Category: Press Release

New York City’s emergency management agency has released a 90-second public service announcement (PSA) about what to do if the “big one” hits, stating there was no specific reason for the timing. The message is simple: 1. Get inside, fast. 2. Stay inside. 3. Stay tuned to media for official announcements, and don’t go outside until officials say it’s safe.

“Awareness is prudent, but this PSA lacks vital information,” states Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) president Jane Orient, M.D. DDP refers people to the 60-second nuclear detonation training card, which has been distributed to thousands of first responders, and has issued the following statement:

• In the event of a nuclear detonation, the most important life-saving measure is to drop and cover immediately if you see a bright flash. A blast wave will follow, with hurricane-force winds, turning windows into shards of glass. Survival is much more likely if you are lying flat on the ground.
• Fallout looks like sand, ash, or grit. If there is fallout, you need to take cover for several days. If a building has no basement, get as close to the middle of the building as possible.
• Fallout loses 90% of its radioactivity in the first 7 hours, and an additional 90% for each sevenfold increase in time.
• Official communications are likely to be unavailable, and officials may lack appropriate radiation monitoring instruments. Citizens can acquire detection devices now, or instructions and common materials for making an expedient instrument (Kearny Fallout Meter).
• If not within the zone of complete destruction, most people could survive if they do not panic and have some basic knowledge.

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

Last week President Biden warned that global food shortages were going to be “real,” because of the war in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine together supply about a fourth of the world’s wheat exports.

“The price of [U.S.] sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country,” Biden said.

Russia’s exports of fertilizers—18 percent of the potash market, 20 percent of ammonia exports—are also off market. It is unclear how much the West will want to buy, or how much Russia will be willing to sell, and on what terms, now that its foreign exchange reserves have been frozen, effectively invalidating all previous economic contracts.

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) also notes that natural gas is a key ingredient in nitrogen-based fertilizers, so shortages affect food production, not just heating and electricity generation. At present, 41 percent of Europe’s natural gas comes from Russia.

DDP has long advocated that Americans stockpile food as an insurance policy against all kinds of natural and man-made disasters. Many convenient forms of survival foods are offered. Buckets of unprocessed wheat, corn, and beans are the most economical. Salt, sugar, and oil are also needed. Methods of storage and field-tested preparation are detailed in the book Nuclear War Survival Skills, available free on line.

“Americans are once again stocking up on toilet paper,” stated DDP president Jane Orient, M.D., “but they should first make sure they have at least a minimum of staples, salt, and canned goods in their pantry.”

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is a group of scientists (including physicians) founded in 1984, which provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

As Russian troops enter Ukraine, Vladimir Putin warns other nations of “consequences you have never seen” if they interfere in his plans.

Joe Biden threatens additional economic sanctions on Russia, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated: “We will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop the access of Russian banks to European financial markets.”

German chancellor Olaf Sholz said Germany would suspend its agreement with Russia to use the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.

The Russian attack is not confined to conventional troops and bombs. Ukraine’s government sites have already been hit with a massive cyber attack.

Russia’s U.S. ambassador Anatoly Antonov responded to Biden’s threat: “I don’t remember a single day when our country lived without any restrictions from the Western world. We have learned to work in such conditions. And not only to survive, but also to develop our state.”

Americans will not be unaffected, Antonov said. “There is no doubt that the sanctions introduced against us will hit global financial and energy markets…. The United States will not be left out, with its ordinary citizens feeling the consequences of the price increase in full.”

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, warned that Germany’s decision to suspend authorizing Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline means it will be paying more than double for natural gas.

“America’s currency, financial infrastructure, and energy supply are also extremely vulnerable,” states Doctors for Disaster Preparedness president Jane Orient, M.D. “Whatever happens in Ukraine will affect you.”

Some prudent measures that DDP recommends include:

• Don’t depend on constant availability of ATMs; keep some cash on hand to cover emergencies as well as predictable needs.
• Since inflation is only likely to worsen, and supply chains are already stretched, stock up on food, medicines, and other essentials.
• Be aware of the potential for false flags, civil unrest, and unreliable media reports; don’t rely solely on one official source.

