Ellee Seymour2013-06-19T15:44:42-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=ellee-seymourCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Ellee SeymourGood old fashioned elbow grease.The Holy Grail for Early Cancer Diagnosis Takes a Huge Leap Forwardtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.33950642013-06-06T06:10:35-04:002013-06-07T06:15:35-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/huge leap forward following a major collaboration between Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research Technology and Abcodia, the biomarker validation company with a focus on cancer screening.
Through Abcodia, CRUK and CRT will be able to access one of the world's largest prospective collections of serum samples available for biomarker research. This collection is derived from the UK Collaborative trial for Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) run at UCL and contains more than five million serum samples.
What makes this collection so valuable and unique is that the serum samples were taken from healthy people annually, and, in many cases up to 10 years prior to a cancer diagnosis. The collaboration will use these samples to select biomarkers which provide a clear indication of change in the early pre-diagnosis stages of disease.
Detecting cancer earlier will give doctors the best chance to treat cancer effectively, before the disease develops and spreads when it becomes more difficult to treat. Identifying patients at an early stage will also provide the scientific and pharmaceutical communities with the ability to select patients for the development of a new generation of anti-cancer medicines.
They will focus on biomarkers to detect cancers before patients develop symptoms, concentrating on cancers which currently have limited screening tests available, such as non-small cell lung cancer.
Dr Julie Barnes, Abcodia's CEO, said: "We are delighted to be able to work with Cancer Research UK and CRT in this new global venture. The early diagnosis of cancer has never been more important and with the collective expertise that this alliance can bring, we aim to make a real difference in the field of early cancer detection and screening."
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, added; "We know that for most types of cancer, the earlier we detect them, the greater the chance of being able to treat them effectively and successfully. In addition, treating earlier stage disease is usually associated with fewer side effects from treatment for our patients.
"The scope and scale of this alliance, aimed at developing new tests for a range of cancers at their earliest stage, before symptoms develop, is very exciting. The combination of expertise formed by this partnership provides a great opportunity to accelerate this vital biomarker research, which we hope will help save thousands of lives from cancer."
There is naturally considerable interest in the outcomes of this collaboration which could make cancer a living disease, a chronic disease which can be managed and treated successfully thanks to its early diagnosis.
Watch this space!]]>Ely Plans Its Own Mary Portas-Style Scheme to Ensure Future Success of City's Businessestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26764712013-02-13T08:01:41-05:002013-04-15T05:12:01-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/Ely may not have Mary Portas, but it is fortunate in having business woman Caroline Bailey in its midst to lead on the challenge of ensuring that local businesses and the city's high street remains vibrant for years to come.
This is not the time for businesses to sit back and bemoan their fate, but to take matters into their own hands, like Caroline has, and, hopefully, she will inspire other towns where businesses are very worried about their future success, including those in Leighton Buzzard. There is no doubt that local people want local shops.
Caroline, who runs Spa ely, is the inspiration behind YourEly, a unique website and social media platform which will enable local businesses to join as members and actively engage with its community and customers, keeping them informed about what's on offer and what's going on within the city. It will also welcome views from local people on important issues affecting Ely, such as the city's new planned retail park and the introduction of car parking charges.
YourEly will host local business profiles on its website covering a wide variety of sectors, from accommodation, services, food and drink, solicitors, hair and beauty, interior design and taxis, and other business that are provided locally.
It will be launched on Friday, 19th April by the city's MP, Sir James Paice who gives it his backing:
"I am delighted to support this exciting initiative and help raise the profile of Ely's many independent shops and businesses which give the city much of its distinctive and attractive character.
"Many high streets around the UK are struggling to survive the competition from the internet and out of town retail parks and, but together I believe that we can help Ely to retain a healthy and prosperous city centre which attracts local residents and tourists alike."
Only last week Local Growth Minister Mark Prisk warned that the high street cannot live in the past, but must change to meet radical changes in consumer behaviour over the past few years. YourEly will help local shops make these changes and actively promote them.
Caroline, who used to work in finance in London before having two daughters and later moving back to Ely, will also provide mentoring to members who sign up if they need additional business support. Much of what she is offering with YourEly is being adopted by Mary Portas pilot towns, including the promotion and marketing of businesses, as well as deals, the latest information and mentoring support.
Caroline believes passionately that businesses should work jointly now to ensure the future success of Ely's prosperity:
"I very much feel that Ely is a wonderful vibrant city with fantastic shops offering personal service which is second to none, the kind of service which is valued by local people who want to be kept informed about their special offers and events.
"YourEly will provide this information using social media tools, including e-newsletters and Facebook, as well as QR codes and Twitter. We want to encourage closer links between shops and its consumers to ensure our city looks forward to future growth and prosperity.
"If we act now in Ely and form a strong group, we will be in a better position to face future uncertainties - and succeed!"
Businesses and independent shops cannot ignore the challenges of retailing today, they need to adapt, and YourEly provides the perfect platform to do this.]]>When Will Sir Richard Branson and Professor Stephen Hawking Head Into Space on Virgin Galactic?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26582092013-02-10T14:41:08-05:002013-04-12T05:12:01-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/70th birthday symposium in Cambridge. Branson told me he was planning to enter space on his Virgin Galactic by the end of 2012 with his children, and that Prof Hawking would follow on one of the next trips. Although delayed, it shouldn't be long before the countdown begins as test flights appear to be successful.
Virgin Galactic is exciting because it is the world's first commercial spaceline. Prof Hawking believes our earth is too crowded and that the human race must colonise space; for him, this trip is a dream come true, enabling him to explore his beloved universe. He fears that we will not survive another thousand years on our 'fragile planet', saying:
"Most recent advances in cosmology have been achieved from space where there are uninterrupted views of our vast and beautiful universe, but we must also continue to go into space for the future of humanity. I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space and I've been getting my training in early."
I wonder if Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal, will join his good friend on his trip to infinity and beyond. He can be seen deep in discussion with Richard Branson at the end of this video.
Do you fancy a trip on Galactic? If so, here is the link for you to apply.
]]>Sir Paul Nurse Plans 'Gentle Anarchy' for the World Leading Francis Crick Institutetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23202362012-12-18T03:59:15-05:002013-02-16T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/Sir Paul Nurse is equipped with to drive forward Britain's agenda as a world leading innovator of science.
The Nobel prize winner (an honour awarded for his collaborative discovery on what controls the division and shape of cells), Sir Paul is president of the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific body, and chief executive of the Francis Crick Institute, which, when it opens in London in 2015, will be the largest biomedical research campus in Europe (if not the world) employing 1,500 staff, including 1,250 scientists, with an operating budget of over £100 million. The Institute is a unique partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King's College London.
This makes Sir Paul perhaps the most powerful scientist in Britain today and he had an astonishing rise to power, made all the more extraordinary as he was a working class boy who struggled to get to university because he didn't have an O Level in languages (he failed French six times). His father was a chauffeur and his mother a cleaner.
He also made an astonishing discovery in his fifties that the woman he thought was his mother was in fact his grandmother, while the woman he regarded as his older sister was his mother; she died after he stumbled across the truth when applying for a United States green card where his birth certificate was required. In this fascinating BBC podcast, he comments on the irony of not knowing his own genetics, while being a world leading geneticist himself.
Back to the science. Sir Paul gave a lecture to Cambridge Network entitled Making Science Work and I have summarised some of the highlights from his speech:
Science in the UK today and immigration
"The UK is good at science, but we cannot rest on our laurels. Excellent scientific research requires talent and the most accomplished scientists in the world need to be trained here and attracted here. The UK is known to be excellent in research, scientists of the highest quality around the world want to come and work here; that can be only to our country's good. But the necessity to attract highly trained scientists from abroad has to be reflected in the UK's immigration policy, and at the moment we are shooting ourselves in the foot with the application of our policy. It is, in fact, largely a perception issue, and a bureaucratic one, but it is still a very significant problem."
