rich. “We are more worried
about chronic diseases: obesity, hypertension, diabetes. Just look at me,” says Fernandez Oliva,
gesturing towards a body squeezed with difficulty into her white coat.
...
Not everyone accepts the figures supporting Cuba’s strong health performance, and critics of the regime
argue that Castro’s revolution set back a country that was already reporting progress in tackling disease.
But the statistics of the 1950s were also partial, taking little account of the extremes of poverty and illhealth found in rural areas. The improvements over the half-century since came through centralisation
and aggressive politics, implemented in the teeth of the disruption triggered by Castro’s overthrow of
the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, the economic restrictions imposed by the US embargo and the
evaporation of financial -support from the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991.
Cuba’s medical history might appear an esoteric footnote, but it remains central to the leadership’s
contemporary political rhetoric, a symbol of pride and a tool in its international and domestic affairs. In
the Havana convention centre last November, four rows of VIP seats quickly filled with senior
representatives of the capital’s embassies. They had come for the closing session of the Global Forum
for Health Research, a meeting of academics, funders and policymakers, to hear José Miyar Barrueco,
Cuba’s minister for science, technology and environment. “One of the tasks of the leadership of the
revolution was training health personnel,” he began. “Half the doctors left. I don’t have to tell you
where to.”
Health has played a big role in the politics of many countries, but rarely more so than in Cuba. In
Havana’s Museum of the Revolution, the former Presidential Palace, exhibition panels laud Antonio
Guiteras Holmes, the US-born founder of the 1920s Revolutionary Union movement; he studied
pharmacology in Cuba. Extracts from Castro’s famous 1953 “history will absolve me” speech proclaim:
“The state is most helpful – in providing early death for the people … Society is moved to compassion
when it hears of the kidnapping or murder of one child, but it is indifferent to the mass murder of so
many thousands of children who die every year from lack of facilities, agonising with pain.”
An entire room in the museum is devoted to the world’s most famous “medical guerrilla”, Che Guevara,
who studied as a doctor in Argentina before becoming a revolutionary in Cuba. He and his companions
looked after not only their fellow fighters but also the local peasants with whom they forged links as
they prepared to overthrow the government. They attempted to repeat the exercise elsewhere,
including in Bolivia, where Guevara met his death in 1967. His “revolutionary medicine”, urging a new
generation of poor Cuban students to train as doctors and return to rural areas to fight disease, helped
directly to save many lives.
After the revolution, inspired by the state-controlled, centralised Soviet system, the new leaders
established a network of polyclinics emphasising preventive care across the country. They also began
providing allies with medical help alongside military support. In 1963, Cuba went to the aid of Ben
Bella’s regime in Algeria, sending 58 doctors and nurses to accompany soldiers in border skirmishes with
Morocco, and bringing the injured back to Cuba for free treatment. Two years later, Guevara joined local
insurgents trying to overthrow Moise Tshombe in Zaire, and while there helped launch one of Africa’s
first mass immunisation campaigns.
More than a dozen missions followed in subsequent years, from Angola to Zimbabwe. The medical
support was often more successful and enduring than the military assistance. It forged long-term links
with Havana, which more recently has conducted clinical trials and supplied medicines to the continent
as its own fledgling pharmaceutical industry grows.
Cuba’s tough border screening for HIV, introduced in the mid-1980s, also provided an early warning
system to its foreign allies. In autumn 1986, Castro pulled Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to one
side at a -conference of non-aligned nations to warn him that 18 of the 60 top -Ugandan officers sent to
Cuba for training had tested positive for HIV, suggesting the epidemic would kill more of his people than
conflict. The alert kickstarted one of Africa’s earliest and most aggressive Aids ­prevention programmes.
...
Dr Mayda Guerra Chang appears firmly rooted in her community clinic in western Havana, but like many
of her colleagues, her most formative experiences took place abroad. In 1990, just after graduating, she
was one of 300 Cubans to travel to Zambia, many assigned to tiny villages to help build the health
system under President Kenneth Kaunda. “I wanted to go to Africa because of the conditions: you never
face health problems like that here,” she says. “The local doctors had quit to go into the private sector
or to other countries. The hospital I worked in had a good building, but it was empty of staff and there
was not much equipment. There were no syringes and very few drugs. You had to do your best and
pray.”
Her experience was typical of Cuban medical solidarity after the initial revolutionary era. As Africa’s
health systems crumbled through decolonisation, underfunding, poor management and the emigration
of tens of thousands of local doctors and nurses to Europe, Australia and North America, Cubans helped
to fill the growing void. The fiercest clashes Guerra Chang faced were not military but ideological –
cheap Cuban -specialists were viewed suspiciously by local doctors who were often -practising privately
or agitating for higher public-sector wages. She recalls the irritation of Zambians striking for pay rises.
“They said the Cubans were strike-breakers, and we were not helping them. I understood, but when you
are working on the health of people you prefer not to strike.”
Such resentment towards Cuban doctors abroad is particularly vocal in Latin America, where Havana has
co-ordinated a growing number of medical secondments over the past few years, capitalising on the
proximity, common language and growing political solidarity of the region. Local medical associations
have complained that their counterparts lack the -requisite skills and fail to co-ordinate with their
members’ activities. They also see the Cubans as a threat to their own jobs.
Dr Israel Nolasco Cruzata laughs off such criticism. Now practising back in Havana, he spent three
months in Honduras, and then five years in Venezuela, which has become the largest single destination
for Cuban medical staff – up to 30,000 are currently employed there. “Cuban doctors go to the worst
places, where there are the worst problems,” he says, ­stroking his pencil moustache. “I worked with
people who had never seen a doctor, and I came back a better person. Local doctors looked at patients
just for money. We are taught that you are first of all the friend of the patient. Health is not just
something for us. We know about it and want to give it to the rest of the world. If I am asked to go
again, I will.”
There is a more direct incentive for the Cuban doctors to work abroad, too. They earn up to 10 times
their local salary, and have the prospect of better housing and jobs on their return. Most of their money
is held in escrow until they come back, and they are expected to visit once a year. Their families usually
have to stay in Cuba. Yet, in spite of the penalties, several thousand Cuban medics have defected over
the years, complaining about repressive supervision, being treated with suspicion while on a posting, or
being put under pressure to speak out as political advocates. For most, however, fleeing is not an
option.
Meanwhile, medical services are one of Cuba’s most important sources of foreign currency. Most
nations provide a modest return: the host government pays for travel, accommodation and a stipend of
up to $200 a month per doctor. Richer countries – from Angola after it found oil in the 1960s, to South
Africa under the ANC – -contribute more. Cuba has even begun offering medical support for commercial
fees in countries such as Qatar. And no partner is more important than Venezuela. The secondments
enabled President Hugo Chávez to point to a rapid rise in the numbers of medical specialists when
seeking to justify his social revolution. The financial terms are -confidential, but the quid pro quo
includes heavily subsidised oil supplies to Cuba. As Fidel Castro once put it: “We provide doctors to
­Venezuela on a humanitarian basis, and Venezuela provides us with oil on a ­humanitarian basis.” But
some Cubans complain that foreign assignments have stretched doctors at home too thinly between
poorly equipped clinics.
John Kirk, a Canadian-based academic, concedes that money and -diplomatic influence are among the
benefits of the programme to the country. But his recent book, Cuban Medical Internationalism,
concludes that the motives are far more complex. “Fidel Castro [was] just obsessed with public health,”
he says. “There’s a very different approach to the liberal western model – a belief that Cuba needs to
share its wealth. As the saying goes, Cubans either don’t quite reach their goals or – as with the -doctors
– they go way over the top.”
...
In December 2008, in the final days of the Bush presidency, health secretary Michael Leavitt gave a
speech at the Centre for Strategic and International -Studies in Washington, DC. His theme was the
challenges for global health, but one of his main targets was not malaria, Aids or cancer, but Cuba.
“Health is a legitimiser of governments and of ideologies,” he said. “Health also legitimises revolutionary
socialists. Fidel Castro has very little hard power on that small island of Cuba, but he has become a
master at the use of health diplomacy to create soft power.
“The doctors become trusted members of the community and they become quite influential political
organisers among the poor and the -disadvantaged. They have stature ... They become politically active.
They feed the discontent and then they’re given a small salary and Castro even makes some money on
the deal. It’s actually a very clever strategy. I suggest to you that it’s not a good thing for the United
States to have central American governments dependent upon Cuba… Healthcare is a litmus test for
these governments on whether they are legitimate and whether they are effective. Using healthcare to
discredit democracy and the ideologies of liberty is a tactic that is right out of the insurrectionist’s
handbook.”
He was not alone in his views. In 2001, the US and other countries -dismissed a Cuban offer to staff an
ambitious international programme to treat HIV, in exchange for funding and supplies of drugs. In 2006,
Washington launched an accelerated asylum programme for Cuban doctors, encouraging them to defect
while serving abroad. At least 2,000 have. While Barack Obama has made more positive remarks about
Cuba’s health diplomacy, the US embargo and asylum system remain in place.
However, Elam has set up a shorter-term migration programme in the opposite direction, bringing
thousands of foreigners into Cuba to train as doctors. Because it does not charge its students, it has
bypassed the long-standing US embargo and attracted some applicants from the least expected places.
Damian Suarez, who grew up in New Jersey, is one example. He says he preferred to study medicine in
Cuba rather than follow in the footsteps of his brother, who is serving in the US army in Afghanistan.
“We get to study on the beach, go to school and save lives,” he says.
Ian Fabian, a lanky, bearded student from New York also studying at Elam, agrees: “This is a project for
the world. The US is a nation without universal access to healthcare although it spends twice as much
per head on health as most other countries. I heard about Fidel’s speech in Harlem, [in which] he talked
about third-world conditions in a first-world country.”
Fabian grew up in the poor Hispanic neighbourhood of Washington Heights in New York, and says he
would never have been able to fund his way through US medical school. He now plans to fulfil his dream
of working as a doctor in a public hospital in his home neighbourhood. “Here [in Cuba] they train you,
pay your expenses and don’t even ask you for a promise with a handshake in return. They hope your
ethics as a professional mean you will go back to serve your community.”
Epidemics impact
2NC Epidemics IL
Cuban healthcare system best at solving epidemics – critical example for other
nations’ disease control
Cooper et al., 6 – Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University Stritch
School of Medicine (Richard S., Joan F Kennelly, and Pedro Orduñez-Garcia, “Health in Cuba,”
International Journal of Epidemiology, http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/4/817.full)//SY
The combination of high levels of community participation, access to primary care and an aggressive
public health approach has made the Cuban campaign against epidemic infectious diseases particularly
successful.58–60 A number of common illnesses have been eliminated altogether, often for the first
time in any country [poliomyelitis (1962), neonatal tetanus (1972), diphtheria (1979), measles (1993),
pertussis (1994), rubella and mumps (1995)]. In 1962, against the advice of external health officials,
‘vaccination days’ were established with the goal of reaching the entire population. When this method
quickly proved to be effective in eliminating polio it was subsequently adopted elsewhere as the primary
strategy.58 After dengue was introduced in 1981 Cuba adopted a campaign of community mobilization,
focusing on elimination of mosquito breeding sites, which lead to prompt control.20,58,59
International attention for infectious disease control in Cuba has focused primarily on
HIV/AIDS.10,20,61–63 Among 300 000 military personnel returning from Africa in the 1980s 84 were
found to be infected with the virus [Ref. (20), p. 85]. A nation-wide screening programme which began
in 1987 reached 80% of the sexually active population (∼3.5 million people) and identified 268 HIVpositive individuals.20 In the initial phases, the Cuban HIV/AIDS strategy provoked controversy, some of
which was negative.20,64 While assessing the public health impact of this unknown epidemic, persons
infected with HIV were quarantined in health facilities where they received supplemental nutrition and
available medical care.20,61,62 Treatment is now provided in the outpatient setting; domestically
produced triple therapy has been provided free to all paediatric patients since 1998 and to adults with
HIV or AIDS since 2000.62 With the rapid increase in foreign tourists, and the development of a local sex
trade, the HIV incidence has risen in the past 5 years, although it remains the lowest in the Americas.23
Increased integration into the global economy may continue to pose challenges which Cuban public
health has not previously had to address.
