Medical PPE found dumped in UK's New Forest

A "mountain" of unused medical PPE has been discovered dumped next to a nature reserve in Hampshire, UK, possibly some of the £15 Billion worth of unusable PPE bought by the Department for Health and Social Care during the Covid pandemic. 

‘Mountain’ of unused PPE dumped in nature reserve | The Telegraph - Ewan Somerville:

18 June 18, 2023 - "Thousands of packs of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been found dumped in a mountainous heap in the New Forest. Pictures show hoards of aprons and suspected face masks left in a giant pile in the town of Calmore, bordering the Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve and AFC Totton Football Club. 

"The 'large-scale' discovery was made public at a Hampshire County Council (HCC) meeting, where councillors said they reacted with 'horror' and are demanding answers, though it is not yet known if the items are linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"During the pandemic, the Department for Health and Social Care spent £15 billion [$25 Billion CDN] on PPE that proved unusable and is now being burned, including masks and gowns for NHS staff, prompting Whitehall’s spending watchdog to condemn the 'extraordinary waste'. 

"Now, a report from the HCC’s regulatory committee has revealed that the discovery was made following an investigation by New Forest District Council into use of land at Little Testwood Farm Caravan Park, Hants. The report said: 

'Following their own investigations into the use of land as a caravan park, New Forest District Council reported the large-scale storage of packs of old PPE. It became apparent that thousands of packs of medical aprons had been dumped on the land with no obvious signs that they were being protected or stored for some future use. The concern is that they have been dumped with no intention of removal to a proper facility'....

"The council has now launched an 'enforcement activity' with the Environment Agency, police and New Forest District Council to establish who is responsible and 'whether it was discarded by a Health Trust as substandard during the Covid procurement'....

"A spokesman for the Environment Agency confirmed its officials were due to visit the site next week, adding: 'We are unable to comment further in order to not prejudice any investigations or subsequent enforcement decisions.'"

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/ppe-covid-mountain-new-forest-hampshire-abandoned/

Fury over the PPE graveyard | MadNews TV | June 18, 2023 

Allegedly slave-made PPE being sold in Canada

Trudeau insults Emancipation Day by giving pass to slave labour | Toronto Sun - Jamil Jivani:

July 29, 2022 - "Canadians can soon expect [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau to make comments on social media in honour of Emancipation Day. It’s one of the most important days of the year, when we remember the men and women who fought to end slavery in the British Empire in 1834. Trudeau may even pat his own government on the back for being the first to officially recognize August 1 as Emancipation Day last year. 

"But ... [w]hile he presents as though he’d be on the right side of history two hundred years ago, Trudeau gives a pass to slave labour today. Literally, right before our eyes, Trudeau allows for goods made by slaves to be sold in our country.

"Let’s take a close look at one industry in particular: personal protective equipment.... Supermax medical gloves are alleged to be made by slave labour in Malaysia. In October 2021, the United States cancelled all of its contracts with the Supermax corporation [and banned the gloves' sale in the U.S. - gd]

"U.K. politicians then called for an investigation into the company as well. Trudeau Liberals made it seem as though they had followed suit in January 2022, when Public Services and Procurement Canada announced they were terminating two contracts with Supermax worth over $222 million. 

"But, eight months later, the Trudeau government still allows for Supermax gloves to be sold in Canada. Three companies, each of which are listed in the Fortune 500, continue to sell these medical gloves suspected of being made by slaves. 

• Henry Schein, ironically named one of the Ethisphere’s most ethical companies in the world, sells Supermax gloves under the brand Aurelia. 
• Patterson Dental contradicts its own supplier compliance standards by selling the same gloves. 
• You can also buy the gloves from Avantor, which violates its own policy to prevent slave labour in its supply chain....

"Back in February, the Trudeau Liberals froze the bank account of a single mother earning minimum wage because she donated $50 to the trucker convoy. They froze the accounts of hundreds of other Canadians, too, for supporting the truckers. But they expect us to believe they can’t stop Fortune 500 companies from selling medical gloves made by slaves?"