Failure
"Very good scientists fail, I have failed many times and the closer you are to real discovery, you will fail more often. There are different ways of doing science, and I am not going to get too moral about it. Very effective science is often just behind the cutting edge and just watching where things are going and they do a good job, I am not criticising that. I don't like doing that, I am rather arrogant. I prefer to do something which wouldn't happen unless I was doing it, if you see what I mean."
Universities and science
"The ivory tower of the university has a number of pluses - the focus on quality, on curiosity. But it has a disadvantage of being divorced from the real world. And I actually think that research done in an ivory tower should reach out more beyond the ivory tower and be thinking about the use of that work for society."
Being risk averse
"I do think though that it is difficult to get the investment of money into the right areas because if you are a business man, you know what it's like. If you are a FTSE 100 company and you have trouble in one area, you will never get another company, you are blotted. Whereas my experience in the US is they just move on, and sometimes it can be irritating how they do that, but there is a certain optimism about it which you need. I think we have to be less risk averse as a society, we need to get the decision making out of the city ....... people on the ground will have an idea how it works, and just see if it works. Often it fails. As we know, part of the reason is that people get forced into translation too early, so what I think is that what we need in the public sphere to get work into a better shape, and then we need greater risk from the investment side to get things going."
Leadership and bean counting bureaucrats
"I'm a romantic and an idealist and I do have an administrative role and I still run a laboratory which McKinsey would think was crazy. This afternoon I spent in my laboratory, this morning I was on the board. People would say this isn't the best use of your time, but it is, because I am still there worrying about the same problems as the people one's making decisions about. I work in research institutes and if the water supply is a problem, I know about it just as well as the scientist down the corridor. So I think that in managing complex organisations, and they do become complex, you need competent management, but what you really need is leadership in addition to that, and we are turning our scientific leaders into bean counting bureaucrats and I don't think this is good. I think we have to preserve scientific leaders who will lead, who will be if they still wish to be, or should have been recently, practitioners so they still know what the problems are, and some people think I am crazy, and I've lost jobs myself because of that, but I think it is crucial."
Funding
"Those leading funding research bodies should focus their attention on high level strategic priorities, avoiding the temptation to become too prescriptive and too finely grained in recommendations concerning what areas should be funded. These should be left to those close to the research who are much more likely to make sensible decisions. To me, this is obvious, but it is a constant struggle to convince others that this is a sensible approach."
The Francis Crick Institute
Describing how it will be run, Sir Paul said:
"Nearly everything I said today will apply to the Crick if I am allowed to do it. The primacy of the individual, I will have no departments in there, there will be this gentle anarchy, there will be self assembly of interest groups, so if you are a scientist and you are interested in activity a, b, c, you can choose 1, 2, or 3, or if you are a misanthrope, you can choose none. I recognize there are misanthropes out there too, not everybody is cuddly and interactive. The PHd programme will have a capacity to export people, it will be multi-disclipliniary. ..... The real issue, the real focus, is the individual. Individuals move the needle and you need high quality. Let's explore a scientific metaphor - you identify a good person, you identify the continent they should be exploring, you give them a decent sledge and let them get on with it."
Science, creativity and freedom
"Good research is a creative activity and scientists have more similarity than might be imagined with those pursuing out other creative activities, such as the arts and the media. Like those other creative workers, scientists thrive on freedom and organising them, as I know to my cost, is like herding cats. Freedom of thought, freedom to pursue a line of investigation wherever it may lead to uncover uncomfortable truths are all crucial to an effective, scientific endeavor. A scientist whose thoughts are constrained, who is too strongly directed or is unable to freely exchange ideas will not be an effective scientist.
"Similarly, societies that are not free and do not encourage the free exchange of ideas, or do not respect the values of science cannot be, in my be in view, ultimately, leading scientific powers because that freedom is closely connected with the creativity required for good science."
Science and Technology Committee
When asked about the majority of MPs without a scientific background, Sir Paul replied:
"Talking about the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, it is completely hopeless. I am probably going to insult somebody, it is not of prime quality. I am slightly more sympathetic to them. In fact, I think it is not essential for a policy maker to be a scientist to be able to cope with science. I think they have to be interested and sympathetic to it and relate to it. I have to work a lot with David Willetts, but with science he is totally engaged with it (he is a social scientist) and he managed to cope with it.. I had dinner last night with Waldergrove, the previous science minister, and he was a Classicist, and he was good at it too. So I don't think you absolutely have to be a scientist, but I would put my finger on it and say we have to have policy makers who: a) recognize the importance of science, and: b) go to the right people and get advice on science. When they are being influenced by shadowy lobby groups who are driven by a political agenda over certain issues, then we run into issues."
Science and education
"Here in the country our citizens need an education that allows them to fully participate in a democracy that will increasingly require engagement with scientific matters. Teaching should be of a quality so that those pupils with talent and inclination to be scientists are inspired to do so, but that will be difficult if we continue as now with nearly all primary school teachers - over a quarter of chemistry teachers, nearly a third of physics teachers - having no specialist qualifications with science.
"There should be greater attention of practical science, I have a particular liking of natural history, reinforcing the fact that science is built on observation and experiment. We can use the natural world as our special laboratory. Kids can go out there and look at spiders' webs, and ask, 'why is a spider's web here or there?" This is research, this is science, they get to know what science is. Pupils need to be inspired by the wonder of science and understand why science generates reliable knowledge. At the very least, everyone leaving school should know the difference between astronomy and astrology, and I have to say that isn't the case at this present time."]]>Tim Loughton's 10 Point Family Plan for Governmenttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22987882012-12-14T06:15:57-05:002013-02-13T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/
One man who has the answer is former Children's Minister Tim Loughton who was inexplicably sacked in the latest Cabinet reshuffle after 11 years fighting passionately for this cause, both in opposition and for government.
He has made clear that he has no intention of giving up this agenda and now feels free as a backbencher to speak out more loudly, as he did earlier this week when he challenged the Conservative party's failure to reintroduce tax breaks for married couples.
He is certainly a hard act for his successor Edward Timpson to follow who, by all accounts has an excellent background in this area, coming from a family whose parents adopted 90 children, is chairman of the All Party Parliamentary group on Adoption and Fostering, and, as a family law barrister, specialised in cases concerning vulnerable children.
Disappointingly, while Tim found time to meet the inspirational Francesca Polini and fellow adoption reform campaigners from Adopt a Better Way to hear their adoption experiences and thoughts about how the system could be improved, Edward Timpson has told them he has no free time in his diary to share views. It would be appreciated if he found time in the New Year.
Tim also found time to meet with disadvantaged young people from the age of 11 four times a year to hear their personal experiences and to listen to their thoughts about changes which would improve their lives. He spent time shadowing social workers to see firsthand how they work with vulnerable young children in care and broken families. He was the undisputed star of A Tower Block of Commons.
Praise was heaped upon Tim from the audience when he gave a lecture at the Centre for Social Justice this week entitled, The State Our Children Are In, which I attended. He joked that he did not realise he was attending a "fanfest".
There are plenty of financial stats to support Tim's case that the government should give fiscal rewards to married couples. Is there any reason why this not be achieved at the same time as the government's urgent plans to support gay marriages in the church? It is startling to know the latest international comparison figures which show that UK one-earner married couples with two children on an average wage face a tax burden that is 42% greater than the OECD average. Family breakdown costs society £44 billion a year and 48% of all children will tragically see the breakdown of their parent's relationship; a youngster is more likely to have a television set in his bedroom than a father living at home.
And Tim also quoted Lord Hill of Oareford whose research suggests that the poorest 20% of married couples are more stable than all the the richest 20% of cohabiting couples.