2NC Epidemics Impact
Epidemics will cause extinction – most probable scenario – action now is key
Gordon, 8 – BA in Engineering, MBA, CEO of Early Warning, Inc. (Neil, “Biohazards are the greatest
threat to humankind,” Early Warning, http://www.earlywarninginc.com/biohazards.php)//SY
Biohazard outbreaks from pathogens and infectious diseases occur every day in the U.S. and throughout
the world from Avian Influenza virus, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis viruses, Norovirus (Norwalk virus), Salmonella
bacteria, Mycobacterim tuberculosis bacteria, Vibrio cholerae bacteria (cholera), MRSA superbugs,
Plasmodium parasites (malaria) and hundreds of other microorganisms. Bacteria, viruses and parasites
are responsible for the bulk of the 18.4 million deaths worldwide from communicable diseases in 2004
estimated by the World Health Organization plus additional deaths from non-communicable diseases
and cancers. Pathogens currently infects billions of people and trends indicate a rising number of
pathogen deaths and infections from population growth in developing countries, urbanization, poor
sanitation, broken water infrastructure, reduced food safety, globalization, international travel, extreme
weather, and the rising costs of new drugs, vaccines and antibiotics. Many of these deaths are
premature and preventable. The key to preventing major outbreaks is frequent and comprehensive
testing for each suspected pathogen, as most occurrences of pathogens are not detected until after
people get sick or die. With advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and
wireless technology, new generations of low cost biosensors and early warning systems will provide a
front line of defense against the transmission of deadly pathogens. It is easy to recognize the biggest
threat to humankind. Just count the dead, the dying, environmental damage, and economic costs.
Epidemics threat higher than ever with rising populations and industrialization
Gordon, 8 – BA in Engineering, MBA, CEO of Early Warning, Inc. (Neil, “Biohazards are the greatest
threat to humankind,” Early Warning, http://www.earlywarninginc.com/biohazards.php)//SY
The following trends indicate that the biohazard problem has not yet reached its peaked. The world’s
population is the highest in history and still increasing. United Nations’ statistics reveal that the world’s
population had increased by 5 billion people during the twentieth century from 1 billion to 6 billion
people [33]. As the population increases so does the number of sick and vulnerable people who are least
able to fight off pathogens. Developing countries currently make up 80% of world’s population [33].
With the world’s fastest growing population in Africa and slow or negative growth in industrialized
nations, more people will be living with improper sanitation, unsanitized water, inadequate food, and a
lack of basic medicines. This will further increase biohazard morbidity and mortality. Population in
urban areas is rising at the rate of 1 million people per week [33]. When people live in close proximity,
pathogens can more quickly spread as was experienced during plagues and epidemics. Increased city
populations put added stress on water mains with a greater water demand for drinking and industrial
water, and a greater output of sewage water from human and industrial waste. An increased demand on
urban hospitals puts more people at risk of infections and disease. A greater use of antibiotics and drugs
to control pathogens is also creating new families of multiple drug-resistant microbes. Urbanization also
requires land and forests to be cleared to make way for more housing. Microorganisms living in the
forests are forced to enter populated areas. A greater demand for food and biofuels that are produced
from crops also increases the demand for water, as well as greater output of fertilizer and animal feces
into the water supply. Mass production of food leads to lower food safety and high risk practices. These
include grinding up dead animal parts to feed live animals and introduce unnatural organisms to the
food supply as in the case of Mad Cow disease. When food is imported from vicinities with lower safety
standards little can be done to prevent animals from being infected with biohazards when sewage water
is used to increase their weight. Organic foods which are not produced with herbicides or pesticides that
can kill dangerous microorganisms also increase the risk of pathogens to people. Extreme weather
appears increasingly more frequently. This can overwhelm a water network and bring pathogens past
safeguards. Hot climate diseases such as cholera, malaria and yellow fever are increasingly appearing in
milder regions where there is a higher population. More people in the world increase the potential for
sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and unprotected sex with multiple partners. While HIV/AIDS is the
most deadly sexually transmitted disease and most common in Africa, it is not the only STD. In March
2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 26% of American girls between 14 and
19 have at least one sexually transmitted disease [34]. Globalization including international trade and
travel is accelerating the transmission of pathogens. This is especially the case for trade between
industrialized nations such as North America and Europe and developing nations such as China and India
where contact is made between previously unexposed people and food products. The World Health
Organization estimated 2.1 billion airline passengers travel each year [35]. Airline passengers are as risk
of pathogen exposure. For example, airplanes typically fill galley water from local countries sources
which can bring pathogens into airplane water and ice. In May 2007 an Air France passenger exposed
other passengers with extensively multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. There are virtually no procedures
preventing pathogens to be transmitted from travelers, illegal immigrants or people displaced from war
or natural disasters. Increased trade also means more transportation of biohazards to testing labs and
research centers with a greater chance of the pathogen being improperly handled and people being
exposed. So where do we go from here? Billions of people throughout the world are at increasing risk of
contracting hundreds of different pathogens from the water, food, air, surfaces, people, animals and
insects. Not only do pathogens accumulate in human bodies, unlike chemical toxins pathogens are living
organisms and once inside a person pathogens reproduce and increase their potency as they grow in
numbers to infect and potentially kill its hosts.
Infectious disease causes extinction – empirically proven for animal species
MacPhee and Greenwood, 13 – Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History AND LeibnizInstitute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Department of Wildlife Diseases (Ross D. E. and Alex D.,
“Infectious Disease, Endangerment, and Extinction,” International Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 1/4
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijeb/2013/571939/)//SY
Infectious disease, especially virulent infectious disease, is commonly regarded as a cause of fluctuation
or decline in biological populations. However, it is not generally considered as a primary factor in
causing the actual endangerment or extinction of species. We review here the known historical
examples in which disease has, or has been assumed to have had, a major deleterious impact on animal
species, including extinction, and highlight some recent cases in which disease is the chief suspect in
causing the outright endangerment of particular species. We conclude that the role of disease in
historical extinctions at the population or species level may have been underestimated. Recent
methodological breakthroughs may lead to a better understanding of the past and present roles of
infectious disease in influencing population fitness and other parameters.
Epidemics result in human extinction – empirically proven for mammal-species
Keim, 8 – Associate Editor and Journalist, Wired Science (Brandon, “Disease Can Cause Extinction of
Mammals,” 11/8, http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/yes-disease-can/)//SY
Disease can drive a mammal species to extinction: this doesn’t seem surprising, but until today it hadn’t
been proven. And now that it has, members of our own mammalian species might understandably feel
uneasy. The extinction in question took place a century ago on Christmas Island, an uninhabited Indian
Ocean atoll to which a merchant ship inadvertently carried flea-ridden black rats. Within a decade, both
of the island’s native rat species were extinct. Scientists have argued whether the native rats were
outcompeted by the newcomers, or fell victim to diseases carried by the fleas. According to DNA
analysis of remaining native rat specimens, infection was widespread within the population after
contact, and nonexistent before — suggesting that disease caused the die-off. Resolving this argument
has implications for another debate, over the hypothesis that disease can be so lethal and contagious as
to drive a mammal species extinct. This had been observed in snails and amphibians, but not in
mammals. The authors of the study, published today in Public Library of Science ONE, hope
conservationists will take heed: accidentally-introduced pathogens could wipe out endangered species.
But to me, the findings also have human implications. Some would say that the rats were vulnerable
because they lived on an island; but the Earth is an island, too.
2NC AIDS IL
Cuban healthcare comparatively most successful at combatting AIDS
McNeil, 12 – Science and Health Journalist, New York Times (Donald G., Jr., “A Regime’s Tight Grip on
AIDS,” New York Times, 5/ 7, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/health/a-regimes-tight-grip-lessonsfrom-cuba-in-aids-control.html?pagewanted=all)//SY
Ms. García is alive thanks partly to lucky genes, and partly to the intensity with which Cuba has attacked
its AIDS epidemic. Whatever debate may linger about the government’s harsh early tactics — until 1993,
everyone who tested positive for H.I.V. was forced into quarantine — there is no question that they
succeeded. Cuba now has one of the world’s smallest epidemics , a mere 14,038 cases. Its infection rate
is 0.1 percent, on par with Finland, Singapore and Kazakhstan. That is one-sixth the rate of the United
States, one-twentieth of nearby Haiti. The population of Cuba is only slightly larger than that of New
York City. In the three decades of the global AIDS epidemic, 78,763 New Yorkers have died of AIDS. Only
2,364 Cubans have. Other elements have contributed to Cuba’s success: It has free universal basic
health care; it has stunningly high rates of H.I.V. testing; it saturates its population with free condoms,
concentrating on high-risk groups like prostitutes; it gives its teenagers graphic safe-sex education; it
rigorously traces the sexual contacts of each person who tests positive. By contrast, the response in the
United States — which records 50,000 new infections every year — seems feeble. Millions of poor
people never see a doctor. Testing is voluntary, and many patients do not return for their results. Sex
education is so politicized that many schools teach nothing about protected sex; condoms are
expensive, and distribution of free ones is haphazard.
Using Cuba as a model key to solving AIDS
Gorry, 8 – Senior Editor, MEDICC Review: The International Journal of Cuban Health & Medicine
(Conner, “Cuba’s HIV/AIDS Program: Controversy, Care and Cultural Shift,” MEDICC Review, Fall, Volume
10, Number 4)
Cuba’s experience with HIV/AIDS sets an example for achieving positive outcomes under adverse
economic conditions. Key to these outcomes is the synergy between the free, universal health care
system and a well-coordinated national HIV/AIDS strategy that emphasizes education, prevention,
treatment and dignified care. The Cuban strategy has also proved flexible in response to changes in
cultural attitudes and behavior.
2NC AIDS Impact
AIDS leads to extinction – Botswana proves
La Guardia, 2k – Defense and Security Correspondent, The Economist (Anton, “African president warns
of extinction from Aids,” Telegraph, July 10,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/botswana/1347791/Africanpresident-warns-of-extinction-from-Aids.html
THE president of Botswana issued a warning yesterday that his country faced catastrophe because of
the relentless spread of Aids through Africa. President Festus Mogae said: "We really are in a national
crisis. We are threatened with extinction. People are dying in chillingly high numbers. We are losing the
best of young people. It is a crisis of the first magnitude." As thousands of health workers and activists
gathered in Durban, South Africa, last night for the world's 13th conference on Aids, figures showed that
the disease is threatening to devastate the most economically active populations in many countries.
Scientists say that the scale of the plague is comparable to the Black Death in Europe in the 14th
century.
Biotech Impacts
2NC Biotech IL
Cuban healthcare system effective international model for biotech development
Cochetti, 12 – Healthcare and Pharma analyst, IHS (Chiara, “Cuba’s Advances in Biotech: A Developing
Country with a Highly Developed Biotech Sector,” IHS Healthcare and Pharma Blog, 9/ 18,
http://healthcare.blogs.ihs.com/2012/09/18/cubas-advances-in-biotech-a-developing-country-with-ahighly-developed-biotech-sector/)//SY
A Highly Developed Biotechnology System for a Developing Country
Biotechnology in Cuba emerged at the beginning of the 1980s to meet internal demand for chronic
disease drugs, with the creation of the “West Havana Scientific Cluster”, an ensemble of more than 40
organisations comprising about 12,000 employees, including 7,000 scientists and engineers.
A Different and Effective Model
Cuba has one of the most advanced, yet until recently, least known biotechnology industries in the
world, and is one of the few developing countries counting on a developed biotechnology industry. The
Cuban healthcare and biotechnology model differs from other emerging models as it characterizes itself
for being less marketing driven and more focused on research aimed at bettering the quality of life of
people affected by life deteriorating diseases such as cancer. The non capitalist socialist ideology
intrinsic in all realms of Cuban life are the main ideology behind Cuba’s success in biotech R&D.
Bioterrorism
A bioweapons attack threatens human survival
Carpenter and Bishop 2009 (P. A., P. C., July 10, Graduate Program in Studies of the Future, School of
Human Sciences and Humanities, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, TX, USA, Graduate
Program in Futures Studies, College of Technology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. A review of
previous mass extinctions and historic catastrophic events, ScienceDirect)
The flu of 1890, 1918–1919 Spanish flu, 1957 Asian flu, 1968 Hong Kong flu, and 1977 Russian flu all led to mass deaths. Pandemics such as
these remain major threats to human health that could lead to extremely high death rates. The 1918 pandemic is believed to have killed 50
million people [27]. AIDS (HIV) has killed an estimated 23 million people from 1978 to 2001 [15]. And
there have been numerous
other incidents of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, influenza, scurvy, smallpox, typhus, and plague
that have caused the deaths of many millions throughout history. Clearly, these biological diseases are
much greater threats to human survival than other natural or environmental disasters. Because
bacterium and viral strains experience antigenic shifts (which are small changes in the virus that happen continually over
time, eventually producing new virus strains that might not be recognized by the body’s immune system), another devastating
pandemic could appear at any time. It should also be noted that the threat from biological weapons is quite
real. In fact, scientists from the former Soviet Union’s bioweapons program claim to have developed an
antibiotic-resistant strain of the plague [26].