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/jivani-trudeau-insults-emancipation-day-by-giving-pass-to-slave-labour

Canada's government threw out PPE in 2019

Federal government trashed millions worth of PPE before COVID struck | Canadian Taxpayers Federation - James Wood:

July 29, 2021 - "The federal government threw millions of dollars worth of personal protective equipment [PPE] in the garbage months before COVID-19 arrived in Canada, according to exclusive records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation..... 

"The disposal took place in September of 2019, during the closure of one of the Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC]'s National Emergency Supply Stockpile warehouses located in Regina, SK. An estimated two million N95 masks and other assorted personal protective equipment were sent to the local dump. The original cost to purchase the PPE was $1,194,474, according to the records. Out of the landfilled PPE, $888,150 was made up of medium to large N95 masks, which skyrocketed in price during COVID-19. Face shields, surgical masks and other emergency medical supplies were also thrown away.... The feds disposed of the original masks in Sept. 2019 because they were reaching the end of their 'useful life,' according to the government.... 

"The CTF spoke with retired senator David Tkachuk, who served as the deputy chair of a Senate committee in 2008 that concluded the federal government had mismanaged and underfunded Canada’s emergency response system. ''First of all, I think it's nonsense,' said Tkachuk. 'These aren't the sort of products that spoil, but secondly, it was the fact that they weren't replaced and then they closed three of the warehouses'.... Tkachuk also noted that the responsibility for this waste of resources should be on the prime minister.... 'He never made an inquiry. He didn't do anything. He just ran away from it, didn't answer any questions and knew that CBC and CTV, nobody would really follow it up and make sure he was held accountable'....

"When the CTF approached PHAC for comment on this story, the agency defended the actions it had taken, saying there had been no need for PPE in its Regina warehouse at the time of disposal. The cost to toss the masks rang in at $4791, and PHAC said the closure of the warehouse saved $147,000 annually. As for whether or not the masks could have been used, the agency did not want to speculate."
Read more: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/federal-government-trashed-millions-worth-of-ppe-before-covid-struck

Depleted national stockpile leaves Canada reliant on China for masks, gowns and other supplies during pandemic | CBC News - Geoff Leo:

May 06, 2020 - "More than two months into the coronavirus pandemic, federal and provincial governments are using extraordinary measures to supply health-care workers with personal protective equipment, including letting them use expired masks. And with more than 61,000 cases of COVID-19 coast to coast, and the country reaching the milestone of more than 4,000 deaths on Tuesday, supplies are just trickling in from overseas suppliers....

"As of April 30, Health Canada had ordered 1.8 billion units of PPE, from masks to gloves to gowns. Of the 36 devices approved so far under the order, 34 are manufacturers in China, including Wuhan Orient Honest International Trade Co., Shandong Zhushi Pharmaceutical Group Co., and Peek-a-Boo! I A See U!.... Much of the global supply of PPE comes from China.... Last month, China's own government revealed it had seized 89 million pieces of poor-quality product. Canada has also received at least one million masks from China that don't meet its standards since the pandemic began.... 

"The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Sandy Buchman, says ... this highlights a failure of government planning. 'If we had planned properly and monitored these provincial and federal supplies of the equipment, we wouldn't be scrambling,' he said. 'We would be stockpiled and ready to go'....  Wesley Wark, a national security expert from the University of Ottawa who's studied Canada's national stockpile, said the pandemic has exposed a gaping hole in Canada's supply chain that urgently needs to be filled. 'The NESS concept has failed Canada in this current crisis.... We find ourselves in a position where China is our only hope,' he said."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/ppe-import-china-shortage-1.5552426

No dismissals at Public Health Agency after PPE stockpile screwup | Rebel News - Sheila Gunn Reid:

February 11, 2022 - "[A] shocking admission was made during a House of Commons public accounts committee meeting on Thursday afternoon during an exchange between Ontario Conservative MP Philip Lawrence and Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, president of the Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC]....