This is Tim's 10 point plan for a government serious about promoting the value of family:
1. Rebalancing the relationship between state and family
The role of the State is surely to support families, not supplant them. For many, the surreptitious influence of the anti-smacking brigade, the obesity police of the accusing bureaucracy of excessive CRB checks (which the government are now reversing) has led many decent parents to question their own right and capability to parent.
2. Intervening early is key
Strong attachment between a child and parent shapes the whole of childhood from birth. Where that attachment is missing, it needs rehabilitating early. Those with poor speech at the age of two, for example, are doomed to a lifetime of failure unless they receive help. The government is rightly promoting early attachment, be it through an extension of the health visitor role, early year's assessments and making sure that children's centres and family hubs are accessed by those most in need, but least likely to access them.
There are huge gains for early intervention at an early age, or early intervention at an early stage, for older children in chaotic families. But it needs to be part of a co-ordinated and joined up family policy that addresses why those problems happened in the first place and keep happening.
3. Shared parenting means both parents
Dadlessness impacts heavily on teenage boys especially, yet still too many willing fathers are frozen out of their parenting role after an acrimonious split. The government needs to stick to its guns to introduce a long overdue full presumption of shared parenting in the forthcoming Children Bill. It will again face a barrage of opposition from vested interests, but we must see it through. It does not undermine the paramountcy principle of the welfare of the child if legislation requires courts to insure that both parents play as full a part as possible in the upbringing of their children, however acrimonious a split may have been. In 91% of cases it is the father that is likely to be the non-resident and potentially increasingly marginalised parent. An absent father leaves a gap that no-one else can every quite fill.
4. Role Models
If you ask teenagers today who their role models are, they would like as not mention some footballer or reality show C List celeb who have probably both been plastered all over the tabloids stumbling out of a night club plastered, and with the remnants of a line peppering their nostrils. Yet as Mariella Frostrup observed in her Mail on Sunday column last month, surely we should be using the cult and power of celebrity to communicate strong messages to impressionable young men in particular. She advocates a 'Man Army' determined to change cultural stereotypes amongst those who condone, or worse still, engage in some of the more appalling forms of sexual abuse that have hit our headlines too often over recent months. They need to say "loud and proud, that rape is for cowards, child abuse is despicable and treating girls like pieces of meat is simply unacceptable".
Not that long ago youngsters would have identified their role models as a favourite grandfather or successful aunt or event resident father. Seldom is that the case now. And with politicians, police, public service broadcasters increasingly smeared and demonised in the public eye with varying degrees of justification, who are our children and grandchildren supposed to look up to?
5. When Harry met Granny
Reg Bailey's excellent report int he Sexualisation and Commercialisation of Childhood made specific recommendations to support responsible parents battered on all sides by advertisers and media intent on making their children prematurely grow into adult consumers. Research for UNICEF UK reiterated that children in the UK feel trapped in a materialistic culture and don't have enough time with their families. The implementation of the Baily Review needs to become a priority in government. So far it has been more about warm words than urgent action. Its implementation needs to be in partnership with parents and children and not in isolation from them.
Fuelled by selective media reporting where every teenager is portrayed as a prospective hoody wearing mugger, young people appear increasingly cut adrift from our older citizens. But aren't we missing a trick here, not least for those teenage boys lacking a father's influence at home?
Should the state not be working with businesses and voluntary organisations to harness the growing pool of recently retired, but restless seniors, who can offer mentoring skills to dadless teenage boys, for example, who need direction in their lives? I want to see a national register promotional campaign and training support available to build such an army of volunteers.
6. Re-energising the Baily Review
Reg Bailey's excellent report in the Sexualisation and Commercialisation of Childhood made specific recommendations to support responsible parents battered on all sides by advertisers and media intent on making their children prematurely grow into adult consumers. Research for UNICEF UK reiterated that children in the UK feel trapped in a materialistic culture and don't have enough time with their families. The implementation of the Baily Review needs to become a priority in government. So far it has been more about warm words than urgent action. Its implementation needs to be in partnership with parents and children and not in isolation from them.
7. Flexibility around childcare
The government has a good track record around flexible parental leave and expanding free nursery care for the poorest, but over-regulated childcare for the majority remains extortionate. Quality need not mean prohibitively expensive and we need to see measures that facilitate more imaginative schemes such as work place co-operatives run by parents themselves and where regulations are proportionate to accessibility.
The CSJ's own excellent study in this area published earlier in the autumn revealed how without reform of childcare, a single parent with three children needing after school care would be 17p an hour worse off if she or he took a job. A single parent with two children would only be 2p an hour better off in work. With 445,000 UK families receiving state support towards their childcare costs and average payments amounting to £232 a month this is not some fringe activity and the government really needs to get a grip on an issue which is bound to weigh heavily in election manifestos.
8. Cotton wool kids
We need a renewed crackdown on the 'elf and safety' mentality which risk assesses rough and tumble activities out of sight. Kids take knocks, pick themselves up and learn from them - get over it! But it is more complicated than that.
Figures last week showed that half as many children are being admitted to casualty after falling out of a tree as they were ten years ago. But children are almost twice as likely now to go to hospital for injuries caused by repetitive and strenuous movements such as playing on their computers and X Boxes for too long. That is hardly surprising when it has been estimated that by the time they turn seven, children born today will have spent the equivalent of an entire year watching some form of small screen. What is potentially worrying about that is that internet addiction causes changes in the brain like those seen in alcoholics and cocaine addicts.
Should the state be intervening to rebalance the average child's day with ten times as long spent on the computer or watching TV as playing outside? Is it up to the State to take away the cotton wool, wrap up warm and propel minors outside as they do from an early age in Scandinavian kindergartens or should we just be making the healthier options more attractive? And as regards our attitudes to sport are we in danger of fritting away the Olympic legacy in a misguided mutually exclusive search for academic excellence?
9. Keeping kids safe online
The government has acted urgently to improve safeguarding against child abuse and particularly expose and counter child sexual exploitation. But for most parents the everyday fear of children exposed to adult and violence images or to grooming and bullying via social media is a minefield. The UK Council on Child Internet Safety which I chaired has done some important work to bring the whole industry together in a united and complimentary collection of practical solutions. The aim is that wherever you turn children and concerned parents will be confronted with warning messages about the hazards that lurk on the internet if not used responsibly and what to do about it.
Whilst inappropriate access to adult and violent images is a serious worry and can certainly be linked to attitudes by impressionable teenage boys to sex and relationships, I believe an even bigger worry is the use and abuse of social media and we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. Social media is everywhere. It is the future. A report in last week's Telegraph revealed that Twitter and Facebook have become so pervasive that a third of young adults admit to using them even while in the bathroom.
Whilst the government is trying to tackle abuse and harassment online, trolling as it is more commonly known, in the Defamation Bill, this is a debate that we have only just started and one where more than most the state has a leading role in so many aspects of a child's life.
10. Remember kids are kids
Children have rights and parents have responsibilities, but when 14 year olds girls who have been lured into sexual abuse by child sex exploiting gangs are described as having made 'lifestyle choices' then misguided political correctness has knocked common sense out of court to a dangerous level. Parents need the confidence and support of Government that the parent child status remains paramount until that child becomes an adult.
And that is the most important basis of my observations here today. We complain about society's commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood yet when we seek to put child rights ahead of protection that children need whilst they remain children, then surely the state is complicit with it. When we strive to proscribe in such terms how children should be brought up or taken away we must do it in a way that does not undermine the confidence of good parenting that in the vast majority of cases is the bedrock of strong families which produce resilient and balanced children?
Children are children for a reason - they are still growing up and need their parents to help them, guide them and protect them in that process The state which generally makes for a lousy parent needs to remember that first and foremost.