Bioterrorism still a threat – recent lack of concern makes action now key
Strunsky, 12 – Journalist, Star-Ledger and New York Times (Steve, “Bioterrorism remains real threat a
decade after Anthrax attacks, expert says,” New Jersey On-line,
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/bioterrorism_threat_remains_re.html)//SY
Even though the 2001 Anthrax attacks are still commemorated at the Hamilton mail sorting facility that
handled at least four letters containing the deadly spores, memory of the bioterrorism campaign that
killed five people just weeks after 9/11 has faded in the broader public consciousness.
And that in itself could be dangerous, says Leonard Cole, director of the Terror Medicine and Security
program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, who is scheduled to testify today
before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
Cole, author of the 2003 book, "The Anthrax Letters: A Medical Detective Story," said $60 billion has
been spent on measures to combat bioterrorism over the past decade. But spending, like the fear of
bioterrorism, has waned after more than a decade without an attack.
"And that certainly does feed into the notion that maybe we ought not to be spending so much," Cole
said.
The problem with cutting spending, he said, is the threat of an attack remains real, according to a study
he took part in by a working group of the Aspen Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank.
"We recognize that there is a continuing serious threat, and that a combination of reasons have let us
lower our guard," Cole said, referring to the passage of time and budget constraints.
Food Shortages
Biotechnology key to solving food shortages
McGloughlin, 99 – Director, UC Systemwide Biotechnology Research and Education Program (Martina,
“Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology Will Be Important To The Developing World,” AgBioForum, Volume 2,
Numbers 3 and 4, Article 4, http://www.agbioforum.org/v2n34/v2n34a04-mcgloughlin.htm)//SY
1. The argument that hunger is a complex socioeconomic phenomenon, tied to lack of resources to grow
or buy food, is correct. Equally correct is the argument that existing food supplies could adequately feed
the world population. But how food and other resources (e.g., land, capital) are distributed among
individuals, regions, or the various nations is determined by the complex interaction of market forces
and institutions around the world. Unless our civic societies can come up quickly with an economic
system that allocates resources more equitably and more efficiently than the present one, 50 years from
now we will be faced with an even greater challenge. Calorie for calorie there will not be enough food to
feed the projected population of about 9 billion. With the purchasing power and wealth concentrated in
the developed countries, and over 90 percent of the projected population growth likely to occur in
developing and emerging economies, it is not difficult to predict where food shortages will occur. Unless
we are ready to accept starvation, or place parks and the Amazon Basin under the plough, there really is
only one good alternative: discover ways to increase food production from existing resources. Bottom
line, Altieri and Rosset may want to argue against Western-style capitalism and market institutions if
they so choose to—but their argument is hardly relevant to the issue of biotechnology.
Biotech’s key to meeting food production needs
Martino-Catt and Sachs ‘8
[Susan J. Martino-Catt, Monsanto Company Member of Plant Physiology Editorial
Board, Eric S. Sachs Monsanto Company Member of ASPB Education Foundation Board
of Directors, “ Editor's Choice Series: The Next Generation of Biotech Crops,” Plant
Physiology 147:3-5 (2008)]
Crop genetic modification using traditional methods has been essential for improving food quality and
abundance; however, farmers globally are steadily increasing the area planted to crops improved with
modern biotechnology. Breakthroughs in science and genetics have expanded the toolbox of genes
available for reducing biotic stressors, such as weeds, pests, and disease, which reduce agricultural productivity. Today, plant scientists are
leveraging traditional and modern approaches in tandem to increase crop yields, quality, and economic returns, while reducing the
The
current need to accelerate agricultural productivity on a global scale has never been greater or more
urgent. At the same time, the need to implement more sustainable approaches to conserve natural resources
and preserve native habitats is also of paramount importance. The challenge for the agricultural sector is to: (1)
deliver twice as much food in 2050 as is produced today (Food and Agricultural Organization of the World Health
Organization, 2002Go); (2) reduce environmental impacts by producing more from each unit of land, water, and
energy invested in crop production (Raven, 2008Go); (3) adapt cropping systems to climate changes that
threaten crop productivity and food security on local and global levels; and (4) encourage the development of new
technologies that deliver economic returns for all farmers, small and large. These are important and challenging goals, and
are much more so when real or perceived risks lead to regulatory and policy actions that may slow the
adoption of new technology. Optimistically, the adoption of rational approaches for introducing new
agricultural and food technologies should lead to more widespread use that in turn will help address the
agricultural challenges and also increase the acceptance of modern agricultural biotechnology (Raven,
environmental consequences associated with the consumption of natural resources, such as water, land, and fertilizer, for agriculture.
2008Go). In the 12 years since commercialization of the first genetically modified (GM) crop in 1996, farmers have planted more than 690
million hectares (1.7 billion acres; James, 2007Go) without a single confirmed incidence of health or environmental harm (Food and Agricultural
Organization of the World Health Organization, 2004Go; National Academy of Sciences, 2004Go). In the latest International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications report, planting of biotech crops in 2007 reached a new record of 114.3 million hectares (282.4 million
acres) planted in 23 countries, representing a 12.3% increase in acreage from the previous year (James, 2007Go). Farmer benefits associated
with planting of GM crops include reduced use of pesticides and insecticides (Brookes and Barfoot, 2007Go), increased safety for nontarget
species (Marvier et al., 2007Go; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007Go), increased adoption of
reduced/conservation tillage and soil conservation practices (Fawcett and Towry, 2002Go), reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural
The first generation of biotech
crops focused primarily on the single gene traits of herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. These traits
practices (Brookes and Barfoot, 2007Go), as well as increased yields (Brookes and Barfoot, 2007Go).
were accomplished by the expression of a given bacterial gene in the crops. In the case of herbicide tolerance, expression of a glyphosateresistant form of the gene CP4 EPSPS resulted in plants being tolerant to glyphosate (Padgette et al., 1995Go). Similarly, expression of an
insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis in plants resulted in protection of the plants from damage due to insect feeding (Perlak et al.,
1991Go). Both of these early biotech products had well-defined mechanisms of action that led to the desired phenotypes. Additional products
soon came to market that coupled both herbicide tolerance and insect resistance in the same plants. As farmers adopt new products to
maximize productivity and profitability on the farm, they are increasingly planting crops with "stacked traits" for management of insects and
weeds and "pyramided traits" for management of insect resistance. The actual growth in combined trait products was 22% between 2006 and
The next generation of biotech
crops promises to include a broad range of products that will provide benefits to both farmers and
consumers, and continue to meet the global agricultural challenges. These products will most likely involve regulation
2007, which is nearly twice the growth rate of overall planting of GM crops (James, 2007Go).
of key endogenous plant pathways resulting in improved quantitative traits, such as yield, nitrogen use efficiency, and abiotic stress tolerance
(e.g. drought, cold). These quantitative traits are known to typically be multigenic in nature, adding a new level of complexity in describing the
mechanisms of action that underlie these phenotypes.
In addition to these types of traits, the first traits aimed at
consumer benefits, such as healthier oils and enhanced nutritional content, will also be developed for
commercialization. As with the first generation, successful delivery of the next generation of biotech crops to market will depend on
establishing their food, feed, and environmental safety. Scientific and regulatory authorities have acknowledged the potential risks associated
with genetic modification of all kinds, including traditional cross-breeding, biotechnology, chemical mutagenesis, and seed radiation, yet have
established a safety assessment framework only for biotechnology-derived crops designed to identify any potential food, feed, and
environmental safety risks prior to commercial use. Importantly, it has been concluded that crops
developed through modern
biotechnology do not pose significant risks over and above those associated with conventional plant
breeding (National Academy of Sciences, 2004Go). The European Commission (2001)Go acknowledged that the greater regulatory
scrutiny given to biotech crops and foods probably make them even safer than conventional plants and
foods. The current comparative safety assessment process has been repeatedly endorsed as providing assurance of safety and nutritional
quality by identifying similarities and differences between the new food or feed crop and a conventional counterpart with a history of safe use
(Food and Drug Administration, 1992Go; Food and Agricultural Organization of the World Health Organization, 2002Go; Codex Alimentarius,
2003Go; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003Go; European Food Safety Authority, 2004Go; International Life
Sciences Institute, 2004Go). Any differences are subjected to an extensive evaluation to determine whether there are any associated health or
Biotech crops undergo
detailed phenotypic, agronomic, morphological, and compositional analyses to identify potential harmful effects that
could affect product safety. This process is a rigorous and robust assessment that is applicable to the next generation of biotech
environmental risks, and, if so, whether the identified risks can be mitigated though preventative management.
crops that potentially could include genetic changes that modulate the expression of one gene, several genes, or entire pathways. The safety
assessment will characterize the nature of the inserted molecules, as well as their function and effect within the plant and the overall safety of
the resulting crop. This
well-established and proven process will provide assurance of the safety of the next
generation of biotech crops and help to reinforce rational approaches that enable the development and
commercial use of new products that are critical to meeting agriculture's challenges.
Alternative’s extinction
Trewavas ‘2k
(Anthony, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology – University of Edinburgh, “GM Is the
Best Option We Have”, AgBioWorld, 6-5, http://www.agbioworld.org/biotechinfo/articles/biotech-art/best_option.html)
There are some Western critics who oppose any solution to world problems involving technological progress. They denigrate this remarkable
achievement. These luddite individuals found in some Aid organisations instead attempt to impose their primitivist western views on those
countries where blindness and child death are common. This new form of Western cultural domination or neo-colonialism, because such it is,
should be repelled by all those of good will. Those who stand to benefit in the third world will then be enabled to make their own choice freely
about what they want for their own children. But these are foreign examples; global
warming is the problem that requires the
UK to develop GM technology. 1998 was the warmest year in the last one thousand years. Many think global warming will simply lead
to a wetter climate and be benign. I do not. Excess rainfall in northern seas has been predicted to halt the Gulf Stream. In this situation, average
UK temperatures would fall by 5 degrees centigrade and give us Moscow-like winters. There
are already worrying signs of
salinity changes in the deep oceans. Agriculture would be seriously damaged and necessitate the rapid
development of new crop varieties to secure our food supply. We would not have much warning. Recent
detailed analyses of arctic ice cores has shown that the climate can switch between stable states in fractions of a decade. Even if the
climate is only wetter and warmer new crop pests and rampant disease will be the consequence. GM
technology can enable new crops to be constructed in months and to be in the fields within a few years.
This is the unique benefit GM offers. The UK populace needs to much more positive about GM or we may pay a very heavy price.
In 535A.D. a volcano near the present Krakatoa exploded with the force of 200 million Hiroshima A bombs.
The dense cloud of dust so reduced the intensity of the sun that for at least two years thereafter,
summer turned to winter and crops here and elsewhere in the Northern hemisphere failed completely. The
population survived by hunting a rapidly vanishing population of edible animals. The after-effects continued for a
decade and human history was changed irreversibly. But the planet recovered. Such examples of benign nature's
wisdom, in full flood as it were, dwarf and make miniscule the tiny modifications we make upon our
environment. There are apparently 100 such volcanoes round the world that could at any time unleash
forces as great. And even smaller volcanic explosions change our climate and can easily threaten the
security of our food supply. Our hold on this planet is tenuous. In the present day an equivalent 535A.D. explosion would destroy
much of our civilisation. Only those with agricultural technology sufficiently advanced would have a chance at
survival. Colliding asteroids are another problem that requires us to be forward-looking accepting that
technological advance may be the only buffer between us and annihilation. When people say to me they do not
need GM, I am astonished at their prescience, their ability to read a benign future in a crystal ball that I cannot. Now is the time to experiment;
not when a holocaust is upon us and it is too late. GM
is a technology whose time has come and just in the nick of
time. With each billion that mankind has added to the planet have come technological advances to
increase food supply. In the 18th century, the start of agricultural mechanisation; in the 19th century knowledge of crop mineral
requirements, the eventual Haber Bosch process for nitrogen reduction. In the 20th century plant genetics and breeding, and later the green
revolution. Each time population growth has been sustained without enormous loss of life through starvation even though crisis often
beckoned. For the 21st century, genetic manipulation is our
primary hope to maintain developing and complex
technological civilisations. When the climate is changing in unpredictable ways, diversity in agricultural
technology is a strength and a necessity not a luxury. Diversity helps secure our food supply. We have heard much of the
precautionary principle in recent years; my version of it is "be prepared".
Food insecurity sparks World War 3
Calvin ’98 (William, Theoretical Neurophysiologist – U Washington, Atlantic Monthly, January, Vol 281,
No. 1, p. 47-64)
The population-crash scenario is surely the most appalling.
Plummeting crop yields would cause some powerful
countries to try to take over their neighbors or distant lands -- if only because their armies, unpaid and
lacking food, would go marauding, both at home and across the borders. The better-organized countries
would attempt to use their armies, before they fell apart entirely, to take over countries with significant
remaining resources, driving out or starving their inhabitants if not using modern weapons to accomplish the same end: eliminating
competitors for the remaining food. This would be a worldwide problem -- and could lead to a Third World War -but Europe's vulnerability is particularly easy to analyze. The last abrupt cooling, the Younger Dryas, drastically altered Europe's climate as far
east as Ukraine. Present-day Europe has more than 650 million people. It has excellent soils, and largely grows its own food. It could no longer
do so if it lost the extra warming from the North Atlantic.
