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Blockchain for sustainable development: The case of Ghana

How blockchain technology might help developing economies to increase financial inclusion — a closer look at financial services in Ghana.

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How blockchain technology might help developing economies to increase financial inclusion — a closer look at financial services in Ghana.

In modern times of rapid globalization and digitization, technological developments have now reached such proportions that the usage of cryptocurrencies is no new phenomenon. The technology behind blockchain opens the internet for financial services by replacing trust, a fundamental component of the financial system for centuries, with transparency integrated into a decentralized network. Thereby, blockchain bears the potential to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by empowering the unbanked, predominantly women, reducing transaction fees as well as creating an alternative source of liquidity.

Only 57.7% of adults in Ghana in 2021 had a bank account. Unable to afford participation in the formal financial system, the poor find themselves paying the most for fundamental financial services. Moreover, there is a multiplier effect inherent with the economic participation of women that takes wide-ranging consequences respecting a number of SDGs.

Related: The UN’s ‘decade of delivery’ needs blockchain to succeed

Financial inclusion may alleviate poverty, improve health and well-being, gender equality, take a positive effect on children’s education, and more. Access to affordable financial services thus becomes a catalyst for economic growth and opportunity. Simply put, there is a lot at stake here. Let’s dig into it.

West Africa’s economic powerhouse: Ghana

Sharing borders with the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo, Ghana lies in the heart of West Africa. The population is about 32 million, and besides various tribal languages, English is one of the recognized national languages. Frequently seen as West Africa’s economic powerhouse, in 2020, the country’s purchasing power parity (gross domestic product per capita) was around $5,744 United States dollars. Until it was hit by a severe banking crisis spanning from 2017 to 2020, Ghana’s economic growth had been astounding — the epitome of what many countries in the region ought to achieve. Shaken by just another crisis, going by the name COVID-19, the economy is in the process of recovery.

Ghana’s wealthy remain concentrated in the south’s urban areas and lower-income households dispersed across the countryside, home to most of the population. As a result, banking services are largely located in urban areas. Despite that, a 2010 research concluded that physical access to banks is not the central barrier to banking but rather Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements that many of the unbanked are unable to fulfill. Also, 64% of the respondents stated inadequacy of income as being the prime reason for not having a bank account. Although this study may seem outdated, a new study from 2021 arrived at similar conclusions by pointing out that one of the main hardships of opening a bank account resides in the lack of financial resources.

Essential to the country’s financial services infrastructure is mobile money, which accompanies the everyday life of millions of Ghanaians — approximately 38.9% of the population in 2021 had registered a mobile money account. Mobile money, introduced in 2009, is a financial service that enables people to transfer money and handle payments without the need of having a bank account. All that is required to complete a transaction is a mobile phone capable of sending SMS.

Dependent on the network provider, mobile money allows account holders to access credit and other kinds of financial products. It has the added advantage that its KYC requirements are lax compared with that of banks. In most cases, one “only” needs proof of identity to open an account. Taken together, this may come as just another hindrance to financial inclusion (not everyone may have a phone or identification documents), but this is as low as the barrier gets. Two of its distinct disadvantages, however, are transaction and withdrawal fees. MTN, for example, charges for mobile money transfers up to 5%. Charges that may seem minor but build up over time.

Related: Here’s what’s happening in Web3 across Africa

On Nov. 17, 2021, the Ghanaian government announced the enactment of an e-transaction levy of 1.75%, intending to fill up state coffers. Initially proposed to come to pass by February, the e-levy remains postponed due to fierce opposition. Yet it’s been asserted that irrespective of the electronic tax, most people will keep using mobile money.

Lastly, foreign remittances is a topic that cannot be overlooked when discussing the situation of financial services in Ghana. Receiving remittances accounts for a noticeable portion of the country’s GDP, as it does in several developing countries.

In 2018, Ghana was the second-largest recipient of remittances in West Africa after Nigeria. With more Ghanaians migrating to Europe and North America, a substantial number of households rely on remittances to make ends meet. While banks are commonly the most expensive choice for international transactions, money transfer services deliver the money to a bank, cash pickup location or mobile account at a lower cost.

Cryptocurrency has a competitive edge over cross-border transactions. In many cases, owing to fewer middlemen, sending money internationally is cheaper and faster via blockchain. As reported by the World Bank, the average expense of sending $200 was 6.8% in the third quarter of 2020. In fact, facilitating international remittances was pivotal for El Salvador’s policy decision of launching Bitcoin as a legal tender in September 2021. The SDGs also recognize substantial costs for remittances as a factor that impedes financial inclusion and, thus, have set the objective of reducing them to 3% by 2030.