Let's remember those children in care and from broken families this Christmas and ensure their needs remain a priority with our government.]]>The UK's First AIDS Victims Remember Lost Ones on World AIDS Daytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22099162012-11-29T05:45:51-05:002013-01-29T05:12:02-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/gave you HIV, as well as other serious contaminants, causing death and lifelong debilitating illness.
That is what happened to many hundreds of haemophiliacs in the UK more than 30 years ago, those unfortunate to be born with an hereditary genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to control blood clotting. Treatment requires the use of clotting agents. In the 1970s and 1980s, blood products were manufactured from blood supplied by prisoners in America and the UK. This blood was contaminated with HIV, along with other serious viruses.
In the early 1980s, 1,249 haemophiliacs were infected with HIV/AIDS - and only 316 survive today. Tragically, some families were decimated by the loss of several family members who received contaminated NHS treatment, including one family who lost three brothers and a daughter-in-law, all through AIDS. The mother of the three men later died of a heart attack.
Unbelievably, these innocent people and their bereaved families have never been given an apology or compensation, neither has there been a public enquiry, and survivors continue to fight for justice - those who have enough strength to do so. Today, campaigners from Tainted Blood, which exists to support and achieve justice for those infected and affected by contaminated blood products in the UK, are today meeting the new health minister Anna Soubry and a team of medical experts and desperately hope she will support their cause.
I don't see how she can fail to, after all, Lord Robert Winston described as "the worst ever treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".
I have written previously about the wider issues surrounding this heartbreaking catastrophe, but today's post is focused on haemophiliacs who were infected with HIV in the run up to World AIDS Day on Saturday, 1st December. To commemorate this, they have published a book, "Tainted Blood, Stories Behind the Statistics", which features 14 tragic and moving stories from victims and relatives of those who have died from AIDS.
Sue Threakall, whose late husband Bob was a haemophiliac with AIDS, is chair of the campaign group Tainted Blood, and said World AIDS Day was a poignant reminder of the tragic loss of hundreds of innocent lives, patients who had been given contaminated blood products infected with HIV, as well as Hepatitis C and other devastating disorders. She said:
"The publication of our book is a reminder of the friends, family and fellow campaigners we have lost, and we will continue to fight for justice on their behalf. The scale of human loss is devastating; I know one family who lost three brothers and a daughter-in law all through AIDS. The mother of the three men later died of a heart attack. As well as this terrible suffering, they carried the stigma that was associated in those days with being an AIDS victim.
"Thankfully, diagnosis and treatment for HIV is much improved today with simple tests and effective treatments which can help save lives - if accessed before the onset of AIDS. It is crucial that local authorities, who take over the remit for sexual health promotion from April 2013, ensure that this remains a high profile issue in their area."
Mark Ward, from Brighton, was diagnosed as a severe haemophiliac at the age of three and was infected with the AIDS virus from contaminated blood at the age of 13. This has blighted the rest of his life and ruined a flourishing career. He describes the devastating impact it has had on his life:
"At the age of 43 I am crippled, dependent on a highly toxic cocktail of chemicals, with no idea of the long term affects. I have irreversible damage to a number of my major organs including renal failure. I suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) as well as Phobic anxiety disorder. My joints are disintegrating and my risk of cancer is extremely high. The scars of the past which cannot be seen have been ignored and as my body crumbles those who could help me stand by and watch. I've lost count of the friends who have been taken along the way and know the battle which rages inside of me will eventually take over completely.
"Now my days are taken up with Tainted Blood, campaigning, using my knowledge and experience to support those infected and affected by this haemophilia holocaust.
"My self esteem is non-existent; I am treated like a trouble maker and humiliated by those who are paid to care for me. My dignity destroyed and thirty years on from my infection, doctors refuse to answer my questions, they just add to my suffering by attempting to ignore the past with their neglect.
"No compensation has been awarded because we are all out of time. They told us it was an accident and back in those days nobody knew about medical negligence. We trusted them with our lives, literally and had every faith in what they were doing for us. Little did we know how wrong we were."]]>Women Bishops - Refreshing the Executive Board of the Church of Englandtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21755622012-11-22T11:36:57-05:002013-01-22T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/Dr Carrie Pemberton Ford when the subject of women bishops is raised. I worked with her once to promote CHASTE - Churches Alert Against Sex Trafficking across Europe. Feeling disappointed after the latest blow for women bishops in the Church of England, I asked Carrie to share her thoughts about this
Carrie, a feisty director of the Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking, expressed her disappointment too, hoping it would not be the moment that the Church of England voted for its own dissolution, and suggesting that it should modernise by perhaps adopting some of the successful business ethics applied by Virgin and Google.
This is what Carrie says:
The Church has failed to adjust to a world which has been rapidly changing around it - and the required internal reordering and thinking required to generate a place where there would be 'magic in working' within the church's core business. The numbers of women priests have risen year on year.
Although some of the more unpleasant Neanderthal behaviours towards them seem to have diminished, as a spiritual director and executive coach to some who work as ordained ministers, some at senior Bishop's staff level, I continue to hear of behaviours which would be inconceivable in other areas of public life. Over the last two decades the pressure to open the equivalent of the board room door across the organisation has become apparent to everybody. Somehow 'theological arguments' based on what many believe to be simply the whitewash of prejudice and fear, have kept the doors of equality and the streams of renewal for the organisation firmly closed.
One of the key selling points into businesses of diversity, inclusion and a respect and serious protection of the equalities, is that it releases talent right across the organisations which set out with commitment on this road. A coherent and committed inclusion policy enables companies to attract, retain and deploy the best talent in their business and make 'the magic of working' there produce tangible benefits for all concerned.
For the business there are the best people they could possibly recruit present, reflecting the diversity of their customer base and bringing an energy and vibrancy to the work place culture as people experience the joy of working in an environment of acceptance, openness and safety.
Officially the Church of England's synod was supposed to take a breather of three years from looking at the issue of women's ordination to the episcopacy if the vote failed as it did this Tuesday evening.
However, the uproar being experienced across all forms of media, and participation of politicians expressing disturbance at the General Synod's stance, show that this seems unlikely. With moves afoot to table questions on the on-going validity of an upper house representation from 26 exclusively male bishops from at least one unimpressed Labour MP, the impetus to address the challenge of the Church of England and its Synod being in the parting words of Archbishop Rowan "held hostage by a minority" are considerable.
This is the challenge for the Rt Revd Justin Welby to pick up as he moves down from his palace in Durham to take up his post as the next Archbishop of Canterbury in December. He has a Christian mantra on hand to inspire his agenda in the words of St Paul who called for the early church to be "transformed by the renewal of our minds" (Romans 12:2).
This "renewal" can be taken to mean the recovery of something lost; the improvement of what is already present; or a complete exchange of the past and present for a radically new future. Inspiring, clear sighted and resilient leadership are certainly called for in taking the Church of England back from the brink and into a transformed future. There needs to be radical changes in behaviour, and some of the reports of bullying and harassment which filter out from time to time with an unpleasantly misogynistic tone, need to be investigated, rooted out and guidance clearly put in place to build respect, and regain trust.
There are many well-wishers still in the UK and beyond who are waiting to see the Church of England get back on track to be a place where the rich diversity of humanity are welcome, and where all, straight or gay, male or female, find hospitality, a welcome, a chance to test their vocations, a place to work, to flourish and to express with vitality their experience of God and love of neighbour. The negative brand which the Church of England has inherited in its Tudor birth right, referenced by a disconsolate tweeter on Tuesday evening, need not be the last word.
But there is a great deal of committed transformation and robust attention to promoting equality across multiple diversities of which gender is but one of nine, to be undertaken over the next eighteen months.