Probability- History proves food shortages are the most likely cause of extinction
Brown ’11 (from World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, by Lester R.
Brown © 2011 Earth Policy Institute
For the Mayans, it was deforestation and soil erosion. As more and more land was cleared for farming to support the expanding empire, soil
erosion undermined the productivity of their tropical soils. A team of scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has
noted that the extensive land clearing by the Mayans likely also altered the regional climate, reducing rainfall. In effect, the scientists suggest, it
was the convergence of several environmental trends, some reinforcing others, that led to the food
shortages that brought down
the Mayan civilization. 26 Although we live in a highly urbanized, technologically advanced society, we
are as dependent on the earth’s natural support systems as the Sumerians and Mayans were. If we continue with business as usual,
civilizational collapse is no longer a matter of whether but when. We now have an economy that is destroying its natural support systems, one
that has put us on a decline and collapse path. We
are dangerously close to the edge. Peter Goldmark, former Rockefeller
death of our civilization is no longer a theory or an academic possibility; it is the
road we’re on.” 2 Judging by the archeological records of earlier civilizations, more often than not food
shortages appear to have precipitated their decline and collapse. Given the advances of modern agriculture, I had
long rejected the idea that food could be the weak link in our twenty-first century civilization. Today I think not only that it
could be the weak link but that it is the weak link.
Foundation president, puts it well: “The
Magnitude- food shortages mean extinction
Takacs ‘96 (David, The Idea Of Diversity: Philosophies Of Paradise, 1996, p. 200-1.)
So biodiversity keeps the world running. It has value and of itself, as well as for us. Raven, Erwin, and Wilson oblige us to think about the value
of biodiversity for our own lives. The Ehrlichs’ rivet-popper trope makes this same point; by eliminating rivets, we play Russian roulette with
global ecology and human futures: “It is likely that destruction of the rich complex of species in the Amazon basin could trigger rapid changes in
global climate patterns. Agriculture remains heavily dependent on stable climate, and human
beings remain heavily dependent
on food. By the end of the century the extinction of perhaps a million species in the Amazon basin could have entrained famines in
which a billion human beings perished. And if our species is very unlucky, the famines could lead to a
thermonuclear war, which could extinguish civilization.” Elsewhere Ehrlich uses different particulars with no less drama:
What then will happen if the current decimation of organic diversity continues? Crop yields will be more difficult to maintain in the face of
climatic change, soil erosion , loss of dependable water supplies, decline of pollinators, and ever more serious assaults by pests. Conversion of
productive land to wasteland will accelerate; deserts will continue their seemingly inexorable expansion. Air pollution will increase, and local
climates will become harsher. Humanity will have to forgo many of the direct economic benefits it might have withdrawn from Earth's wellstocked genetic library. It might, for example, miss out on a cure for cancer; but that will make little difference. As ecosystem services falter,
mortality from respiratory and epidemic disease, natural disasters, and especially famine will lower life expectancies to the point where cancer
(largely a disease of the elderly) will be unimportant. Humanity will bring upon itself consequences depressingly similar to those expected from
a nuclear winter. Barring a nuclear conflict, it appears that civilization will disappear some time before the end of the next century - not with a
bang but a whimper.
US food shortages cause protectionism
Pollan ‘8 (BOOKS ARTICLESAPPEARANCESMEDIA PRESS KITNEWSRESOURCES TODAY’S LINK Farmer in
Chief By Michael Pollan The New York Times Magazine, October 12, 2008
The impact of the American food system on the rest of the world will have implications for your foreign
and trade policies as well. In the past several months more than 30 nations have experienced food riots,
and so far one government has fallen. Should high grain prices persist and shortages develop, you can
expect to see the pendulum shift decisively away from free trade, at least in food. Nations that opened their markets to
the global flood of cheap grain (under pressure from previous administrations as well as the World Bank and the I.M.F.) lost so many farmers
that they now find their ability to feed their own populations hinges on decisions made in Washington (like your predecessor’s precipitous
embrace of biofuels) and on Wall Street. They
will now rush to rebuild their own agricultural sectors and then seek
to protect them by erecting trade barriers. Expect to hear the phrases “food sovereignty” and “food security” on the lips of
every foreign leader you meet. Not only the Doha round, but the whole cause of free trade in agriculture is probably dead, the casualty of a
cheap food policy that a scant two years ago seemed like a boon for everyone. It is one of the larger paradoxes of our time that the very same
food policies that have contributed to overnutrition in the first world are now contributing to undernutrition in the third. But it turns out that
too much food can be nearly as big a problem as too little — a lesson we should keep in mind as we set about designing a new approach to
food policy.
Protectionism causes extinction
Miller and Elwood ’88 (Miller and Elwood, 1988 International Society for Individual Liberty , http://www.freemarket.net/resources/lit/free-trade-protectionism.html, gender modified
TRADE WARS: BOTH SIDES LOSE When the government of Country "A" puts up trade barriers against the goods of Country "B", the government
of Country "B" will naturally retaliate by erecting trade barriers against the goods of Country "A". The result? A trade war in which both sides
lose. But all too often a depressed economy is not the only negative outcome of a trade war . . . WHEN
GOODS DON'T CROSS
BORDERS, ARMIES OFTEN DO History is not lacking in examples of cold trade wars escalating into hot
shooting wars: Europe suffered from almost non-stop wars during the 17th and 18th centuries, when
restrictive trade policy (mercantilism) was the rule; rival governments fought each other to expand their empires and to
exploit captive markets. British tariffs provoked the American colonists to revolution, and later the Northern-dominated US government
imposed restrictions on Southern cotton exports - a major factor leading to the American Civil War. In the late 19th Century, after a half
trade
barriers. Hostilities built up until they eventually exploded into World War I. In 1930, facing only a mild
recession, US President Hoover ignored warning pleas in a petition by 1028 prominent economists and
signed the notorious Smoot-Hawley Act, which raised some tariffs to 100% levels. Within a year, over 25
other governments had retaliated by passing similar laws. The result? World trade came to a grinding
halt, and the entire world was plunged into the "Great Depression" for the rest of the decade. The
depression in turn led to World War II. THE #1 DANGER TO WORLD PEACE The world enjoyed its
greatest economic growth during the relatively free trade period of 1945-1970, a period that also saw
no major wars. Yet we again see trade barriers being raised around the world by short-sighted
politicians. Will the world again end up in a shooting war as a result of these economically-deranged
policies? Can we afford to allow this to happen in the nuclear age? "What generates war is the
economic philosophy of nationalism: embargoes, trade and foreign exchange controls, monetary devaluation, etc. The philosophy
century of general free trade (which brought a half-century of peace), short-sighted politicians throughout Europe again began erecting
of protectionism is a philosophy of war." Ludwig von Mises THE SOLUTION: FREE TRADE A century and a half ago French economist and
statesman Frederic Bastiat presented the practical case for free trade: "It is always beneficial," he said, "for a nation to specialize in what it can
produce best and then trade with others to acquire goods at costs lower than it would take to produce them at home." In the 20th century,
journalist Frank Chodorov made a similar observation: "Society thrives on trade simply because trade makes specialization possible, and
specialization increases output, and increased output reduces the cost in toil for the satisfactions men live by. That being so, the market place is
a most humane institution." WHAT CAN YOU DO? Silence gives consent, and there should be no consent to the current waves of restrictive
trade or capital control legislation being passed. If you agree that free trade is an essential ingredient in maintaining world peace, and that it is
important to your future, we suggest that you inform the political leaders in your country of your concern regarding their interference with free
trade. Send them a copy of this pamphlet. We also suggest that you write letters to editors in the media and send this pamphlet to them.
Discuss this issue with your friends and warn them of the danger of current "protectionist" trends. Check on how the issue is being taught in the
schools. Widespread public understanding of this issue, followed by citizen action, is the only solution. Free trade is too important an issue to
leave in the hands of politicians. "For thousands of years, the tireless effort of productive men and women has been spent trying to reduce the
distance between communities of the world by reducing the costs of commerce and trade. "Over the same span of history, the slothful and
incompetent protectionist has endlessly sought to erect barriers in order to prohibit competition - thus, effectively moving communities farther
apart. When trade is cut off entirely, the real producers may as well be on different planets. The protectionist represents the worst in humanity:
fear of change, fear of challenge, and the jealous envy of genius. The
protectionist is not against the use of every kind of
force, even warfare, to crush his rival. If [hu]mankind is to survive, then these primeval fears must be
defeated."
AFF Answers
2AC Cuba Fails
Cuban health care fails now due to lack of supplies and equipment
Plant, 13 – MA in Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews (Hanna, “The Challenges of Health
Care in Cuba,” Global Politics, http://www.global-politics.co.uk/issue9/hanna/)//SY
However, challenges remain. Healthcare may be free and available for all Cuban citizens but medication
is not. Pharmacies are often very poorly stocked and rationing of supplies is minimal. 13 There are
claims that hospitals are often in poor conditions and doctors have to bring in their own supplies and
equipment to allow them to treat their patients. 10 Despite the production of medical supplies and
technology, it seems very little of this actually remains in Cuba. Every year Cuba exports huge amounts
of medical aid, mostly to other Latin American countries for purely financial returns. 22 For example,
Venezuela provides much-needed oil to Cuba and in exchange receives Cuban doctors and medical
supplies. 14
Cuba’s dual economy has a lot to do with why such disparity exists. Medication and equipment is there
and available but only to pay for in American dollars, of which the poor and middle classes of Cuba are
very unlikely to have. 23 The ‘pesos pharmacies’ and local state hospitals are drastically under-stocked
and thus access for the poor to needed medication is minimal, despite the service being free.
Cuban health care system failing now – lack of funding and equipment and
widespread corruption
Sánchez, 11 – Award-winning Cuban blogger (Yoani, “Cuba's Much Lauded Health Care System No
Longer Has Even Aspirin to Give Us,” Huffington Post, 6/5, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoanisanchez/cubas-much-lauded-health-_b_871434.html)//SY
It's been almost two years since I've been seen at a hospital. The last time was in that November of
beatings and kidnapping when my lower back was in very bad shape. I learned a hard lesson on that
occasion: given the choice between the Hippocratic oath and ideological fidelity, many physicians prefer
to violate the privacy of their patients -- often compared to the secrets of the confessional -- rather than
to oppose, with the truth, the State that employs them. The examples of this pouring forth on official
television in recent months have strengthened my lack of confidence in the Cuban public health system.
So I am healing myself with plants that grow on my balcony, I exercise every day to avoid getting sick,
and I've even bought myself a Vademécum -- a Physician's Desk Reference -- should I need to selfprescribe at some point. But despite my "medical revolt," I haven't failed to observe and investigate the
growing deterioration of this sector.
Among the recent hospital cuts, the most notable have to do with resources for diagnostics. The doctors
receive greatly reduced allocations for X-rays, ultrasounds and MRIs which they must distribute among
their patients. Anecdotes about fractures that are set without first being X-rayed, or abdominal pains
that become complicated because they can't do a scan, are so common we're no longer surprised. Such
a situation is also vulnerable to patronage, where those who can offer a gift, or surreptitiously pay,
obtain better medical care than do others. The cheese given to the nurse and the indispensable hand
soap that many offer the dentist noticeably accelerate treatment and complement the undervalued
salaries of those medical professionals.
A thermometer is an object long-missing from the shelves of pharmacies operating in local currency,
while the hard currency stores have the most modern digital models. Getting a pair of glasses to
alleviate near-sightedness can take months through subsidized State channels, or twenty-four hours at
Miramar Optical where you pay in convertible pesos. Nor do the bodies who staff the hospitals escape
these contrasts: we can consult the most competent neurosurgeon in the entire Caribbean region, but
he doesn't have even an aspirin to give us. These are the chiaroscuros that make us sick, and exhaust
patients, their families, and the medical personnel themselves. And that leave us feeling defrauded by a
conquest -- long brandished before our faces -- that has crumbled, and they won't even let us complain
about it.
