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WITH THE OPENING ceremony in Rio de Janeiro less than three months away, a Canadian professor has called for the Olympics to be postponed or moved because of the Zika outbreak, warning the influx of visitors to Brazil will result in the avoidable birth of malformed babies.
“But for the games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?” University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran, who specializes in public health, said in an article published this week in the Harvard Public Health Review.
Brazil is by far the country most affected by Zika, a mosquito-borne virus which has now been scientifically proven to cause a range of disturbing birth defects, including babies born with abnormally small heads and neurological problems.
In February, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic to be a global health emergency. The WHO says there are no restrictions on travel or trade with countries affected by Zika outbreaks but advises pregnant women not to travel to those regions.
Attaran’s position is not shared by Olympic and global health authorities, who insist the August games will not be derailed by the virus.
The International Olympic Committee, which follows the WHO’s advice, said it has no plans to relocate or postpone the games.
“The clear statements from WHO that there should be no restrictions on travel and trade means there is no justification for canceling or delaying or postponing or moving the Rio Games,” Dr. Richard Budgett, the IOC’s medical director, told The Associated Press.
The IOC will continue to monitor the situation very closely and work with the WHO, and we’re confident as we’ve been advised by the experts that the situation will improve over the next three months.
Fears of new outbreaks elsewhere
The Olympics are expected to draw about 500,000 visitors from abroad, a prospect that Attaran fears could spark new outbreaks elsewhere in the world and result in an increase in the number of brain-damaged babies born to infected pregnant women that might otherwise not have traveled to Brazil. He doesn’t want the games to be canceled, but argues they should be delayed or moved.
In a telephone interview with the AP Attaran – who is an outspoken critic of WHO – said:
If the IOC and the World Health Organization do not have the generosity of heart to delay the games to prevent children being born and disabled their whole lives, then they’re among the cruelest institutions in the world.
“What I’m asking for is a bit of delayed gratification so that babies aren’t born permanently disabled.”
The Zika outbreak is just one of the challenges facing Brazil in the buildup to South America’s first Olympics. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is facing impeachment, the economy is in deep recession and the country is gripped by a vast corruption scandal centered on state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.
Attaran is not the first public health official to call for the games to be postponed because of the Zika risk; New York-based academics Arthur Caplan and Lee Igel wrote in an article in Forbes in February that hosting the Olympics at a site teeming with the virus is “quite simply, irresponsible.”
The IOC and Brazilian organizers say the Zika threat will be mitigated because the games are taking place in the South American winter, reducing the mosquito population. But not everyone is convinced the Zika threat will subside entirely by August.
“This is a wake-up call for authorities to look at the situation more closely,” said Jimmy Whitworth, a professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, referring to Attaran’s article.
He was not linked to Attaran’s paper and acknowledged it might be difficult to change any Olympic plans at this late stage.
Whitworth said it was WHO’s responsibility to make the health risks clear, even if that means issuing what could be very unpopular advice that could affect the Olympics.
WHO isn’t there to be popular, so they need to put that aside and consider the public health perspective.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said it was important for every traveler who goes to the Rio Games to take precautions against mosquitoes and that pregnant women should speak with their doctors.
‘Not leaving the hotel room’
World soccer’s governing body seems to take Attaran’s warnings seriously. Michel D’Hooghe, chairman of the FIFA medical committee, described the Canadian’s paper as “an alarming message” and said he would ask FIFA’s medical office for an evaluation and report to the ruling FIFA Council. The Olympic soccer tournament will be played in venues across Brazil, including areas where Zika is more prevalent than Rio.
US women’s team goalkeeper Hope Solo said in February that she would not go to the Rio Olympics if she had to choose then, citing worries about Zika. In an interview Tuesday with CNBC, Solo said she would go “begrudgingly.”
“I’m going to take every precaution necessary,” she said. “I’m not sure I’m even going to be leaving the hotel room, outside of practice.”
The medical director of Australia’s Olympic team said there was “no chance” the games would be moved. Dr. David Hughes said in a statement Wednesday that the Zika risk to Australian athletes was “minimal,” although he noted only the link to a condition that sometimes causes Guillain-Barre syndrome, a potentially fatal condition that also causes temporary paralysis. He made no mention of the proof the virus causes the birth of permanently brain-damaged babies.
“The last couple of people that I have spoken to, who have been to Rio in the past month or two, haven’t seen a mosquito,” Hughes said.
I believe we can proceed with confidence, knowing that we have appropriate guidelines and preventative measures in place.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Toronto who has studied the anticipated path of the virus, said it is “very likely” the Olympics could speed up the spread of Zika around the world.
Still, Bogoch said that since most people traveling to Rio wouldn’t be affected by Zika, it would be an overreaction to move or postpone the games.
“The spread of Zika to other countries is already happening,” he said. “Canceling the Olympics is not going to prevent that.”