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

In his Jan 19 press conference, President Joe Biden pushed for vaccinating everyone against COVID-19, including babies as soon as the science shows it to be safe, as it presumably will. But he also mentioned treatment for patients who nonetheless become infected, observes Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) president Jane Orient, M.D.

“Additionally, we’re increasing the availability of new medicines recommended by real doctors, not conspir—conspiracy theorists.” At the press conference, he specifically named monoclonal antibodies and alluded to new pills.

Previously, Biden stated that he had doubled the government’s order of Pfizer’s Paxlovid, from 10 million to 20 million doses, while noting that it takes months to make a pill.

The federal government has been rationing monoclonal antibodies, which in any event are probably ineffective against the omicron variant, notes DDP.

The State of New York has received Paxlovid doses for treating only about 20,000 people. Its Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett observed that that is insufficient.

Paxlovid is authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization (EUA). It contains a protease inhibitor, nirmatrelvir, to prevent viral replication plus the HIV drug ritonavir to prevent the protease inhibitor from being broken down. According to Pfizer press releases, Paxlovid has been effective in early treatment of mild to moderate COVID.

The Merck drug molnupiravir, which also has an EUA, could be available sooner. But because it results in genetic mutations, it is feared that it could lead to new viral variants or result in cancer or birth defects in humans.

Meanwhile, the government is hoarding in the Strategic National Stockpile some 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, which were donated by generous pharmaceutical companies to treat COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine was FDA approved in 1955 and has been safely used by hundreds of millions of people for a variety of indications.

“Why is President Biden touting a medication that is mostly unavailable?” asks Dr. Orient. “And why is the government authorizing and recommending a medication that may be unsafe for many, while affordable, long-established drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are discouraged or suppressed?”

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is a group of scientists (including physicians) founded in 1984, which provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

On Dec 20, 2021 Doctors for Disaster Preparedness filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the biggest energy case in a decade, West Virginia v. EPA, No. 20-1530. DDP urges the Court to end the interference with affordable energy by the Environmental Protection Agency, which was never authorized by Congress.

The question presented in the brief is whether an administrative agency can unilaterally issue rules so far-reaching as to reshape the nation’s electricity grids and “decarbonize” any sector of the economy, with virtually no limit.

“Misuse of science for an agenda of political control is dangerous, and the sort of tyranny by factionalism that the Constitution safeguards against,” DDP argues. The faction of climate change activists seeks broad control of our entire energy sector without authorization by Congress.

“If current trends continue, a handful of unelected bureaucrats could virtually prohibit use of the combustion engine…, and average Americans will become dependent on government allowance of electric charging stations in order to merely travel from point A to B.” Americans would also be dependent on government for access to heating, refrigeration, and lighting, the brief notes.

“Today there is no greater factional ‘zeal’, as James Madison put it, than the demand for increased government control over energy under a theory of a cataclysmic man-made climate change,” DDP argues, urging the Court to “embrace the Constitution and affirm that Congress exists to deal with such factions.”

Under EPA’s expansive interpretation of the Clean Air Act, it could control the lives of more than 300 million Americans under the guise of improving air quality. It is unlikely that even Congress has such power, DDP notes, and “it would be unconstitutional for Congress to delegate such sweeping power to an unaccountable administrator.”

“Continued unfettered delegation to administrative agencies leaves a cavernous hole in the constitutionally balanced structure of checks and balances because agencies are prone to be arbitrary and unaccountable,” DDP writes.

Allowing the administrative state to overstep these boundaries is perilous to liberty, states DDP.

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is a group of independent scientists founded in 1984.

I hope you have been able to stay warm this winter.

But wherever we live, we need to learn from Texas. It is quite likely that your state or locality is making firm plans to hop on the “renewables” train, following the lead of Texas and California. Tucson, Arizona, recently distributed an opinion survey about how, not whether, to phase out “fossil fuel.”

Texas has prided itself on leadership in the wind industry. But as the graph below shows, if you had power in Texas in early February, it was coming from natural gas, coal, or nuclear—mostly gas.