2AC Link Turn
US embargo has severely damaged Cuban health and the health care system – lack of
access to supplies
Amnesty International, 9 (“The US Embargo Against Cuba,”
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/007/2009/en/51469f8b-73f8-47a2-a5bdf839adf50488/amr250072009eng.pdf)//SY
The negative impact of the US embargo on the Cuban health care system and on the right to health of
Cubans during the 1990s has been documented in a 1997 report by the American Association for World
Health (AAWH).45 The 300-page document is still the most comprehensive study on the issue. Based on
a fact-finding mission to Cuba, the AAWH identified that the embargo contributed particularly to
malnutrition affecting especially women and children, poor water quality, lack of access to medicines
and medical supplies, and limited the exchange of medical and scientific information due to travel
restrictions and currency regulations. The AAWH found that “a humanitarian catastrophe has been
averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a
health care system designed to deliver primary and preventive health care to all of its citizens… Even so,
the U.S. embargo of food and the de facto embargo on medical supplies has wreaked havoc with the
island's model primary health care system.”4
The US facilitates medical brain drain now
Erisman, 13 – professor of political science at Indiana State University (Michael, “United States Efforts to
Undermine Cuban Medical Aid Programs” 7/2, http://www.lawg.org/action-center/lawg-blog/69general/1221-us-efforts-to-undermine-cuban-medical-aid-programs)
As part of its larger policy of hostility and confrontation, Washington's response to Havana's
globetrotting doctors has been the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) program. The CMPP was
launched during the Bush Administration on August 11, 2006, is designed to facilitate the defection and
entry into the United States of personnel (especially doctors) serving in Cuban overseas medical aid
contingents' the program has been continued by the Obama Administration. The "godfather" of the
CMPP was Cuban-born diplomat Emilio González, director of the U.S. Citizen & Immigration Services
from 2006 to 2008. A former colonel in the U.S. Army, Mr. González is a staunchly anti-Castro exile. He
has characterized Cuba's policy of sending doctors and other health workers abroad as "state-sponsored
human trafficking." So far, approximately 12,000 defectors have been processed through the program.
A Partial Checklist of the CMPP's Negatives in Terms of:
Political Considerations-It serves as an additional (and crassly unbecoming) impediment to better U.S./Cuban relations.
It has a negative impact on U.S. foreign relations (especially in Latin America where most Cuban medical
aid personnel now operate), generating anti-American sentiment in both governmental circles and the
larger population. As noted by Representative James McGovern (D-MA), "The idea that we're going in to
try to lure away Cuban doctors who are trying to administer to poor people in Latin America is cynical,
and I think is counterproductive."
The Obama Administration has tarnished its diplomatic reputation by refusing to abandon the program.
US embargo strains Cuban financial resources and prevents flow of medical and
biotech knowledge to US
Grogg, 6 – Cuban Correspondent, Inter Press Service (Patricia, “CUBA-US: Embargo’s Boomerang Effect,”
IPS News Agency, 10/3, http://www.ipsnews.net/2006/10/cuba-us-embargos-boomerang-effect/)//SY
HAVANA, Oct 3 2006 (IPS) - Washington’s embargo against Cuba also has an impact on the United States
economy and prevents millions of U.S. citizens from benefiting from Cuban medical progress, according
to a report released by the Cuban foreign ministry.
The text of the report will be presented at the United Nations General Assembly, which on Nov. 8 will be
examining for the fifteenth consecutive year the need to end the embargo imposed by Washington on
Havana more than four decades ago. The document states that “because of the blockade regulations” it
has been impossible to begin clinical trials in the U.S. with TheraCIM, a Cuban pharmaceutical product
for treating brain tumours in children.
TheraCIM is produced by the Molecular Immunology Centre, which in 2004 made a deal with U.S.
company CancerVax to develop and produce therapeutic vaccines against cancer.
This medication is registered in Cuba and other countries for treating cancer of the head and neck, and
has been proved to reduce tumour mass. It could benefit children in the United States and other
countries with this type of cancer, the report points out.
It also adds that were it not for the embargo, millions of people in the United States suffering from
diabetes could benefit from Citoprot P, a unique product and treatment method that accelerates healing
of diabetic foot ulcers, reducing the risk of lower extremity amputations.
Citoprot P was developed by the Cuban Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. According to
the foreign ministry report, about 20.8 million people in the United States suffer from diabetes, a
chronic incurable disease.
The restrictions that Cuba calls a blockade and the U.S. an embargo have cost this Caribbean country
86.1 billion dollars in total damages throughout the period, including four billion in 2005 alone, the
document says.
US embargo restricts Cuban access to medical equipment and technology – puts
millions at risk
Tutton, 9 – Journalist, CNN International (Mark, “Report: U.S. sanctions put Cubans’ health at risk,” CNN,
9/2, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/01/amnesty.cuba.health/)//SY
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba is endangering the health of millions by
limiting Cubans' access to medicines and medical technology, human rights group Amnesty International
alleged Wednesday.
Amnesty International says the U.S. trade embargo is limiting Cubans' access to medical technology.
An Amnesty report examines the effects of the sanctions, which have been in place since 1962. Amnesty
International Secretary-General Irene Khan called the U.S. embargo immoral and said it should be lifted.
"It's preventing millions of Cubans from benefiting from vital medicines and medical equipment
essential for their health," Khan said.
The embargo restricts the export of medicines and medical equipment from the U.S. and from any U.S.owned company abroad.
Amnesty also called on President Obama to not renew the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is due for
renewal on September 14. The Act has been reviewed by U.S. presidents on an annual basis since 1978.
Amnesty said that while not renewing the Act would not in itself end the embargo against Cuba, it
would send a clear message that the U.S. is adopting a new policy toward Cuba.
In April this year President Obama lifted restrictions that had prevented U.S. citizens from visiting
relatives in Cuba, and sending them remittances.
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman would not comment on the report because she hadn't read it.
However, she said, "The president believes it makes strategic sense to hold on to some inducements we
can use in dealing with a Cuban government if it shows any signs of seeking a normalized relationship
with us and begins to respect basic human rights."
The Amnesty report also cites United Nations data that says Cuba's inability to import nutritional
products for schools, hospitals and day care centers is contributing to a high prevalence of iron
deficiency anemia. In 2007, the condition affected 37.5 percent of Cuba's children under three years old,
according to UNICEF.
Cuba can import these products from other countries, but there are major shipping costs and logistical
challenges to contend with.
Embargo barrier to Cuba getting needed medicines and medical equipment – prevents
solving disease like AIDS
Tutton, 9 – Journalist, CNN International (Mark, “Report: U.S. sanctions put Cubans’ health at risk,” CNN,
9/2, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/01/amnesty.cuba.health/)//SY
Gail Reed is international director of MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), a non-profit
organization that encourages cooperation among U.S., Cuban and global health communities.
She told CNN, "In general, the embargo has a sweeping effect on Cuban healthcare. Over the past
decades, I would say the people most affected have been cancer and HIV-AIDS patients."
She also said the embargo affects the way doctors think about the future. "Doctors in Cuba always worry
that an international supplier will be bought out by a U.S. company, leaving medical equipment without
replacement parts and patients without continuity of medications," Reed said.
Gerardo Ducos, an Amnesty researcher for the Caribbean region, told CNN that although medicines and
medical supplies can be licensed for export to Cuba, the conditions governing the process make their
export virtually impossible.
US embargo destroys effectiveness of Cuban health care system
Quiang, 12 – Editor, Xinhua News (Hou, “Cuba healthcare weakeneded by U.S. embargo,” Xinhua News,
11/28, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2012-11/28/c_132004531.htm)//SY
HAVANA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cuban medical authorities said on Tuesday a 50-year trade embargo
imposed by the United States has severely undermined the country's healthcare system.
Cuban hospitals suffer restrictions in acquiring imported medical consumables and medicine, advanced
medical technology and latest scientific information, officials said.
The public Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, where thousands of people receive free
medical care every year from international specialists, is financially strained by the embargo.
"We must find alternatives that sometimes include purchasing from distant markets, buying from third
parties, which means higher prices for these products," said Director of the institute Dr. Lorenzo Llerena.
He added some equipments were simply unattainable, "because they are manufactured in the United
States."
The embargo has caused Cuba a loss of more than 200 million dollars in the medical sector alone by
2011, representing a significant impact on the tiny Caribbean nation, according to official figures.
2AC Modeling Turn
Cuban health care and biotech currently fail due to lack of resources and knowledge
flow – easing the embargo key to scientific growth
Thorsteinsdóttir et al., 4 – Adjunct Professor, Global Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health (Halla,
Tirso W Sáenz, Uyen Quach, Abdallah S Daar, and Peter A Singer, “Cuba – innovation through synergy,”
Nature Biotechnology, Volume 22, December, http://www.sld.cu/galerias/pdf/cubainnovation_through_synergy.pdf)//SY
Lack of funding and the US trade embargo. Despite strong government commitment, Cuba’s health
biotechnology sector faces a lack of financial resources. The economic conditions in Cuba are
problematic, and the government does not have an impressive track record of building a strong and
diversified economy7 . Limited access to international credit has made it harder for the country to
engage in ambitious restructuring schemes, such as those taking place in Eastern Europe, and Cuba
continues to struggle to pay off its debt. The US trade embargo has limited the economic options for
Cuba, including development of the health biotechnology sector. For example, Cuba is forced to import
research equipment from countries other than the United States—a situation that not only consumes
time but adds to the cost. Another challenge imposed by the poor Cuba-US relations is the increasing
difficulty that Cuban scientists face obtaining visas to enter the United States to attend conferences and
other related activities. Also, even though the US Treasury Department has as of April 2004 officially
permitted papers from embargoed countries to be edited and published in US journals, the
uncertainties of the embargo have made it difficult for Cuban papers to be accepted in US journals8 . The
embargo therefore restricts the knowledge flow involving Cuban scientists in the international scientific
community and adds costs, because Cubans have to attend conferences that are held in countries other
than the United States. Another challenge is the dominance of US firms in the global health
biotechnology sector. This may limit the options for Cuba in developing joint ventures, strategic alliances
and licensing of their technologies.
Lifting embargo key to successful modeling of healthcare and biotech in US
Lightman, 10 – Former Executive Director, Humanity Plus (Alex, “Is the US Cuba Embargo Blocking the
Future? An Interview with Alex Lightman,” H Plus Magazine, http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/11/21/uscuba-embargo-blocking-future-interview-alex-lightman/)//SY
I can give you five good reasons to start with.
First, Cuba has over forty medical treatments that the rest of the world can get, but Americans cannot.
By allowing the US embargo to continue, transhumanists and anyone who wants the best possible
medical care — not the best politically mediated medical care, — are being deprived of potential
treatments.
Second, Cuba is able to match most US health statistics, including lifespan, at a cost of $200 per person
per year, vs. over $7,000 for each American… jumping to $15,000 a year at 65. A core transhumanist
aspiration is to live longer, but a challenge to this is being able to afford the cost of life extension.
Cuba’s cost structure could have valuable lessons for us, or even could be a place that Americans can
visit for treatments (which are now all illegal).
Third, Cuba’s system for biotechnology is profoundly interesting and successful, and it behooves
Americans to be able to visit and learn more about it.
Fourth, the US embargo of Cuba is now 50 years and one week old. Rebecca D. Costa, in her book The
Watchman’s Rattle, warns that societies that are unable to overcome gridlock, and postpone their
problems to the next generation, are societies eminently worthy of collapse. The US embargo of Cuba
has all the attributes that we would find shockingly obvious after reading the book.
Fifth, US reconciliation with Cuba is a relatively easy problem to solve. Transhumanists will want to be
able to use this resolution as a dry run for solving much tougher issues.
AT: Cuba medical diplomacy
Cuban medical diplomacy undermines local health care systems and is net worse for
development
Feinsilver,9 - Scholar in Residence School of International Service at American University (Julie, “Cuba's
Medical Diplomacy” Cuba in a Changing World, ed: Font,
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/dept/bildn/publications/documents/Feinsilver15_002.pdf)
Cuban medical diplomacy is a great benefit to the recipient countries, but also a threat. The threat lies in
the fact that Cuban doctors serve the poor in areas in which no local doctor would work, make house
calls a routine part of their medical practice, and are available free of charge 24/ 7. Because they do a
diagnosis of the community and treat patients as a whole person living and working in a specific
environment rather than just clinically and as a specific problem or a body part, they get to know their
patients better. This more familiar approach is changing expectations as well as the nature of doctorpatient relations in the host countries. As a result, Cuban medical diplomacy has forced the reexamination of societal values and the structure and functioning of the health systems and the medical
profession within the countries to which they were sent and where they continue to practice. In some
cases, such as in Bolivia and Venezuela, this threat has resulted in strikes and other protest actions by
the local medical associations as they are threatened by these changes as well as what they perceive to
be competition for their jobs. As Cuba’s assistance concentrates more on the implementation of some
adaptation of their own health service delivery model, the threat will become more widespread.