"[PHAC], tasked with the responsibility [of] pandemic preparedness, emptied several strategic stockpiles, allowed others to expire and closed warehouses to save money — though PHAC's own internal reports from 2011 warned managers to maintain a four month supply of masks, gloves and gowns. Tossed in the landfill were 8,839,942 masks, gowns and other PPE the year before the outbreak of COVID. PHAC had an annual budget at the time of more than $600 million.

"Blacklock's Reporter published a brief transcript of a portion of the committee meeting Friday morning:

Lawrence: “I asked a fairly direct question and I’d like a response. Was anyone held accountable? Was there anyone whose employment was terminated as a result of these significant lapses in your department? Was there anyone who faced any discipline at all?”
Kochhar: “This is a cumulative responsibility within the Public Health Agency – ”
Lawrence: “So to be clear no one has been held to account even though there were significant lapses that put our front line workers at risk?”
Kochar: “I reiterate the point that we are working very closely with our partners –”
Lawrence: “I’ll take that as absolutely no one in your department was held accountable for putting our front line workers at risk...."

"One manager at PHAC tasked with PPE warehouse mismanagement retired in 2020. Two previous PHAC presidents were given other public service jobs without seeing a pay cut."
Read more: https://www.rebelnews.com/no_dismissals_at_public_health_agency_after_ppe_stockpile_screwup

Private sector tackling coronavirus emergency

The Private Sector's Heartening Response to COVID-19 | Reason - Veronique de Rugy:

March 26, 2020 - "It's easy to feel depressed and scared these days. News about the impact and death toll of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, is constant. Government responses have been chaotic, ranging from near-indifference to suddenly shutting down the economy, with politicians offering to pay for everything. Yet we shouldn't lose sight of the exceptional vitality that the private sector is demonstrating during this mess. It will make a difference....

"After what can only be described as a multilevel government failure that resulted in the United States having practically no coronavirus tests available for weeks after the onset of the pandemic, the private sector ramped up its production so much that we're now testing 65,000 people every day. This number is bound to grow..... Singapore's Veredus Laboratories, for example, said it will soon release "Lab-on-Chip" kits to test patients for three kinds of coronavirus within two hours. Four American startups had also launched at-home tests for COVID-19, until the Food and Drug Administration unwisely demanded they stop....

"[O]nly a few weeks after the beginning of this outbreak in the United States, many pharmaceutical firms worked at lightning speed to develop a vaccine. Last week, the first doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine were administered to a group of volunteers....

"Companies nationwide are shifting resources to produce more masks. The firm 3M, for instance, announced that it 'ramped up to maximum production levels of N95 respirators and doubled our global output to a rate of more than 1.1 billion per year'.... A group of American apparel and textile companies like Fruit of the Loom and Hanesbrands came together almost overnight to create a medical face mask supply chain....

"Researchers trying to understand where best to send supplies or how to mitigate outbreaks are now being helped by Facebook's disease prevention maps that display population density, demographics, and travel patterns. As George Mason University's Tyler Cowen also explains for Bloomberg, 'Skype and Zoom sessions will replace many a class, and the textbook companies are stepping forward with electronic portals that present classroom materials, interactive exercises and grade student answers'....

"In Canada, an anesthetist managed to turn one life-saving ventilator into nine. In Italy, a company used its 3-D printer to manufacture much-needed ventilator valves to be used in that country's overwhelmed hospitals. These entrepreneurs then ... modified 'a snorkeling mask already on the market to create a ventilation-assisted mask for hospitals in need of additional equipment, which was successful when the hospital tested it on a patient in need.' And where I live in Virginia, a couple has been 3D-printing shields to protect N95 masks. The Washingtonian reports, 'For each request received, the Filkos are covering shipping costs and sending four free masks to doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers'....

"Burger King is giving out two free kids' meals to everyone who orders food through their app. U-Haul is providing one month of free storage for students displaced from their universities by the virus."

Read more: https://reason.com/2020/03/26/the-private-sectors-heartening-response-to-covid-19/