So apparently some Swiss company found out that Brazilian blood has more immunoglobulin (which is used in some medications made by pharma companies) than European blood, and now international pharma companies are lobbying to change Brazilian law to allow them to use our blood as a resource

There is no current evidence that those things are related, but it just so happens that at the same time there is also another law being discussed that would get rid of "bureaucracy" when it comes to ethics analyses of trials on humans. It would also remove the right, which all brazilians currently have, to access to the medication resulting from the trials they participated in

Both sources are in Portuguese because both news have been recently broke by a Brazilian investigative news agency, but if you don't speak it, you can always use automatic translation

I know there's a lot of fucked up shit happening in the world right now, but please pay attention to medical rights in Brasil right now. Especially if you're European, because virtually every company related to this is from your continent and plans to benefit you above all

ETA: using blood as a resource for these medications is not new; however, current law in brasil only allows that use to come from donated blood (because it comes from the plasma and apparently not all of it is used in blood transfusion; I'm not a doctor so I'm not clear on the details but that's the gist of it) and to be processed and used by Hemobrás, the State-owned company that handles this type of medical technology. The new law would allow for private companies to buy our blood from blood banks for their use. It is worth noting that at least one company has already explicitly stated that they won't be making the resulting medication available in the Brazilian market, so, essentially, they will be taking blood Brazilians donated to help other Brazilians and using it to treat immunocompromised Europeans, to the detriment of immunocompromised Brazilians that need the medicine. In the process, they will be making it harder for our State-owned company to use that same blood, forcing us to import from them and therefore making the medication more expensive. They also want to make it possible for Brazilians to sell their own blood - a deeply ethically questionable practice that is discouraged by the WHO and that has led to HIV outbreaks in Brasil in the past

Turn on your timestamps though because I think I will legitimately lose my mind if I see one more news post from 2017 getting shared like it's recent or another fundraiser post from 2014 made by a deactivated blog. Seriously. Please. I'm so tired. And stop starting discourse with people on posts over comments they made 3+ years ago.

Pro-Palestine protestors are being arrested less than a mile away from me as I type this. They have done nothing except block a street. A loud minority at our college is posting things like (quotes) “Smoke bomb them already” “beat the fuck out of these protestors plzzzzz @uapd” “get these filthy animals out of here” as well as transphobic comments. The rest of us are either at the protest or attempting to speak in favor of Palestine on social media. The protest was about Raytheon funding Israeli weaponry, and UA has financial ties to Raytheon. Please show as much support for this movement as you can. We are all recording university texts to stay away as police are on the scene. People are risking their graduation and safety.

“average person eats 3 spiders a year” factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

We beg them not to kill children in droves and the media and government, on both sides, demonize and brutalize us. Never forget, never forgive…

this one goes out to anon, thank u for reminding me of my love for this silly guy

In a press conference held by the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza earlier today, they confirmed that they estimate 10,000 people remain missing under the rubble and that, with their very limited means right now, in order to be able to locate and exhume these bodies, the operation could take up to three years. Until then, these 10,000 are not counted among the casualties.

As summer approaches, the trapped bodies are going to be a major source of illnesses and epidemics are expected to spread. Already, there are 20,000 cases of hepatitis in Gaza.

All of this of course is made infinitely more difficult by Israel blocking fuel from entering while it continues to target civil defence vehicles. As a matter of fact, Rafah now has only 3 functioning fire trucks according to a Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson.

WAIT I HAVE AN AWESOME HOUSE DESIGN

I'm curious. Reblog this if you know how to cook

I don’t even care if it’s macaroni, ramen or those little bowls you stick in the microwave. Please, I need reassurance that most of the population on tumblr WOULDN’T STARVE TO DEATH if their parents couldn’t fix them food or they couldn’t go out to eat. 

I love baseball

Dawg how are you 22 with a wife and kids you should be outside playing

Why do I keep making flop posts? Well you see, when a familiar url likes it I feel like I'm getting a high five. Hope that helps 💖

my art for the @aawlwminibang! i was so lucky to work with Cesar_Franck on a cover illustration for his incredible lanamia cold war au fic, Silo Soft. it is full of BREATHTAKINGLY rich historical and technical detail, which i did my best to match in this piece! please also take a look at @sirlanval's art--it features dizzyingly beautiful shapes and textures, with so many details pulled from moments in the 1st chapter. i'm so honored to have been partnered with these two! <3

a higher-quality version of this art can be found here or embedded in the fic. :)

I would never be mean to my friend and lover public transport but the bus does take the piss sometimes