AT: Biotech IL
Squo solves biotech in countries other than Cuba
Resurreccion ‘13
[Lyn. Science Editor for Business Mirror. “Crop Biotechnology: A Continuing Success
Globally” The Business Mirror, 2/23/13 ]
CROP biotechnology has been achieving “continuing success” globally as the number of farmers who use
it and the farms planted to biotech crops are increasing, recording 17.3 million farmers who planted the crops in 170.3 hectares in
28 countries in 2012, Dr. Clive James, chairman of the board of directors of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA), said on Thursday. James said the trend in crop biotechnology is in favor of developing countries, which
compose 20 of the 28 countries that adopt the technology. Another significant development, he said, was
that for the first time developing countries planted more biotech crops in 2012, with 52 percent, against
the developing countries’ 48 percent. They registered equal production in 2011. This, James said, “was contrary to the
perception of critics that biotech crops are only for the developed countries and would not be adopted by developing countries.” The increase in
biotech farms in 2012 recorded a growth rate of 6 percent, or 10.3 million hectares more from 160
million hectares in 2011, James told a select group of journalists at a hotel in Makati City when he announced the results of the ISAAA report “Global
Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops for 2012.” James said this development was “remarkable” because it recorded a 100-fold increase in biotech crop
hectarage in the 17th year of its adoption—from 1.7 million hectares in 1996, when it was first commercialized. “It
also reflects the confidence of
farmers in the technology. They make their decision on the second year [on the technology they use]
based on the performance of the first year,” he said. He noted that of the 17.3 million farmers, 15.5 million, or 90 percent, are
resource-poor, thereby helping farmers increase their income. He said biotech contributed to economic
gains of $100 billion from 1996 to 2011, half of this was from reduced production cost, such as less
pesticide sprays, less plowing and fewer labor, and the other half was from increased production per
hectare. Increased production, James said, resulted in increase in farmers’ income and “more money in their
pockets.”
AT: Disease Impact
Virulent diseases cannot cause extinction because of burnout theory
Gerber 5 (Leah R. Gerber, PhD. Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and
Environmental Sciences, Ecological Society of America, "Exposing Extinction Risk
Analysis to Pathogens: Is Disease Just Another Form of Density Dependence?" August
2005, Jstor)
The density of it population is an important parameter for both PVA and host-pathogen theory. A
fundamental principle of epidemiology is
that the spread of an infectious disease through a population is a function of the density of both susceptible and
infectious hosts. If infectious agents are supportable by the host species of conservation interest, the
impact of a pathogen on a declining population is likely to decrease as the host population declines. A
pathogen will spread when, on average, it is able to transmit to a susceptible host before an infected host
dies or eliminates the infection (Kermack and McKendrick 1927, Anderson and May l99l). If the parasite affects the
reproduction or mortality of its host, or the host is able to mount an immune response, the parasite population may eventually
reduce the density of susceptible hosts to a level at which the rate of parasite increase is no longer
positive. Most epidemiological models indicate that there is a host threshold density (or local population size) below which a
parasite cannot invade, suggesting that rare or depleted species should be less subject to host-specific disease. This has implications for small, yet
increasing, populations. For example, although endangered species at low density may be less susceptible to a disease outbreak, recovery to higher densities places
them at increasing risk of future disease-related decline (e.g., southern sea otters; Gerber ct al. 2004). In the absence of stochastic factors (such as those modeled in
PVA), and given the usual assumption of disease models that the
chance that a susceptible host will become infected is
proportional to the density of infected hosts (the mass action assumption) a host specific pathogen cannot drive its
host to extinction (McCallum and Dobson 1995). Extinction in the absence of stochasticity is possible if alternate hosts (sometimes called reservoir hosts)
relax the extent to which transmission depends on the density of the endangered host species.
Epidemics won’t cause extinction – focusing on real threats key to survival
Coughlan, 13 – Education correspondent, BBC News (Sean, “How are humans going to become extinct?”
BBC News, 4/24, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22002530)//SY
What are the greatest global threats to humanity? Are we on the verge of our own unexpected
extinction?
An international team of scientists, mathematicians and philosophers at Oxford University's Future of
Humanity Institute is investigating the biggest dangers.
And they argue in a research paper, Existential Risk as a Global Priority, that international policymakers
must pay serious attention to the reality of species-obliterating risks.
Last year there were more academic papers published on snowboarding than human extinction.
The Swedish-born director of the institute, Nick Bostrom, says the stakes couldn't be higher. If we get it
wrong, this could be humanity's final century.
Been there, survived it
So what are the greatest dangers?
First the good news. Pandemics and natural disasters might cause colossal and catastrophic loss of life,
but Dr Bostrom believes humanity would be likely to survive.
This is because as a species we've already outlasted many thousands of years of disease, famine, flood,
predators, persecution, earthquakes and environmental change. So the odds remain in our favour.
AT: Bioterrorism Impact
Bioterrorism doesn’t cause extinction – threats have empirically been wrong
Dando, 5 – Professor of International Security, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford
(Malcolm, “Bioterrorism: What Is the Real Threat?” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/static/npp/ST_Report_No_3.pdf)//SY
The latest report Mapping the Global Future on US national security by the National Intelligence Council
suggests that a major threat to the country right through to 2020 will be a terrorist biological weapons
attack. Given the recent intelligence failures concerning biological weapons in Iraq, it might be
considered that there are reasonable grounds for suspicion about that conclusion. This paper attempts
to answer the question of what the real threat of bioterror is by reference to the open scientific
literature. Section 2 of the paper discusses the nature of the agents of concern and in section 3 various
potential attack scenarios are reviewed. The overall conclusion is that there are real threats from
terrorists with the capability to carry out a range of attacks with biological agents today, but that these
threats do not include the one most commentators probably have in mind when they discuss the issue –
a weapons of mass destruction scale of attack on people. In the final section of this paper the
implications of the analysis for the risk questions we have been posed are addressed.
Bioterror threat exaggerated – fatalistic rhetoric leads to waste of resources and
biological arms race
Tierney, 7 – Journalist, New York Times (John, “Can Humanity Survive? Want to Bet on It?” New York
Times, 1/30, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/science/30tier.html?_r=0)//SY
It doesn’t make for better public policy though. Heralds of the bioterror apocalypse have actually
worsened the problem of bioterror, as Milton Leitenberg points out in a 2005 report for the Strategic
Studies Institute of the United States Army War College.
Mr. Leitenberg is a scholar at the University of Maryland who has been studying biological weapons for
decades — and debunking wild predictions. Dr. Rees is not alone. Senator Bill Frist called bioterrorism
“the greatest existential threat we have in the world today” and urged a military effort that “even
dwarfs the Manhattan Project.”
Such rhetoric, Mr. Leitenberg says, has had the perverse effect of encouraging terrorists to seek out
biological weapons. But despite the much-publicized attempts of Al Qaeda and a Japanese group to go
biological, terrorists haven’t had much luck, because it’s still quite hard for individuals or
nongovernmental groups to obtain, manufacture or deploy biological weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Leitenberg says the biggest threat is of a state deploying biological weapons, and he notes the
encouraging decline in the number of countries working on this technology. Meanwhile, though,
America has been so spooked by the horror-movie scenarios that it’s pouring money into defense
against biological weapons. Dr. Leitenberg says that’s a mistake, both because it diverts resources from
more serious threats — like natural diseases and epidemics — and because it could start a new
biological arms race as other countries understandably fear that the United States is doing more than
just playing defense.
No risk of weaponization – risk is exaggerated
Johnson, at the Wall Street Journal, 8/11/2K10 (Keith, "Gaisn in Bioscience Cause Terror Fears",
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703722804575369394068436132.html//arnavkejriwal)
Fears of bioterror have been on the rise since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, stoking tens of billions of dollars of government spending on
defenses, and the White House and Congress continue to push for new measures. But the fear
of a mass-casualty terrorist
attack using bioweapons has always been tempered by a single fact: Of the scores of plots uncovered
during the past decade, none have featured biological weapons. Indeed, many experts doubt terrorists even
have the technical capability to acquire and weaponize deadly bugs. The new fear, though, is that scientific advances
that enable amateur scientists to carry out once-exotic experiments, such as DNA cloning, could be put to criminal use. Many well-known
figures are sounding the alarm over the revolution in biological science, which amounts to a proliferation of know-how—if not the actual
pathogens. "Certain areas of biotechnology are getting more accessible to people with malign intent," said Jonathan Tucker, an expert on
biological and chemical weapons at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Geneticist Craig Venter said last month at the first
meeting of a presidential commission on bioethics, "If students can order any [genetic sequences] online, somebody could try to make the
Ebola virus." Mr. Venter is a pioneer in the field whose creation of a synthetic organism this spring helped push the debate about the risks and
rewards of bioscience from scientific journals to the corridors of power in Washington. "We are limited more by our imagination now than any
technological limitations," Mr. Venter said. Scientists have the ability to manipulate genetic material more quickly and more cheaply all the
time. Just as "Moore's Law" describes the accelerating pace of advances in computer science, advances in biology are becoming more potent
and accessible every year, experts note. As recently as a decade ago, the tools and techniques for such fiddling were confined to a handful of
laboratories like those at leading research universities. Today, do-it-yourself biology clubs have sprung up where part-timers share tips on how
to build high-speed centrifuges, isolate genetic material, and the like. The movement
has been aided by gear that can turn a
backyard shed into a microbiology lab. That has prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to
reach out to amateur biologists, teaching them proper security measures and asking them to be
vigilant of unscrupulous scientists. "The risk we're seeing now is that these procedures are becoming easier to do," said Edward
You, who heads the outreach program at the FBI's Directorate for Weapons of Mass Destruction. Biological weapons date back
millennia. Rotting and plague-stricken corpses once were catapulted over besieged city walls. Wells were routinely poisoned. More
recently, fears that terrorist groups such as al Qaeda might deploy weapons of mass destruction have
kindled fears of bioterrorism. Those fears reached fever pitch in the months after the World Trade
Center was downed, when anthrax-filled mail killed five people and prompted panic. That's when Washington
started boosting spending on biodefense, improving security at laboratories that work with dangerous pathogens and stockpiling antidotes.
Last fall, President Barack Obama ordered the creation of a bioethics commission, and the group spent much of its first meeting parsing the
threat of biological terrorism. He also issued
an executive order earlier this month to beef up security for the
most dangerous pathogens, which include anthrax, ebola, tularensis, smallpox and the reconstructed 1918 Spanish flu bug. Both
houses of Congress have legislation in the works to strengthen the country's ability to detect , prevent
and, if necessary, recover from large-scale attacks using bioweapons. All the government attention comes
despite the absence of known terrorist plots involving biological weapons. According to U.S. counterterrorism
officials, al Qaeda last actively tried to work with bioweapons —specifically anthrax—before the 2001 invasion
of that uprooted its leadership from Afghanistan. While terrorists have on occasion used chemical weapons—such as
chlorine and sarin gas—none have yet employed a biological agent, counterterrorism officials and bioweapons
researchers say. The U.S. anthrax attacks were ultimately blamed on a U.S. scientist with access to
military bioweapons programs. That's why many experts caution that, despite scientific advances, it is
still exceedingly tough for terrorists to isolate or create, mass produce and deploy deadly bugs . Tens of
thousands of Soviet scientists spent decades trying to weaponize pathogens, with mixed results. Though
science has advanced greatly since the Cold War, many of the same challenges remain. "I don't think the threat is growing, but
quite the opposite," said Milton Leitenberg, a biological-weapons expert at the Center for International and
Security Studies at the University of Maryland. Advances in biological science and the proliferation of knowledge are a given,
he said, but there has been no indication they are being used by terrorists. "The idea that four guys in
a cave are going to create bioweapons from scratch—that will be never, ever, ever," he said.
Technical barriers make bio-terror impossible – our ev cites 5 specific obstacles.
National Journal ’05 (April 23rd – lexis)
Technical Challenges On the other hand, critics argue that some
experts have oversimplified the significant technical
challenges to building catastrophic biological weapons and have overestimated the abilities of
terrorist groups to overcome them. "How do you kill a lot of people? There, you've got to get involved with airborne, deadly
pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis spores, and that's fairly technically demanding to do," Zilinskas said. Potential difficulties, experts
say, include obtaining proper equipment and an appropriate strain of pathogen; storing and handling the
pathogen properly; growing it to produce a greater quantity; processing it to develop the desirable characteristics; testing it; and
dispersing it. A terrorist group would need to have suitably educated and knowledgeable people, and sufficient time and freedom from
government scrutiny, to do the work, they say. Potentially the toughest challenge, experts say, is "weaponization" -processing an agent to the point that it can resist environmental stresses, survive dissemination, and increase its
ability to infect (pathogenicity) and to harm (toxicity). This is particularly true if the terrorists want to spray the agent, which is a more effective
approach for a mass attack than spreading an agent through human-to-human contact. "While collection and purification knowledge is
widespread among ordinary scientists, weaponization is obviously a military subject, and much of the knowledge that surrounds it is classified,"
wrote Danzig, who believes that terrorists nevertheless might be able to develop catastrophic biological weapons. The key difficulty for
producing an aerosolized weapon, Danzig said, "would be to produce a pathogen formulation in sizes that would be within the human
respiratory range and that could be reliably stored, handled, and spread as a stable aerosol rather than clump and fall to the ground. Mastering
these somewhat contradictory requirements is tricky... The challenge becomes greater as attackers seek higher concentrations of agent and
higher efficiency in dissemination." Stanford's
Chyba agrees on the difficulties of weaponization. "Aerosolization is clearly
[a] serious hurdle. I just find it hard, currently, to imagine a Qaeda offshoot -- or, for that matter, any of the current
non-state groups that I have read about -- being technically proficient in that." (Note: Danzig is a former Navy
secretary who is now a Pentagon bioterrorism consultant and the Sam Nunn Prize fellow in international security at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington)
No impact to bioweapons
Easterbrook ‘3 (Gregg Easterbrook, senior fellow at The New Republic, July 2003, Wired, “We’re All Gonna Die!”