Related: The world doesn’t need banks, policymakers or NGOs

Blockchain for sustainable development

Blockchain’s features of being incorruptible and void of intermediaries may help to better serve the unbanked. In turn, this could also lead to a diversification of the financial services market, which has traditionally been dominated by banks. Without delving into reams of technological gobbledygook, blockchain-based cryptocurrencies could do all (and more) that banking institutions can do, but without a third-party controlling user data and charging people stupendous fees for basic services.

Besides all that crypto can do, more than 10 years after the first Bitcoin (BTC), it has not yet achieved wide consumer adoption. Drawing on quantitative surveys conducted with people living in the Greater Accra Region, the country’s most urbanized region and location of its capital city, the findings indicate a lack of trust in cryptocurrencies’ future: Is it a financial bubble, or will it replace national currencies, gaining trust in the process? No one can tell for sure. Nonetheless, the findings also reported a good chance for cryptocurrencies to pick up steam and enrich the financial services market, especially if they would be easier to use, more stable, and accepted by shops to be used for daily purchases.

It appears that people do not yet have the knowledge required to perform cryptocurrency transactions (not only in Africa, as other surveys show). Indeed, it takes a huge amount of time to get your head around it.

Related: Crypto education can bring financial empowerment to Latin Americans

Lack of trust thrives on lack of knowledge that impedes crypto’s adoption — the demonizing way in which this financial tool is regularly portrayed by much of the media does not do good either. It is a vicious cycle that cannot be disentangled unless there exists an easy-to-use financial service that both individuals and shop owners can use. As soon as there is such a platform, perhaps with which one can transfer funds via SMS (thus built on an existing infrastructure a good deal of Ghanaians are familiar with), this cycle may be challenged and cryptocurrency’s adoption accelerated. That being said, there are businesses working on SMS-based blockchain transactions. Although this does not mean replacing other types of financial tools, it would diversify the financial services sector and include individuals who have so far been left out.

At this juncture, it is worth noting that the fluctuation in the price of some cryptocurrencies can be overcome by employing stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that are pegged to fiat — i.e., government-issued currencies — or precious metals. While critics are quick to point out that those coins are no longer decentralized as, in terms of fiat, their value heavily depends on the performance of the currency they mirror. Some firms in the crypto space have succeeded in developing relatively decentralized stablecoins — e.g., MakerDAO’s Dai).

Also, more than 70 countries are currently working on establishing a digital equivalent of their national currencies. Referred to as central bank digital currencies (CBDC), a digital equivalent of national currencies given out by central banks may amp up consumer protections and spark a regulatory framework, entailing fiscal and monetary policy, for a significant part of the financial system, which has so far widely eluded authorities. Of course, there are drawbacks: Users would have to give up some degree of privacy and control, while central banks would be equipped with inconceivable power allowing them to date back transactions, render them undone, etc. — away with the “tamper-proof” quality of decentralized finance. It’s a superb opportunity for the model authoritarian government that wishes to consolidate its grip over financial transactions, and citizens. Ergo, cryptocurrency and blockchain may be a medium of freedom or be misused for dystopian outcomes.

On the other hand, by providing a simple infrastructure for kickstarting crypto, CBDCs joined with a user-friendly platform could be the starting point and gateway through which people can learn about cryptocurrency and become empowered. Henceforth, people may feel encouraged to scout the cosmos surrounding cryptocurrency, grow their financial literary muscle, and move savings to decentralized solutions.

Lessons taken from El Salvador could help propel financial inclusion through crypto in other parts of the world. While this article cannot explore all the arguments around CBDCs, they may just be one way to generate trust, incite financial inclusion, and accelerate the adoption of crypto. Acknowledging the immense potential of cryptocurrency, I find that it will in all likelihood increase in relevance. What concerns me is rather how much time it requires for cryptocurrency to gain ground, considering that many of those in power hold a vested interest in keeping things as they are. Glancing at history, I am confident its adoption will be quicker than the move from cowrie shells to fiat.