Only a whole system change will ensure that what occurred on Tuesday 20th November 2012 is not remembered as the night which the Church of England voted for its own dissolution. Entering into the season of miracles, the challenge is great, but for one who has witnessed what opening up an organisation to its neglected talent through a positive embrace of inclusion, is not impossible. Time it might appear then for a Virgin rebirth.
In the 'morning after papers' following the vote, there were a range of voices summoned to give an initial analysis of what the Archbishop had called 'the unintelligible' outcome of the night before. The Principal of the favoured training college for likely Bishops in the Church of England, Ripon College Cuddesdon in the folds of the Chiltern hills outside Oxford, took up his pen. The problem, in a nutshell, has been the lack of inspiring leadership.
"As a body", Dr Martyn Percy reflected in an opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph, "we seem to have been quite slow in learning that diversity, disagreement and differences cannot simply be managed into consensus. The political, synodical or managerial solutions that have been proffered so far have singularly failed to inspire and galvanise most of the debaters. And the public, understandably, has switched off in droves. What is needed is better and inspiring theological that will lift the debate into a different dimension. We need outstanding theological leadership, and not a mere suite of managed compromise".
Dr Percy's analysis has two important grains of truth which those working in diversity, inclusion and transformational change within organisations will quickly recognise. For whole organisation change, there needs to be a robust seizure of a vision for where an organisation might be moved to and what that could look like. It needs to be inhabited, rejoiced in, felt and celebrated.
Secondly there needs to be a compelling reason for change. What purpose will be achieved by what is always a somewhat tricky business. What are the benefits of the pain of intervention? Sometimes it seems so much easier to breathe slower, take in less oxygen and die. It is at this point that an outside crash team is called for.
In the area of organisational change it has become essential for all global businesses to attend to the presence of diversity in the global and local market place. This affects both the 'customer base' and the hiring market. The 'global' market place, having to pay attention to the local needs of the business as well as the global arena which makes up the full environment of the business's world, is one where the 'consumers' are male and female, straight and gay, representative of all ethnicities and nationalities, abilities and disabilities, and with a depth of field in age spread which has been hitherto unparalleled. Full inclusion and a deep understanding of how to work creatively in one's organisation with diversity has become a critical game changer in helping make businesses lean, diverse and effective in a global context of increased competition and tighter budgets.
The Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has emerged as one of the passionate champions of the benefits of attending to inclusion and diversity. Whether it be in hiring policies, getting women through the marzipan and into the royal icing. Mixing it up with straight and gay representation, full access to those with disabilities, flexible working to retain those with caring responsibilities outside of work, from the board right out to front line delivery.
Virgin has been pioneering innovative responses to the rapidly changing context in which business is done. And done so with an effective distributed management team responding to a central inspiring vision. Another high flying firm which has transformed the global internet market place is Google. In a recent online advert for a senior executive, the organisation reveals a narrative of energy, diversity, vision and openness to change in a few compelling lines:
'You are focused on cultivating outstanding candidates for Google's long-term hiring needs, and you are the glue that ties together a cross-functional and international group of staffing teams. You are both scrappy and resourceful, creative and driven -- and excited to share the magic of working at Google'.
Scrappy and resourceful, creative and driven, excited to share the magic of working for this team: as a theologian my mind is immediately drawn back to the first two generations of Christianity where this would have doubtless been the case. The 'magic', after all, sits well with an organisation based on some extraordinary perceptions of reality - virgin births, resurrection from the dead and the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers. And yet today, 'sharing the magic' of working with the church is hardly a term which can be ascribed to the Church of England in these first days after the disappointment of the failed vote.
In blog, newspaper commentary, press statements and personal phone calls, what is communicated is an organisation worn down by tired compromises in endless search of some 'middle way' in order to retain a mythic unity which has worn down priests and people within and commentators watching the Church of England over the last 20 years.
*Revd Dr Carrie Pemberton Ford is a senior partner in the diversity and equalities consultancy Ibix Insight. Ordained into the Church of England in 1994 Carrie has worked in Africa, India, Belgium and across the UK, as a Priest, theologian, development specialist and lecturer. A Research Fellow of the University of the Free State in the Republic of South Africa, Executive Coach and mentor, Carrie is currently developing a tool kit for business leaders to use in their quest to build open representation of women and LGBT employees within their companies.
Carrie is a director of the Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking, a pioneering on line network of academics and practitioners addressing the challenge of complexity in the abuse of Human Rights entailed in trafficking in persons across the world. She has published numerous articles, monographs and contributed to a number of different edited volumes on issues of Gender equality, Violence against Women, Victim recovery and restitution, Bullying and harassment, and managing diversity in the midst of organisational resistance. Carrie can be contacted at (carrie@fordwords.com) and she also writes a personal blog on equality issues.]]>Let's Adopt a Better Waytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20925052012-11-08T09:59:07-05:002013-01-08T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/amazing headlines featuring campaigner Francesca Polini.
This is very disappointing news for passionate adoption reform campaigners like Francesca who want more children to be placed with loving and supportive families rather than being left to languish in care homes.
This week Francesca and her supporters launched a new campaign group, Adopt a Better Way, rebranded from their previous group, Adoption with Humanity, with a report which highlights findings about why adoption reforms are vital for improving the lives of our disadvantaged young people, particularly those in care.
The report highlights:
• Adoption rates are their lowest in ten years
• The number of children waiting to be adopted has increased by 15%
• A child over the age of 8 has only a 1% chance of being adopted
• It takes an average of 2.7 years for a child to be placed with a family after they have been accepted
• Compared with 10% of the general population, 45% of children in care are assessed as having a mental health disorder
• Twenty seven per cent of children in care have special educational needs compared with 3% of the general child population
• Compared to 86% of all 19 year olds, fewer than 40% of children in care in London are in education or employment at 19
As a result, Adopt a Better Way is calling for the government to intervene in order to facilitate:
• A breakdown of bureaucracy between boroughs, to allow children and prospective parents a greater chance of coming together
• An end to contradictory and opposing decisions by local authorities that are to the detriment of the child
• A central body with the authority and power to enforce guidelines, and laws to put the interests of the children first.
Adopt a Better Way is particularly grateful for the support of Baroness King of Bow, Oona King, the Labour peer who has adopted three children, you may have seen some of the posters in London highlighting the campaign where the Baroness and Francesca met for the photo; these posters were donated.
Oona said: "If we were just able to break down the walls and bureaucracy between the different boroughs, that alone would make huge difference to the adoption chances of some children and also their prospective parents. There are enough obstacles in the system as it is."
Francesca adds: "It's a crisis situation. We know that the younger a child is, the greater the likelihood of adoption taking place and the greater the chance that adoption will be successful."
We must keep adoption as a high profile topic to remind everyone of the urgent reforms that need to be made, and how we must place the needs of these young children above the bureaucratic system that currently exists.]]>Victims of UK Contaminated Blood Scandal Speak Outtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20177362012-10-25T13:14:21-04:002012-12-25T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/previous post about contaminated blood. Let's hope someone in government is listening.
Patients whose lives were devastated after being treated with contaminated NHS blood have urged the government to consider their suffering over the last three decades - and apologise. They have expressed anger and frustration about the lack of recognition for their plight, and why they seek a much sought for apology. What they say about the lack of support from ministers and MPs is quite shocking.
Glenn Wilkinson, from the Contaminated Blood Campaign group, has mild haemophilia and contracted Hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood during a routine dental operation at the age of 19. He was an engineer, but is now unable to work. He says:
"Ninety-six people died in the Hillsborough disaster, and over 2,000 died as a result of being given contaminated blood and blood products, which equates, in effect to over 20 Hillsborough disasters, and the death toll for those that have been infected with contaminated blood and blood products continues to rise.
"Over 5,000 UK citizens have been infected with deadly pathogens, including HIV, HCV, vCJD and many other pathogens as a result of receiving these contaminated NHS blood. Even though the death toll amongst those infected with contaminated blood and blood products is greater than any other peacetime disaster in the UK, we have never been given the benefit of a government inquiry, nor an apology, nor any compensation."