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.07/doomsday.html?pg=2&topic=&topic_set=
3. Germ warfare!Like chemical agents, biological weapons have never lived up to their billing in popular culture.
Consider the 1995 medical thriller Outbreak, in which a highly contagious virus takes out entire towns. The reality is quite different.
Weaponized smallpox escaped from a Soviet laboratory in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, in 1971; three people died, no
epidemic followed. In 1979, weapons-grade anthrax got out of a Soviet facility in Sverdlovsk (now called Ekaterinburg); 68
died, no epidemic. The loss of life was tragic, but no greater than could have been caused by a single conventional
bomb. In 1989, workers at a US government facility near Washington were accidentally exposed to Ebola virus.
They walked around the community and hung out with family and friends for several days before the mistake was
discovered. No one died. The fact is, evolution has spent millions of years conditioning mammals to resist
germs. Consider the Black Plague. It was the worst known pathogen in history, loose in a Middle Ages society of
poor public health, awful sanitation, and no antibiotics. Yet it didn’t kill off humanity. Most people who were caught in the
epidemic survived. Any superbug introduced into today’s Western world would encounter top-notch
public health, excellent sanitation, and an array of medicines specifically engineered to kill bioagents.
Perhaps one day some aspiring Dr. Evil will invent a bug that bypasses the immune system. Because it is possible some novel superdisease
could be invented, or that existing pathogens like smallpox could be genetically altered to make them more virulent (two-thirds of those who
contract natural smallpox survive), biological agents are a legitimate concern. They may turn increasingly troublesome as time passes and
knowledge of biotechnology becomes harder to control, allowing individuals or small groups to cook up nasty germs as readily as they can buy
guns today. But no superplague has ever come close to wiping out humanity before, and it seems unlikely to happen in the future.
US pharmaceutical industry already solving bioterrorism
WP, 1 – the Washington Post (“Scientists Race for Vaccines”, Washington Post, 11/8/01,
http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/November2001/ScisRaceForVax.htm)//EX
U.S. scientists, spurred into action by the events of Sept. 11, have begun a concerted assault on
bioterrorism, working to produce an array of new medicines that include treatments for smallpox, a
safer smallpox vaccine and a painless anthrax vaccine.
At least one major drug company, Pharmacia Corp. of Peapack, N.J., has offered to let government
scientists roam through the confidential libraries of millions of compounds it has synthesized to look for
drugs against bioterror agents. Other companies have signaled that they will do the same if asked.
These are unprecedented offers, since a drug company's chemical library, painstakingly assembled over
decades, is one of its primary assets, to which federal scientists usually have no access.
"A lot of people would say we won World War II with the help of a mighty industrial base," said Michael
Friedman, a onetime administrator at the Food and Drug Administration who was appointed days ago to
coordinate the pharmaceutical industry's efforts. "In this new war against bioterrorism, the mighty
industrial power is the pharmaceutical industry."
Researchers say a generation of young scientists never called upon before to defend the nation is
working overtime in a push for rapid progress. At laboratories of the National Institutes of Health, at
universities and research institutes across the land, people are scrambling.
But the campaign, for all its urgency, faces hurdles both scientific and logistical. The kind of research
now underway would normally take at least a decade before products appeared on pharmacy shelves.
Scientists are talking about getting at least some new products out the door within two years, a
daunting schedule in medical research.
If that happens, it will be with considerable assistance from the nation's drug companies. They are the
only organizations in the country with the scale to move rapidly to produce pills and vials of medicine
that might be needed by the billions.
The companies and their powerful lobby in Washington have been working over the past few weeks to
seize the moment and rehabilitate their reputations, tarnished in recent years by controversy over drug
prices and the lack of access to AIDS drugs among poor countries.
The companies have already made broad commitments to aid the government in the short term,
offering free pills with a wholesale value in excess of $1 billion, as well as other help. The question now
is whether that commitment will extend over the several years it will take to build a national stockpile of
next-generation medicines.
A good deal of basic research is already going on at nonprofit institutes that work for the government
under contract, and scientists there say they are newly optimistic about the prospects of commercial
help.
"The main issue is, can we get the facilities?" said John Secrist III, vice president for drug discovery and
development at Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, which is looking, under federal grant, for
antiviral drugs to treat smallpox. Given the new mood in the country, he said, "if we come up with a
molecule that's going to be of help, then I have no doubt that we could very rapidly convert that into
doses for humans."
Many of the projects that could lead to new drugs and vaccines were underway before Sept. 11, thanks
partly to an extensive commitment NIH made two years ago. Others, like the smallpox project Eli Lilly
initiated, have been started from scratch in recent weeks.
Before Sept. 11, NIH had planned to spend $93 million on next-generation bioterrorism research this
budget year. That was nearly double the amount in the prior year, but now the actual figure is likely to
jump by tens of millions. Other parts of the government, including the Department of Defense, are
spending millions as well, often in cooperation with NIH.
Much of the immediate focus is on better defenses for smallpox and anthrax, two bioterror agents
theoretically capable of killing millions.
Smallpox was eradicated from the United States in 1949 and from the rest of the world in 1978. The last
remaining stocks of virus are supposedly secure in two repositories in the United States and Russia.
Some terrorist groups are feared to have gotten their hands on virus samples from Russia, and if that's
true, they could set off a worldwide epidemic.
Stopping such an outbreak would require mass vaccinations. The government has a stockpile of old
smallpox vaccine, but the supply is limited. It is, moreover, a primitive product, not substantially
different from the vaccine discovered by English physician Edward Jenner in 1796.
Using it involves deliberately infecting a person with a mild virus related to smallpox, which prompts the
immune system to mount a defense that works against smallpox as well.
The government is about to place emergency orders for more vaccine. However, the vaccine itself can
provoke illness in some people, and a mass vaccination campaign in the United States would likely cause
hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths.
In work sponsored by NIH and the Pentagon, scientists are studying the prospect of creating a modern
vaccine that uses only a small, harmless part of the smallpox virus to induce immunity -- a so-called
"subunit" vaccine. The safest modern vaccines are made that way.
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a unit of NIH, said
progress is being made but an improved smallpox vaccine could still be years away. A complementary
near-term strategy is to come up with ways to treat vaccine-induced illness so as to minimize deaths.
Supported by Fauci's institute, Paul W.H.I. Parren at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego is
working on creating proteins to do that. Similar work is progressing in other labs.
Parren said his lab has obtained promising results, and animal testing may begin soon. He estimated
production of a drug could conceivably get begin within a year. "These last events have accelerated
everything," he said.
Scientists are also trying to make an improved anthrax vaccine to replace the primitive one in use today.
Prospects are brighter in the near term than for a new smallpox vaccine, in part because much of the
necessary knowledge about anthrax is already in hand. "I think that's something that could move along
very rapidly," Fauci said.
Some private companies are interested. Iomai Corp. of Gaithersburg is working on a project that would
use a skin patch developed by the company to vaccinate against anthrax. This strategy might overcome
the repeated, painful injections and side effects that have prompted hundreds of US soldiers to refuse
anthrax vaccinations.
The company is collaborating with a government lab that has received a $300,000 federal grant but
wants more. "If we had the resources and the commitment, I think we could have a working
experimental vaccine evaluated in nine months, which in the vaccine universe is very fast," said Gregory
Glenn, senior vice president at Iomai.
While a new smallpox vaccine could contain an outbreak, it would not help people infected in an attack.
The disease is untreatable. To solve that problem, labs are working on antiviral drugs to attack Variola
major, the smallpox virus.
A drug called cidofovir, developed in the 1990s to treat an AIDS-related infection, has already shown
promise against smallpox, but it has serious side effects. Scientists are trying to make chemical cousins
with fewer side effects.
AT: Food Shortage Impacts
Biotechnology cannot solve food shortages – crises are caused by structural
inequalities, not lack of food
Goodman, 10 – Member, Policy Advisory Board, Center for Food Safety and the Organic Consumers
Association (Jim, “The Food Crisis is Not About a Shortage of Food,” Common Dreams,
9/17https://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/17-1)//SY
The food crisis of 2008 never really ended, it was ignored and forgotten. The rich and powerful are well
fed; they had no food crisis, no shortage, so in the West, it was little more than a short lived sound bite,
tragic but forgettable. To the poor in the developing world, whose ability to afford food is no better now
than in 2008, the hunger continues.
Hunger can have many contributing factors; natural disaster, discrimination, war, poor infrastructure. So
why, regardless of the situation, is high tech agriculture always assumed to be the only the solution?
This premise is put forward and supported by those who would benefit financially if their “solution”
were implemented. Corporations peddle their high technology genetically engineered seed and
chemical packages, their genetically altered animals, always with the “promise” of feeding the world.
Politicians and philanthropists, who may mean well, jump on the high technology band wagon. Could
the promise of financial support or investment return fuel their apparent compassion?
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation supposedly works to achieve a food secure and prosperous
Africa. While these sentiments and goals may be philanthropy at its best, some of the coalition partners
have a different agenda.
One of the key players in AGRA, Monsanto, hopes to spread its genetically engineered seed throughout
Africa by promising better yields, drought resistance, an end to hunger, etc. etc. Could a New Green
Revolution succeed where the original Green Revolution had failed? Or was the whole concept of a
Green Revolution a pig in a poke to begin with?
Monsanto giving free seed to poor small holder farmers sounds great, or are they just setting the hook?
Remember, next year those farmers will have to buy their seed. Interesting to note that the Gates
Foundation purchased $23.1 million worth of Monsanto stock in the second quarter of 2010. Do they
also see the food crisis in Africa as a potential to turn a nice profit? Every corporation has one overriding
interest--- self-interest, but surely not charitable foundations?
Food shortages are seldom about a lack of food, there is plenty of food in the world, the shortages occur
because of the inability to get food where it is needed and the inability of the hungry to afford it. These
two problems are principally caused by, as Francis Moore Lappe' put it, a lack of justice. There are also
ethical considerations, a higher value should be placed on people than on corporate profit, this must be
at the forefront, not an afterthought.
In 2008, there were shortages of food, in some places, for some people. There was never a shortage of
food in 2008 on a global basis, nor is there currently. True, some countries, in Africa for example, do not
have enough food where it is needed, yet people with money have their fill no matter where they live.
Poverty and inequality cause hunger.
