A lot has happened in the world over the past week. Let’s catch up on the major news headlines:
IV fluids shortage
Following the recent Hurricane Helene, which swept through southern states such as Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, there is now an IV fluids shortage in healthcare centers nationwide. One of the main American producers of IV fluids is Baxter, a company whose headquarters is in North Carolina.
Hurricane Helene flooded the factory, forcing a shutdown and leaving hospitals shorthanded as they prepare for cold and flu season. Baxter is currently undergoing a clean-up of the facilities and plans to resume business operations by the end of the year, according to ABC.
Competitors, such as B. Braun Medical, are currently increasing production to make up for the shortage, which has led hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries and give patients Gatorade instead of an IV drip. Overseas Baxter locations have also been temporarily approved to ship IV fluids to the U.S.
E.coli outbreak from McDonald’s
On Oct. 22, the CDC reported an outbreak of E. coli from the McDonald’s quarter-pounder burger. As of Wednesday, Oct. 23, there have been 49 reported cases and one death, with numbers expected to rise in a matter of days.
The United States Food and Drug Administration suspects that the sliced onions and beef patties are the source of the outbreak, although it has not been confirmed by the CDC, according to CNN.
However, the McDonald’s president, Joe Erlinger, claimed that it is still safe to eat there. He stated that the diced onions should not have the same issues as sliced onions and that the beef patties are only used for quarter-pounders.
Cuba’s power grid outages due to Hurricane Oscar
On Sunday, Oct. 20, Hurricane Oscar made landfall in Cuba. This led to several power grids collapsing across the nation, while many residents were already without power. Since Friday, Oct. 18, Cuba has faced four power grid failures as a result of recent hurricanes.
Fresh food and water have also been difficult to obtain this past weekend. Non-essential workers and children were instructed to stay home from work and school until Wednesday, Oct. 23. According to CNN, 88% of customers in Havana have had their power restored, but much of the country still is suffering an outage.
France’s Pelicot mass rape trials: working to change the law
Gisele Pelicot is currently suing her husband, Dominique Pelicot for drugging her and recruiting an estimated fifty men to rape her while she was unconscious, according to Reuters. This has pioneered protests for changes in French law to protect people from such tragic incidents.
Currently, French law defines rape as, a “penetrative act or oral sex act committed on someone using ‘violence, coercion, threat or surprise,” Reuters reported. However, the #MeToo movement has encouraged revisions of such legal technicalities across Europe.
Currently, multiple politicians, such as France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and the new justice minister, Didier Migaud, have voiced their support for updating the law to include the requirement of the partner’s consent for any sexual acts.
Ghana’s waterways polluted by a gold rush
For centuries, Ghana has seen its fair share of illegal gold miners, following the saying “There is no land in Ghana which doesn’t have gold, even in the topsoil. Ghana is gold,” according to BBC.
However, this led to a shift about twenty years ago, when Chinese businessmen moved to Ghana and industrialized gold mining throughout the country. This has led to harmful environmental effects, most notably polluting the waterways with chemicals such as mercury.
BBC reported, “During the washing process, various chemicals, including mercury and cyanide, are used to help extract the gold from the soil, polluting big and small rivers … The water in these rivers is so turbid that it is undrinkable.”
Over 4,726 hectares of land have also been damaged by this illegal form of gold mining, by felled trees and removal of vegetation, as well as the destruction of topsoil.
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @miguelitoleon, Instagram