"There was an independent report conducted by the late Lord Archer of Sandwell, which lasted almost two years and was completed in 2009. This report showed, amongst many other things, that the UK government knew that the blood products they were giving us at that time were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C, and also that the government failed to warn people about these pathogens before administering these blood products to them. The Archer Inquiry also found that human beings were used as 'guinea pigs', without their consent.
"Unfortunately, the Archer Inquiry was not authorised by the government (it was not a full Judicial Inquiry) and therefore did not have all the power of law which would have enabled it to compel individuals (including MP's and ministers) involved at the time, to attend to give evidence. MP's and ministers involved that could have helped were asked to attend, but refused, even though the rooms in which the evidence was being taken, was only across the road from Whitehall.
The late Lord Morris, famously said at the time that "terminally ill people travelled to Westminster to give evidence from all over the country, and yet people in Whitehall were not prepared to cross the road.
"When the previous health minister, Andrew Lansley, announced a support package he claimed would end the anomalies between HIV and HCV victims, the real truth was that only 20% of Hepatitis C victims - those in the so-called Stage 2 category who can prove a certain level of liver disease - were awarded ongoing financial assistance in line with HIV victims. The remaining 80% of HCV victims, those in the so-called Stage 1 category, were excluded from this because the review panel ignored conclusive research proving that Hepatitis C also causes incapacitating disease unrelated to the liver."
Owen Savill, a haemophiliac who was also given contaminated blood, says:
"Why, after 30 years of campaigning and banging on doors, do we still have to deal with the fall out of over 2,000 deaths, 3,000 more infected and all without any form of justice, public inquiry nor recompense?
"You will be told that the situation has been resolved and that a settlement package has been put together. But you actually need to be dying to be eligible and only about 3% of us are actually in that position right now. However, battling chronic and severe illness for 25 - 30 years can have very far reaching, severe, debilitating and job losing consequences. And that is on top of already living with a disabling and chronic condition. Did you know that unless you have been affected by Hep C and/or HIV that haemophiliacs don't qualify for free prescriptions despite being in almost constant need of painkillers and anti-arthritic drugs. Kind of says a lot about the way successive government view the haemophiliac population.
"An apology would be great, and like Hillsborough would simply mark the start of doing something to resolve the situation."
Please view this video to hear haemophiliac Mark Ward talking about his life with contaminated blood. And please also read this page, which makes very sober reading, and is in memory of those who tragically lost their lives from contaminated blood.
]]>David Cameron Urged to Apologise Over Contaminated Blood Travestytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20117822012-10-24T19:00:00-04:002012-12-24T05:12:02-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/those infected with contaminated blood provided by the NHS - 2,000 of whom died as a result - are hoping that the outcome of the Penrose inquiry in Scotland into this terrible tragedy will pave the way for a public apology from David Cameron.
Astonishingly, successive governments in England have refused to hold an official inquiry into why this happened 30 years ago. Of the 3,000 patients who were fortunate enough to survive, 1,200 become infected with HIV, on top of Hepatitis C, after being given contaminated blood which had been imported from America from US suppliers who used what became known as 'skid row' donors, such as prison inmates, who were more likely to have HIV and Hepatitis C. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
Lord Penrose held a year long inquiry in Scotland on behalf of Scottish victims who suffered during this time; it is the first ever official inquiry of its kind. As the contaminated blood was used pre-devolution, and under the care of our government, campaigners hope that the UK government acknowledges publicly the travesty which took place, apologises for it, and puts in place proper support packages, including compensation, for all haemophilia victims and the bereaved.
Sue Threakhall, whose husband Bob, a haemophiliac, was diagnosed with HIV after being given contaminated blood in 1985 and is chair of the campaign group, Tainted Blood, says:
"We very much welcome the Penrose inquiry, the first official public inquiry to be held on this issue, and although its focus is on what happened in Scotland, the events that took place occurred pre-devolution, so the Westminster government will have to treat the findings and recommendations seriously.
"Although the evidence had all been given, solicitors acting for the families have requested that Lord Penrose looks again at some of the statistical evidence on the number of haemophilia infections and deaths, and this is being done next Monday, 29 October.
"I want to see us treated with the same amount of gravity as the Hillsborough victims and Jimmy Savile's. I want us all to be able to live what is left of our lives without having to campaign and battle every day for what most people know to be right. It is very difficult to maintain an impassioned level of campaigning year after year, decade after decade. Many of the surviving haemophiliacs (if not most) are now very sick and physically wrung out.
"I am the only member of the TB committee who is not actually infected with anything, the others are multiply infected - and even I find this very hard. Some days, especially after another political kick in the teeth, it is all we can do to pick ourselves up and carry on."
As I said before, we expect our NHS to cure us, not kill us, yet it has never been accountable for this most awful and heinous disaster where innocent people died or suffered appalling health problems as a result of the treatment they received.
Why are they are still waiting for an apology? We have had apologies for the Hillsborough tragedy after a 23 year wait, and the government is grilling BBC chiefs over the recent Jimmy Savile revelations. And while nobody died at his hands, and the country is justifiably shocked at the apparent cover up over his allegedly disgraceful behaviour, why isn't there the same sense of national outrage about thousands of innocent NHS patients whose lives have been lost or devastated because of the contaminated blood they were given?
Even though Lord Winston described this as the "worst ever treatment disaster in the history of the NHS", the families are still waiting for an apology.
Even though an inquiry led by Lord Archer of Sandwell described it as a "horrific human tragedy", they are still waiting for an apology.
Will David Cameron be the prime minister who finally says those two important words to acknowledge the suffering of contaminated blood victims and their families, "I'm sorry".]]>Shift Workers Face Increased Risk of Breast Cancertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19491492012-10-08T15:51:36-04:002012-12-08T05:12:01-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/increased risk of breast cancer. This includes our emergency services, nurses and care workers, as well as call centre and airline staff.
The revelation came from Prof Gordon Wishart, an expert on cancer in the workplace and a consultant breast and endocrine surgeon. He says that the British Journal of Cancer recently published a report on occupational health cancer risks following a very robust piece of work conducted by well-respected researchers in the UK. Their study showed that shift work is, in effect, a carcinogen, with evidence that one in 20 breast cancers are now caused by shift work carried out at night.
The reason is that being exposed to light during the night when the body isn't used to it upsets the body's biological rhythms, and that causes a 51% increase in breast cancer.
Prof Wishart, is also Medical Director for HealthScreen UK, a Cambridge company which offers the most advanced cancer screening in the workplace. He says that although the results of breast cancer treatment have improved over the years, it is vital to raise awareness about cancer risks and symptoms in the workplace, and that employers should be aware of these potential risks.
"If you were looking at it from a medico legal point of view, if someone was employed 20 years ago when this data was not known, then I don't think there's an issue. But I think the problem will arise now if you took someone on and in a few years they get breast cancer, you would then go back and say, 'well the data was published at that time, you knew there was an increased risk, how did you discuss that risk with your employee?'"
He added that while the mortality rate for most cancers have come down significantly, and current cancer treatment is very good in the UK, early detection was vital; the positive outcomes not only benefited the patient, but also their employer and the economy.
"The average size of a lump that turns out to be breast cancer now has actually reduced over the last ten years due to all the campaigns on breast awareness. From an employer's point of view, that usually means less treatment, considerably less time off work and getting somebody back to do the job they were doing much more quickly."
Prof Wishart was addressing corporate delegates about cancer in the workplace during the launch of two new advanced diagnostic tools available in the workplace to improve early diagnosis of prostate and lung cancer, two of the most common cancers.