Multiple alternate causes to food prices
Teslik 08 – Assistant Editor at Council on Foreign Relations (Lee Hudson, “Food Prices”, 6/30/2008,
http://www.cfr.org/publication/16662/food_prices.html)
Before considering factors like supply and demand within food markets, it is important to understand the umbrella factors influencing costs of
production and, even more broadly, the currencies with which and economies within which food is traded. Energy Prices. Rising
energy
prices have direct causal implications for the food market. Fuel is used in several aspects of the
agricultural production process, including fertilization, processing, and transportation. The percentage of total
agricultural input expenditures directed toward energy costs has risen significantly in recent years. A briefing from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture notes that the U.S. agricultural industry’s total expenditures on fuel and oil are forecast to rise 12.6 percent in 2008, following a rise
of 11.5 percent in 2007. These
costs are typically passed along to customers and are reflected in global spot
prices (i.e. the current price a commodity trades for at market). The input costs of electricity have also risen, furthering the burden. Though it
isn’t itself an energy product, fertilizer is an energy-intensive expense, particularly when substantial transport costs are borne by local
farmers—so that expense, too, is reflected in the final price of foodstuffs. (Beyond direct causation, energy prices are also correlated to food
prices, in the sense that many of the same factors pushing up energy prices—population trends, for instance, or market speculation—also
affect food prices.) Currencies/Inflation. When food is traded internationally—particularly on commodities exchanges or futures markets—it is
often denominated in U.S. dollars. In recent years, the
valuation of the dollar has fallen with respect to many other
major world currencies. This means that even if food prices stayed steady with respect to a basket of currencies, their price in
dollars would have risen. Of course, food prices have not stayed steady—they have risen across the board—but if you examine
international food prices in dollar terms, it is worth noting that the decline of the dollar accentuates any apparent price increase. Demand
Demand for most kinds of food has risen in the past decade. This trend can be attributed to several factors: Population trends. The world’s
population has grown a little more than 12 percent in the past decade. Virtually nobody argues that this trend alone accounts for rising food
prices—agricultural production has, in many cases, become more efficient, offsetting the needs of a larger population—and some analysts say
population growth hasn’t had any impact whatsoever on food prices. The shortcomings of a Malthusian food-price argument are most obvious
in the very recent past. Richard Posner, a professor of law and economics at the University of Chicago, argues this point on his blog. He notes
that in 2007 the food price index used by the FAO rose 40 percent, as compared to 9 percent in 2006—clearly a much faster rate than global
population growth for that year, which measured a little over 1 percent. Nonetheless, experts
say population trends, distinct
from sheer growth rates, have had a major impact on food prices. For instance, the past decade has seen
the rapid growth of a global middle class. This, Posner says, has led to changing tastes, and increasing demand for
food that is less efficient to produce. Specifically, he cites an increased demand for meats. Livestock require farmland for grazing
(land that could be used to grow other food), and also compete directly with humans for food resources like maize. The
production of one serving of meat, economists say, is vastly less efficient than the production of one serving of corn or rice. Biofuels. Experts
say government policies
that provide incentives for farmers to use crops to produce energy, rather than food,
have exacerbated food shortages. Specifically, many economists fault U.S. policies diverting maize crops to the production of
ethanol and other biofuels. The effects of ramped-up U.S. ethanol production—which President Bush called for as part of an
initiative to make the United States “energy independent”—was highlighted in a 2007 Foreign Affairs article by C. Ford Runge and Benjamin
Senauer. Runge and Senauer write that the push to increase ethanol production has
spawned ethanol subsidies in many
countries, not just the United States. Brazil, they note, produced 45.2 percent of the world’s ethanol in 2005 (from sugar cane), and the
United States 44.5 percent (from corn). Europe also produces biodiesel, mostly from oilseeds. In all cases, the result is the diversion of food
products from global food markets, accentuating demand, pinching supply, and pushing up prices. Joachim von Braun, the director general of
IFPRI, writes in an April 2008 briefing (PDF) that 30 percent of all maize produced in the United States (by far the largest maize producer in the
world) will be diverted to biofuel production in 2008. This raises prices not only for people buying maize directly, but also for those buying
maize products (cornflakes) or meat from livestock that feed on maize (cattle). Speculation. Many analysts point to speculative
trading
practices as a factor influencing rising food prices. In May 2008 testimony (PDF) before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security,
Michael W. Masters, the managing partner of the hedge fund Masters Capital Management, explained the dynamic. Masters says institutional
investors like hedge funds and pension funds started pouring money into commodities futures markets in the early 2000s, pushing up
futures contracts and, in turn, spot prices. Spot traders often use futures markets as a benchmark for what price they are willing to pay, so
even if futures contracts are inflated by an external factor like a flood of interest from pension funds, this still tends to result in a bump for spot
prices. Still, much debate remains about the extent to which speculation in futures markets in fact pushes up food prices. “In general we
[economists] think futures markets are a good reflection of what’s likely to happen in the real future,” says IFPRI’s Orden. Orden acknowledges
that more capital has flowed into agricultural commodities markets in recent years, but says that he “tends to think these markets are pretty
efficient and that you shouldn’t look for a scapegoat in speculators.” Supply Even
as demand for agricultural products has
risen, several factors have pinched global supply. These include: Development/urbanization. During the past half decade,
global economic growth has featured expansion throughout emerging markets, even as developed economies in the
United States, Europe, and Japan have cooled. The economies of China, India, Russia, numerous countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and
Eastern Europe, and a handful of achievers in the Middle East and Africa have experienced strong economic growth rates. This is particularly
true in Asian cities, where industrial
and service sector development has clustered. The result has often been a
boost for per capita earnings but a drag on domestic agriculture, as discussed in this backgrounder on African
agriculture. Farmland has in many cases been repurposed for urban or industrial development projects.
Governments have not, typically, been as eager to invest in modernizing farm equipment or irrigation techniques as they have been to sink
money into urban development. All
this has put an increased burden on developing-world farmers, precisely as
they dwindle in number and supply capacity. Production capacity in other parts of the world has increased by leaps and bounds
as efficiency has increased, and, as previously noted, total global production exceeds global demand. But urbanization opens markets
up to other factors—transportation costs and risks, for instance, which are particularly high in less accessible parts of the
developing world—and prevent the smooth functioning of trade, even where there are willing buyers and sellers. Weather.
Some of the factors leading to recent price increases have been weather-related factors that tightened supply in specific markets.
In 2008, for instance, two major weather events worked in concert to squeeze Asian rice production—Cyclone Nargis, which led to massive
flooding and the destruction of rice harvests in Myanmar; and a major drought in parts of Australia. Estimates indicate Myanmar’s flooding
instantly destroyed a substantial portion of Myanmar’s harvest, limiting the country’s ability to export rice. Meanwhile, Australia’s drought
wiped out 98 percent of the country’s rice harvest in 2008, forcing Canberra to turn to imports and further straining Asia’s rice market. Trade
policy. Agricultural trade barriers have long been faulted for gumming up trade negotiations, including the Doha
round of World Trade Organization talks. But in the midst of the recent food pinch, a different kind of trade barrier has emerged as a problem—
export bans. As discussed before (in the instance of the Philippines meeting difficulty in its efforts to import rice), several exporters have
tightened the reins in light of domestic supply concerns. According to the UN’s World Food Program, over forty countries have imposed some
form of export ban in an effort to increase domestic food security. India, for instance, imposed bans on exporting some forms of rice and oil in
June 2008—a move that took food off the market, led to stockpiling, and brought a spike in prices. China,
Kazakhstan, and Indonesia, among other countries, have introduced similar bans. The distorting effects of these barriers are particularly
troubling in the developing world, where a much larger percentage of average household income is spent on food. The African Development
Bank warned in May 2008 that similar moves among African countries could rapidly exacerbate food concerns on the African continent. A group
of West African countries, meanwhile, sought to mitigate the negative effects of export bans by exempting one another. Food aid policy and
other policies. Experts say flaws
in food aid policies have limited its effectiveness and in some cases exacerbated
price pressures on food. CFR Senior Fellow Laurie Garrett discusses some of these factors in a recent working paper. Garrett cites
illogical aid policies such as grants for irrigation and mechanization of crop production that the Asian Development Bank plans to give to
Bangladesh, a densely populated country without “a spare millimeter of arable land.” Garrett also criticizes food aid policies (U.S. aid policies
are one example) that mandate food aid to be doled out in the form of crops grown by U.S. farmers, rather than cash. The rub, she says, is that
food grown in the United States is far more expensive, both to produce and to transport, than food
grown in recipient countries. Such a policy guarantees that the dollar value of donations goes much less
far than it would if aid were directed to funds that could be spent in local markets. Other experts note additional
policies that limit supply. In a recent interview with CFR.org, Paul Collier, an economics professor at Oxford University, cites European bans on
genetically modified crops as a prime example.
Some degree of famine’s inevitable
Harsch ‘3
(Ernest, Africa Recovery, May,
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol17no1/171food1.htm)
To many around the world, the image of famine in Africa is closely linked to drought and, in some countries, war. But even
when there is
no drought or other acute crisis, about 200 million Africans suffer from chronic hunger, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf noted during a recent visit to Senegal. The reasons are multiple: low
farm productivity, grinding poverty, the ravages of HIV/AIDS and unstable domestic and international
agricultural markets. "Food insecurity in Africa has structural causes ," Mr. Annan emphasizes. "Most African farmers
cultivate small plots of land that do not produce enough to meet the needs of their families. The
problem is compounded by the farmers' lack of bargaining power and lack of access to land, finance and
technology." Because small-scale farmers and other rural Africans have so few food stocks and little income, a period of drought
can quickly trigger famine conditions . This is especially true for rural women, who are among the
poorest of the poor and who account for the bulk of food production in Africa.
Alt cause – honeybees
AP 08 (“Honey Bee Crisis could lead to higher food prices”,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-sick-bees,0,622176.story)
WASHINGTON — Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved,
farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday. "No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House
Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent. About
three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee
pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value. In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent
to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists do not know how many bees have
died; beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year. It was 31 percent for 2007, said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of
the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service. "If
there are no bees, there is no way for our nation's
farmers to continue to grow the high quality, nutritious foods our country relies on," said Democratic Rep.
Dennis Cardoza of California, chairman of the horticulture and organic agriculture panel. "This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore."
Alt cause – Population growth
Von Braun, 08 – Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (Joachim, April
2008
“High Food Prices: What should be done?”, http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/bp/bp001.asp)
At the same time, the growing world population is demanding more and different kinds of food. Rapid
economic growth in many developing countries has pushed up consumers' purchasing power, generated
rising demand for food, and shifted food demand away from traditional staples and toward higher-value
foods like meat and milk. This dietary shift is leading to increased demand for grains used to feed
livestock.
No protectionism – the U.S. will never abandon free trade--institutions and selfinterest check
Ikenson, 09 – director of Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies (Daniel, Center for Trade Policy
Studies, Free Trade Bulletin 37, “A protectionism fling”,
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10651)
A Growing Constituency for Freer Trade The WTO/GATT system was created in the first place to deter a protectionist
pandemic triggered by global economic contraction. It was created to deal with the very situation that is at hand. But in today's integrated
global economy, those rules are not the only incentives to keep trade barriers in check. With the advent and
proliferation of transnational supply chains, cross-border direct investment, multinational joint ventures, and equity tie-ups,
the "Us versus Them" characterization of world commerce no longer applies. Most WTO members are
happy to lower tariffs because imports provide consumers with lower prices and greater variety, which
incentivizes local business to improve quality and productivity, which is crucial to increasing living standards. Moreover, many local economies
now rely upon access to imported raw materials, components, and capital equipment for their own value-added activities. To
improve
chances to attract investment and talent in a world where capital (physical, financial, and human) is increasingly mobile,
countries must maintain policies that create a stable business climate with limited administrative, logistical, and
physical obstacles. The experience of India is instructive. Prior to reforms beginning in the 1990s, India's economy was virtually closed. The
average tariff rate on intermediate goods in 1985 was nearly 150 percent. By 1997 the rate had been reduced to 30 percent. As trade barriers
were reduced, imports of intermediate goods more than doubled. The tariff reductions caused prices to fall and Indian industry suddenly had
access to components and materials it could not import previously. That access enabled Indian manufacturers to cut costs and use the savings
to invest in new product lines, which was a process that played a crucial role in the overall growth of the Indian economy.16 India's approach
has been common in the developing world, where most comprehensive trade reforms during the past quarter century have been undertaken
unilaterally, without any external pressure, because governments recognized that structural reforms were in their country's interest. According
to the World Bank, between 1983 and 2003, developing countries reduced their weighted average tariffs by almost 21 percentage points (from
29.9 percent to 9.3 percent) and unilateral reforms accounted for 66 percent of those cuts.17 The Indispensible Nation The United States
accounts for the highest percentage of world trade and has the world's largest economy. The WTO/GATT system is a U.S.-inspired and U.S.shaped institution. Recession in the United States has triggered a cascade of economic contractions around the world, particularly in exportdependent economies. Needless to say, U.S. trade policy is closely and nervously observed in other countries. But despite
the
occasional anti-trade rhetoric of the Democratic Congress and the protectionist-sounding campaign pledges of President
Obama, the United States is unlikely to alter its strong commitment to the global trading system. There is
simply too much at stake. Like businesses in other countries, U.S. businesses have become increasingly
reliant on transnational supply chains. Over 55 percent of U.S. import value in 2007 was of intermediate goods, which indicates
that U.S. producers depend highly on imported materials, components, and capital equipment. And there is
also the fact that 95 percent of the world's population lives outside of the United States, so an open trade
policy is an example to uphold.
Alt cause – GM crops cause mass crop failure and famine
Ho 1/21/07 (Mae-Wan Ho, PhD, director of the London-based Institute for Science in Society (ISIS),
“Making the World GM-Free and Sustainable,” http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/gm-freesustainable.html)
Genetically modified (GM) crops epitomize industrial monoculture, with its worst features exaggerated.
They are part and parcel of the "environmental bubble economy," built on the over-exploitation of
natural resources, which has destroyed the environment, depleted water and fossil fuels and accelerated global
warming. As a result, world grain yields have been falling for six of the seven past years. Expanding the
cultivation of GM crops at this time is a recipe for global bio-devastation, massive crop failures and
global famine. GM crops are a dangerous diversion from the urgent task of getting our food system sustainable in order to really feed the
world.