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Hurricanes, Droughts, and Wildfires: How Biopharma is Girding for Climate Change

           

A runner tries to navigate a flooded section of sidewalk underneath the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge, Mass.  Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe

statnews.com - by Kate Sheridan - February 15, 2019

. . . the potential risks of climate change — and the attendant increase in natural disasters — stand to outstrip any … incremental gains, as the companies described in recent risk assessment reports to the British nonprofit CDP.

Hurricanes and superstorms, power outages and flooding all threaten manufacturing facilities and research sites, particularly when animals are involved. Droughts, too, threaten critical water supplies. Forest fires, even if remote from a given plant or research facility, bring smoke and air pollution that can similarly disrupt the day-to-day work for drug makers and their supply chain . . .

. . . STAT surveyed the risk assessment plans for more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies and spoke with officials at labs that survived extreme weather events and others who are planning to avoid their repercussions. All emphasized that the risks are already real — and underscored how hard the industry is working to prepare to meet the challenge.

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Hurricane Maria: 4,645 Died in Puerto Rico From Storm in 2017, Study Says

submitted by Diane Tucker

           

A tree toppled by Hurricane Maria rests over damaged graves in the Villa Palmeras cemetery in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in December 2017.  Mario Tama/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - NEJM - Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

npr.org - by Richard Harris - May 29, 2018

Perhaps 5,000 people died in Puerto Rico in 2017 for reasons related to September's Hurricane Maria, according to a study that dismisses the official death toll of 64 as "a substantial underestimate."

A research team led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health didn't simply attempt to count dead bodies in the wake of the powerful storm. Instead, they surveyed randomly chosen households and asked the occupants about their experiences.

From that approach, they concluded that between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31, 2017, there were 4,645 "excess deaths" — that is, deaths that would not have occurred if the island hadn't been plunged into a prolonged disaster following the devastating storm.

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Puerto Rico's Storm of Misery

       
 
Devastation in Puerto Rico - CBS News
 
cbsnews.com - by Steve Kroft - November 5, 2017
 
Many Puerto Ricans have endured the longest blackout in American history following a direct hit from Hurricane Maria. Due to a multitude of factors, some say the lights won't be coming back on anytime soon.
 
It's safe to say that of all the places in the country, the one that is suffering the most right now is the hurricane-ravaged island of Puerto Rico . . . For the past 46 days, most of them have been without power, the longest blackout in American history. FEMA says it has distributed more food and water there than any disaster its ever been involved in.
 
 
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