Prof David Neal, an eminent professor of surgical oncology at the University of Cambridge and Clinical Director for ProstateHealth UK, launched ProstateCheck, which uses a cancer specific biomarker known as hK2 available for the first time in the UK and exclusively licensed to ProstateHealth UK. By using the latest biomarker, combined with measuring the man's PSA level, the method most commonly used, studies have shown that this advanced detection reduces the need for unnecessary biopsies by up to 50%.
Francis Wells, an internationally renowned consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Papworth Hospital and clinical director for LungHealth UK, said their latest blood test for lung cancer screening was four times more likely to correctly identify lung cancer than low dose CT scans which are currently used. He described lung cancer as the "pariah" of all cancers, with little public sympathy as most cases are caused by smoking and regarded as self-inflicted, though it is the biggest cancer killer in the world, with increasing numbers of young women in the UK taking up smoking to keep their weight down, have something to fiddle with in their fingers, and to look "cool" amongst their peers.
Men are notoriously reticent about going to their doctor for health checks and the symptoms for both prostate and lung cancer can go unnoticed, making it even more crucial for early cancer detection tests like this to be available in the workplace; there is no national screening programme for prostate or lung cancer.
The government is also encouraging employers to raise cancer awareness in the workplace as part of its "improving outcomes" for cancer strategy. This is much needed as the Health and Safety Executive estimate there are 13,500 new cases of work related cancer each year, and the TUC estimates over 15,000 deaths. By comparison, there are just 250 deaths a year as a result of an immediate injury at work.
There is clear evidence that cancer detection in the workplace pays dividends. Hewlett Packard recently took part in a prostate cancer awareness campaign with ProstateHealth UK which resulted in 12 new cancers being detected.
The chances are these cancers would have gone undetected if the men had not been tested for it at work.]]>Tainted Blood Victims Await Their Apologytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18941652012-09-18T14:12:00-04:002012-11-18T05:12:02-05:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/
The shameful slur against football fans over the Hillsborough tragedy and the cover up by police led to a national outcry and an apology after 23 years.
Let me remind you about a 30 year scandal where victims still seek justice - if they are still alive. These are innocent people waiting for an apology for their ruined health, as well as 2,000 families who lost loved ones because they were contaminated by NHS blood.
Yet there has never been a public enquiry into how haemophiliacs were treated with blood contaminated during routine operations in the 1970s and 80s which led to more than 5,000 people becoming infected with HIV and Hepatitis C, and the 2,000 deaths. They died because the blood had been imported from America from US suppliers who used what became known as "skid row" donors, such as prison inmates, who were more likely to have HIV and Hepatitis C.
We expect our NHS to cure us, not kill us, yet it has never been accountable for this most awful and heinous disaster where innocent people died or suffered appalling health problems as a result of the treatment they received.
Why are they are still waiting for an apology?
Even though Lord Winston described it as the "worst ever treatment disaster in the history of the NHS", they are still waiting for an apology.
Even though an inquiry led by Lord Archer of Sandwell described it as a "horrific human tragedy", they are still waiting for an apology.
Lord Archer's report concluded that there was "lethargic" progress towards national self-sufficiency in blood products in England and Wales, where it took 13 years compared to just five years in Ireland.
I learnt about this terrible catastrophe when I stumbled across a group of dignified and determined victims during a visit to Westminster in 2010 where they were lobbying MPs for justice. A derisory offer of an ex-gratis payment followed, but, despite being weakened by their condition, with depleted numbers as a result of their rising death toll, the remaining survivors are strengthened by their desire for justice, recognition for their suffering - and a long and overdue apology.
Joseph Peaty, a member of the campaign group Tainted Blood, questions why there has never been a public inquiry into this unbelievable disaster. He says:
As I listened to the Prime Minister delivering his statement to parliament on the findings of a review in to the Hillsborough tragedy, an icy shiver went through me. Initially I was simply heartened that the government could act with compassion and humility when they choose to. After all, the Hillsborough tragedy and resultant fight for the truth have been highly visible and have gained substantial empathy from the public and it felt great to see them achieve this victory after so long.
But as I listened to the description of the reasons for the loss of life, admission of the state's failure to protect life and unwillingness to openly seek out the truth and promote accountability, I became acutely aware of the way the facts mimicked what had happened to me and the 5,000+ others infected, injured and killed by NHS contaminated blood treatments in the 1970's
Unlike Hillsborough, our disaster has never been granted a transparent, public, government initiated inquiry into the truth; in fact there has never been any co-operation from them in this area and they have never sought to apply any accountability. On the contrary the widespread destruction of evidence and lack of effort to preserve the truth is indicative of the type of authoritative, self preserving attitude evident throughout the 1970's by certain agents of the State.
Mr. Cameron described the events as wrong and said that it should never take 23 years to establish the truth where the public believe an injustice has occurred. Surely if this is right then how much more true must it be in the case of contaminated blood and blood products - a scandal that is now 30 years old!
Tainted Blood is asking the new Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to listen and care about their plight. They have written to him pleading:
Since you previously showed a sympathetic response to the plight of haemophiliac constituents who have been adversely affected by the contaminated blood catastrophe, I am sure you will be keen to know that we are currently exploring appropriate legal avenues. In particular, we are keen to see a full judicially-empowered inquiry established and we would very much like this to take place under your time as Secretary of State.
Therefore, please may I take this opportunity to formally request an inquiry into the en masse contamination of persons with haemophilia in the United Kingdom and to specifically look at what might be the full array of potential contaminants, as well as the multiple viruses known to have ravaged our community. If you feel you must decline us this request, please may I ask that you provide us with new reasons that reflect your fresh pair of eyes coming into your new role.
I would also like to ask that you look again at the levels of payments awarded to our community. There is a commonly felt belief that the current payments are wholly inadequate. There is a need for more substantial payments for people infected and bereaved; something significant enough to remove their reliance on state benefits.
In order to reflect the current fiscal climate, consideration could be given to staggered payments. It should also be stressed that there will eventually be an end to the support required - once all infected and bereaved are dead. The size of our group is finite, and due to a mortality rate of around one a month, is ever decreasing. Ageing, coupled with deteriorating health of survivors is adding a new unaddressed dimension.
Many of us have campaigned for over twenty-five years now in order to achieve truth and justice, both for those still living and the 2,000 plus who have already died. We are determined to continue this fight until we achieve our aims, but are ever conscious that, as we fight those determined to brush us and our story under the political carpet, each month there will be yet another death from what was described by the late Lord Archer of Sandwell in his report as: '...a horrific human tragedy.'
We expect the upcoming inquiry report from Lord Penrose will further articulate just how horrific this catastrophic failure to protect human life has been and will lay bare the contribution made by the UK government to this tragedy.
You may be told that this matter does not warrant further attention; I would invite you to meet campaign representatives personally and hear directly the awful reality of their damaged lives and why you must resist such pressures.
Here is a link in memory of those who died because of being infected with NHS contaminated blood. For them, an apology is too late.]]>New Biomarkers Vital for Cancer Screeningtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18514562012-09-03T06:04:28-04:002012-11-03T05:12:01-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/biomarkers approved for the screening of breast or lung cancer - the two most cancers for men and women around the world.
Figures just published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer warned that present cancer trends show there will be 22 million new cases each year by 2030 - an increase of 73% compared with 2008.
Lung, breast, colorectal and stomach cancers accounted for 40% of cases diagnosed worldwide in 2008. In men, lung cancer (16.5%) was the most common cancer of all new cases, and in women it was breast cancer (23%).
Discovering early biomarkers to enable people to live longer, healthier lives is the driving force behind Abcodia, a biomarker validation company with access to 5 million serum samples collected for the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening and created by clinical scientists at UCL; many of them are pre-diagnosis samples as volunteers went on to develop cancer.