If you were able to leave your frozen home, to drive a few hundred miles to a place where you could heat formula for your baby, you drove in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. If you slept in your car to keep warn—not in a closed garage!—you were burning fuel. If you did not have gas in your tank, too bad. Service stations can’t pump gas without electricity.

Continue reading “Lessons from the Texas Freeze”

You have probably heard the claim that marijuana is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol.

                We might find out that this is not true with more widespread use of more potent product. Too late? Arizona Prop 207, which legalizes marijuana and hashish, will be virtually impossible to change once it passes. A “yes” vote turns all 17 pages into law.

                Dangers of marijuana that you might not have heard about include:

• Serious mental illness: Teenagers who smoke marijuana regularly are about three times as likely to develop schizophrenia. And 27% of people with schizophrenia had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder, according to a 2010 review.
• Violent behavior: Despite its reputation for making users relaxed and calm, cannabis appears to provoke some patients to violence. In a Swiss study of 265 psychotic patients, young men with psychosis who used cannabis had a 50% chance of becoming violent over a 3-year period.
• Lowered IQ: Marijuana harms brain development, which is not complete until the early 20s. There was an average drop of 8 IQ points between age 13 and 38 in heavy users in teen and adult years, compared with no drop in never-users. There is a significant decrease in verbal memory for each 5 years of cannabis use, accompanied by a decreased size of working memory areas of the brain shown on functional MRI.
• Birth defects: A spectrum of neurologic impairments is seen, including some that mimic autism, and many heart and gastrointestinal anomalies may occur. Marijuana lingers in the system months after use is stopped. The father’s use may also harm the baby.
• Cancer: Marijuana contains more tar and carcinogens than tobacco, and marijuana smokers tend to inhale more deeply and for a longer period.
• Impaired driving: Marijuana’s effects include distorted perceptions and impaired reaction time, attention span, and judgment. Users have a doubled risk of involvement in an auto crash.
• Cardiovascular disease: Users have an increased risk of stroke (26%), heart failure (10%), and sudden cardiac death.

I hope that you and yours are safe. My friends are fighting fires trying to cross the firebreaks around their home with hoes and shovels as well as water.

Meanwhile, fiery political darts are being hurled at producers of fossil fuels, users (that includes all of us), and politicians who resist a Green New Deal. Joe Biden called President Trump a “climate arsonist.”

Has climate change produced conditions leading to “unprecedented” fires? Did CO2 emissions cause the change? And can it be stopped by reducing those emissions?

The COVID-19 lockdowns have hinted at what a drastic change would be needed to get to “net zero.” With automobile traffic cut in half in April, and air traffic virtually halted for months, CO2 emissions were down only 8 percent—and more than 600,000 people were out of work.

Before prescribing a still more drastic remedy, let’s consider the diagnosis:

1. The fires are not unprecedented. The figure below shows that acreage burned was much greater in the early 20^th century.

2. Wildfires are affected by many variables:

• Sun’s variations and earth-sun orbital variation
• Extraterrestrial impacts such as meteorites
• Lightning
• Fuel loads
• Animal grazing
• Climate: rainfall + temperature
• Human activities: soil condition, land use, controlled burning, arson

We could change forest management practices NOW. Reducing CO2 emissions to zero MIGHT reduce temperature by 0.05 degrees Celsius by 2050.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is “NOT currently spreading in the community in the United States,” but that it is an “emerging, rapidly evolving situation.”

“It is impossible to be sure that the virus is not spreading without more extensive testing,” stated Jane M. Orient, M.D., president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. Testing for COVID-19 has been restricted to “persons under suspicion” (PUIs), that is persons with fever, signs of a lower respiratory infection, and a history of travel to China or exposure to a person known to have COVID-19 or travel to China within 14 days of symptom onset.

The CDC has now liberalized the criteria: “For severely ill individuals, testing can be considered when exposure history is equivocal (e.g., uncertain travel or exposure, or no known exposure) and another etiology has not been identified.” The availability of test kits is limited, and “performance issues” were identified in the manufacturing of one of the reagents, so these will need to be replaced.

Continue reading “Coronavirus Can’t Be Tracked in U.S. without More Testing”