At least me dole and chilrens alowence is up so dat’ll offset some of cost for me ciggies. De kids will go hungry be4 I give up me Johnny Blus!
@Tweety McTweeter: How much will the tax on ancient stereotypes have to go up before you’ll break the habit?
@Neal Ireland Hello.: how much does the tax on snowflake reality rejectors have to go up before it takes effect
Stop smoking altogether! Can’t be bothered with the arguments it’ll hit lower income society! Don’t smoke then it won’t
@Gavin: yes give up if you can. I just worked out I save 167.00 on the additional tax alone. Next step stop my addiction to sugar by giving that up.
Just smoke weed instead it’s great.
@Craic head: good man, keep the Kinihens in business and guns on the street
Strange that this can be brought in over night, yet anything useful waits until the end of the year. Pity they can’t be this productive on a daily basis!
It should be put up by € 10 actually if not more. Major cause of hospital admissions due to smoking related diseases.
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: and the huge tax smokers pay offsets the cost.
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: They won’t, as if people quit smoking and drinking, they’re screwed! If they really wanted people to quit, it’d be €50 a pack, but they need the money.
I’ve no intentions of quitting, sure I get them from abroad anyway.
@Joe Travers: and wait until you see the final days of your / they’re lives due to smoking -shocking.
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: I’m sure a pensioner who has smoked all their lives and paid taxes really deserves that.
Think before you talk Deirdre, it’s ok for someone working but if that’s all a pensioner looks forward too, I think that sort of an increase is disgusting. And im an ex smoker.
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: no one will buy and all trade will be done black market, most of it is now anyway. Polish and Chinese smokes are available for €25 a carton (200)
Im approximately 18 months cigarette free.
Personally I find these increases disgraceful.
I’m not one of these ex smokers that blab such s€€€ like “each one of them takes bla bla off you life” or eugh their disgusting.
Surprised.
The reason why I find this increase disgraceful is 1/ The amount of tax imposed on the product by the government and 2/ Pensioners, some of them have worked hard all their lives and now live on the state pension, these increases are alright for a working person but the pensioner will go without an item such as clothing or heating to get their cigarettes.
So to all you ex or anti smokers who gloat about this, think a little harder not harsher.
At least we’ll get some of that welfare rise back….
The people selling smokes on the street will love this as they are going to have a lot more cash in their pockets.
12 euro a pack? I would expect each cigarette to be laced with cocaine for that kind of money.
Every year its the same targets…why not put the price of a pint up to €12…alcohol is more a problem in this country than smoking. If someone wants to smoke its their choice. Whoever keeps saying to put up the price of cigarettes obvioulys never worked in hotels. This country is a joke!! Its already the most expensive for everything…they will just start turning tourists away next!
Gave up the flags on the 20th Feb, haven’t saved a penny, what ever I spent on fags I now eat that amount extra and more lol, as far as I am concerned they didn’t put them up enough, put a €5 increase on them and ban public smoking everywhere, hell just ban smoking, and if anyone caught selling on the black market it’s 20 years minimum
@Mick Hannigan: vote for mick “the ban” hannigan
@Mick Hannigan: that’s just silly talk
@Andrew Mockler: also ban you from commenting lol :)
@jagmerc: get back in your sad box
@Mick Hannigan: very arsh, Mick, very arsh.
Time to quit smoking i think,not going to pay 12 euro for a packet of cigarettes. 100 euro a week over the next 9 months would give me a nice family holiday.
@Doung O Driscoll: The book is very good and works for many people . The pharma industry is inclined to highlight the difficulty with nicotine addiction in order to push more nicotine via patches,chewing gum and what have you but the book will make you laugh and once you close the book you don’t even want to smoke -
@Doung O Driscoll: I gave them up when they put Benson and Hedges up to 1.50 a packet….f
eck it I said, I aint payi g that, and havnt had a fag since all those years ago now
I am off them nearly a year . Up a few lbs but happy i did it .
€0.60 a cigarette now with six puffs per cigarette equating to 10cent per puff.
Very few smokers left now – either in the ground or quit
I last my job last month. I was in the social welfare office to arrange payment of an overpayment last year when I started work, and I told them when they asked that I didn’t expect to be entitled to dole sice I quit a job but I was encouraged to, as it could stand against me to have a gap. Somebody like me shouldn’t be getting the dole. I quit my job!
@M: idiot
@M: If you feel bad about it you could always give the money to a charity or homeless shelter and live on fresh air until you find another job.
Baxtards.
They’ll never force me to quit, never! I love me fags i do.
Value the health of our nation,by taxing everything to the fking hilt.
They could make a tax of € 0.05 per posted comment and €0.01 per thumbs up on the journal.ie and eliminate cigarette, soft drink and likely liquor and ale tales, plus no water charges. Surely that would work out?
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