But scientific discoveries are best achieved by working collaboratively and debating the issues with the brightest minds around the world who share the same passion to advance early diagnosis and cancer screening by developing biomarkers. To help facilitate this, Abcodia has launched a new LinkedIn Cancer Screening group to create a community of people who have an active interest in contributing and sharing knowledge about approaches, research, regulatory issues and adoption issues for the screening of cancer.
The group is not aimed at any particular technology; it could include bodily fluid biomarkers, imaging, scanning etc. Neither is it aimed purely at professionals - the group is for everyone whether you are a research scientist, practicing clinician, regulator or a patient.
The following questions are under discussion, and please do contribute your thoughts in the hope that they could lead to solutions and improve cancer screening to save countless lives.
1. Do you think a single biomarker will ever be good enough for cancer screening?
2. Why are blood based biomarkers for cancer screening not being developed?
3. Can anyone in US explain changes to the Affordable Care Act and what it means for the cancer screening market?
4. What technologies are available to allow multiplexing of proteins?]]>What Does It Feel Like to Be Psychic?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17195092012-07-30T11:52:34-04:002012-09-29T05:12:39-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/ Santa Montefiore has had paranormal experiences since a child. Surely with her high ranking pedigree, her accounts must be credible!
In yesterday's Sunday Times Style magazine, Santa describes seeing shadowy people shuffling about in her bedroom in the middle of the night for as long as she remembers, and her accounts have not dismissed as outlandish by her highly educated and distinguished historian husband, who is surprisingly open-minded, quoting our wise sage Shakespeare:
"There are more things in heaven and hearth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Only recently, a close family member of mine described seeing figures in his bedroom which came from under the floorboards. Although quite young, he was not alarmed at all. Like Santa, he felt perfectly at ease, while I think I might have freaked out!
These accounts reminded me of Dennis McKenzie, the extraordinary psychic from Soham. I was the ghost writer for his book, Being the Soham Psychic, which reached No 1 on Amazon for True Crime and Murder after a huge splash in the Daily Express.
Dennis was a close ally to Kevin Wells after his daughter Holly and her friend Jessica went missing 10 years ago. Dennis said nothing about his psychic readings for Kevin, but Kevin later described them in his book, Goodbye Dearest Holly, saying "Dennis does indeed possess an extraordinary gift," and, "I have to accept that I am in the presence of a most extraordinary man."
Kevin suffered a double ordeal as police kept him in the dark about their investigation, and he turned to Dennis, who broke the shocking news to him and his distraught wife Nicola that their beloved daughter and her friend were dead at their first meeting, days before their bodies were discovered.
Dennis can only say it one way, and that is the truthful way, and I can't imagine the terrible pain and despair the Wells' family must have felt at that moment.
It was an extraordinary experience learning about Dennis' paranormal life, someone who has faced death threats from an irate husband after telling his wife he was having an affair, working with bereaved families from sink estates in Limerick whose lads were murdered in drug gangland feuds, and the serial killer in America who Dennis knew he had something in common with, but what?
Dennis was interviewed for an ITV programme to mark the 10th anniversary this week of the shocking Soham murders, a village close to where I live. It will be broadcast at 9pm this Friday.
In Dennis's book, the chapter on the Soham murders concludes by describing a reading Dennis which was giving to a young woman in Finchley, miles away from Cambridgeshire. Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr were both on remand at the time awaiting trial.
Dennis wondered why, when he was in Finchley, he should suddenly pick up Holly's spirit.
Dennis asked her why she was connected to the Soham murders.
"I'm Maxine Carr's wardress," was the reply.
I remember a shiver going up my spine as he told me this. It was so chilling......
My ghost writing services.]]>IVF and Infertility - The New Solutiontag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16485242012-07-04T05:49:45-04:002012-09-03T05:12:07-04:00Ellee Seymourhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellee-seymour/
Tragically, infertility affects one in six people in the UK, about 3.5 million, with 125,000 couples diagnosed infertile each year, and this can even cause women mental health problems, according to researchers.
However, a revolutionary fertility device is now available which was proven in a peer-reviewed study to be as successful as IVF at a fraction of the price - and without being invasive for women. It is to be trialled by GPs in Lancashire later this year and will soon celebrate its 500th baby. The chubby-faced baby pics on the office wall on the Cambridge Science Park are a testament to the success of DuoFertility whose job it is to make babies! And lots of them!
The temperature monitor, which fits under the armpit, can help 85% of infertile couples who do not have medically identified conditions, such as a women with two blocked fallopian tubes.
While Bourn Hall in Cambridgeshire pioneered IVF treatment 44 years ago and has just celebrated its five-millionth baby, there is a good chance that if the trials in Lancashire prove successful, DuoFertility could be rolled out around the country, transforming the present fertility treatment on offer by the NHS. IVF costs £4,500 - £7,000 in the private sector, while makers of the £495 ovulation detector are so confident of their product that they promise to give women their money back if they do not become pregnant within 12 months.
Does IVF offer the same cash back if it fails? There is nothing to lose with DuoFertility, and everything to gain.
The innovative technology was created by Dr Shamus Husheer, CEO of Cambridge Temperature Concepts, and his personal interest in infertility stems from his parent's difficulty in conception, the combination of which directly resulted in DuoFertility. He is partnered by Dr Oriane Chausiaux, who has a PhD. in infertility from the University of Cambridge.
DuoFertility is a revolutionary temperature monitor which shows women with 99% accuracy when they are at their most fertile. Its device uses temperature monitoring by placing a small sensor under the armpit and takes 20,000 readings every day, about one every four seconds. The sensor picks up tiny variations in temperature to build an overall picture that is then interpreted on CTC's computers, as well as being read by fertility experts there, who scrutinize the data and indicate when fertility is at its highest. It was recently launched in America after being granted FDA approval and Shamus and Oriane are confident they will be able to help thousands of childless couples there too.
Oriane, who has been researching infertility for over a decade in Paris and Cambridge, recently led a clinical study which suggested that six months with DuoFertility could give the same pregnancy outcomes as a circle of IVF for couples suffering from unexplained infertility. The study followed the first 500 couples using DuoFertility, including 242 who qualified for IVF treatment, of whom 90% had previously had the procedure. It concluded that DuoFertility has the same clinical pregnancy rate as IVF for about half of all couples that would otherwise use IVF.
The study was published in the journal European Obstetrics & Gynaecology and reports that the 12-month pregnancy rate was 39%, which compares more favourably to the average pregnancy rate from a cycle of IVF, which is only 28%. Additionally, when broken down by female age, the DuoFertility pregnancy rate was higher than IVF for every age group below 45.
Oriane was naturally very encouraged by these results:
"We were delighted with the findings of this study, the first of its kind with sufficient statistical power to meet the stringent criteria of the peer review process. It showed that for couples suffering from unexplained infertility, as well as a variety of other factors, six months using DuoFertility is as effective as a cycle of IVF and 12 months using DuoFertility yields a higher clinical pregnancy rate than a cycle of IVF.
"The impact of the study is clear. For many couples, not only is IVF invasive for the woman and demeaning for the man, DuoFertility is a proven alternative method of helping childless couples which would save the NHS millions of pounds. We are very much looking forward to our trials starting soon with GPs in Lancashire with the hope and expectation that it will produce equally outstanding results and later become established by the NHS and used around the country by its GPs and infertility consultants.
"It's because we are so confident of our results that we offer a full money back guarantee if couples have not achieved pregnancy after a year of using DuoFertility."
There are many glowing testimonials from delighted new parents on the DuoFertility website which you can view here, including the touching story from Helen and David Egen in this video who had been trying for two-and-a-half years to have a baby without any luck, suffering two early miscarriages, taking prescribed medication, ovulation tests and nutritional supplements which they hoped would boost their chances. Then they heard about DuoFertility and, as you can see, their happiness is a joy to behold.