One more time about inclusion

By offering a fairer and more transparent financial system, cryptocurrencies and blockchain pose an alternative to conventional financial services. Recognizing cryptocurrency and blockchain for financial inclusion and looking beyond mobile money and banking infrastructures are critical to catering to people’s need for access to affordable financial services. A user-friendly platform is needed to facilitate the usage for individuals and businesses. With this, anyone could access the benefits without extensive knowledge of blockchain. Crypto would likely be accepted by shops, helping foster the delivery of financial inclusion on part of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. Nevertheless, regulatory frameworks and financial education should not be understated when tackling financial exclusion.

Ultimately, it becomes apparent that what blockchain threatens to replace is the very nature of the financial system by bypassing the issue of trust. Due to its brevity, the article left out many technical aspects of blockchain, such as custodial and noncustodial wallets, decentralized and centralized exchanges, and different types of blockchains, cryptocurrencies and consensus mechanisms, but I encourage everyone to set out on the journey of exploring (“googling”) these and other concepts. Having done research on this matter for a considerable amount of time, albeit it is a tedious undertaking, I can assure you it is a thought-provoking and knowledge-enhancing one. Since much of blockchain is still in its infancy, it’s a good time to start reading about it now.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Dustin Jung is a blockchain enthusiast. He holds two master’s degrees in the fields of social science and management studies from the University of Freiburg, International Business School Budapest, and the University of Buckingham. Having lived in Ghana from 2018 to 2019, Dustin quickly became passionate about how blockchain can drive sustainable development in developing countries.

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CDC Warns Thousands Of Children Sent To ER After Taking Common Sleep Aid

CDC Warns Thousands Of Children Sent To ER After Taking Common Sleep Aid

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A…

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CDC Warns Thousands Of Children Sent To ER After Taking Common Sleep Aid

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) paper released Thursday found that thousands of young children have been taken to the emergency room over the past several years after taking the very common sleep-aid supplement melatonin.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 23, 2020. (Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images)

The agency said that melatonin, which can come in gummies that are meant for adults, was implicated in about 7 percent of all emergency room visits for young children and infants “for unsupervised medication ingestions,” adding that many incidents were linked to the ingestion of gummy formulations that were flavored. Those incidents occurred between the years 2019 and 2022.

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the human body to regulate its sleep cycle. Supplements, which are sold in a number of different formulas, are generally taken before falling asleep and are popular among people suffering from insomnia, jet lag, chronic pain, or other problems.

The supplement isn’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and does not require child-resistant packaging. However, a number of supplement companies include caps or lids that are difficult for children to open.

The CDC report said that a significant number of melatonin-ingestion cases among young children were due to the children opening bottles that had not been properly closed or were within their reach. Thursday’s report, the agency said, “highlights the importance of educating parents and other caregivers about keeping all medications and supplements (including gummies) out of children’s reach and sight,” including melatonin.

The approximately 11,000 emergency department visits for unsupervised melatonin ingestions by infants and young children during 2019–2022 highlight the importance of educating parents and other caregivers about keeping all medications and supplements (including gummies) out of children’s reach and sight.

The CDC notes that melatonin use among Americans has increased five-fold over the past 25 years or so. That has coincided with a 530 percent increase in poison center calls for melatonin exposures to children between 2012 and 2021, it said, as well as a 420 percent increase in emergency visits for unsupervised melatonin ingestion by young children or infants between 2009 and 2020.

Some health officials advise that children under the age of 3 should avoid taking melatonin unless a doctor says otherwise. Side effects include drowsiness, headaches, agitation, dizziness, and bed wetting.

Other symptoms of too much melatonin include nausea, diarrhea, joint pain, anxiety, and irritability. The supplement can also impact blood pressure.

However, there is no established threshold for a melatonin overdose, officials have said. Most adult melatonin supplements contain a maximum of 10 milligrams of melatonin per serving, and some contain less.

Many people can tolerate even relatively large doses of melatonin without significant harm, officials say. But there is no antidote for an overdose. In cases of a child accidentally ingesting melatonin, doctors often ask a reliable adult to monitor them at home.

Dr. Cora Collette Breuner, with the Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington, told CNN that parents should speak with a doctor before giving their children the supplement.

“I also tell families, this is not something your child should take forever. Nobody knows what the long-term effects of taking this is on your child’s growth and development,” she told the outlet. “Taking away blue-light-emitting smartphones, tablets, laptops, and television at least two hours before bed will keep melatonin production humming along, as will reading or listening to bedtime stories in a softly lit room, taking a warm bath, or doing light stretches.”

In 2022, researchers found that in 2021, U.S. poison control centers received more than 52,000 calls about children consuming worrisome amounts of the dietary supplement. That’s a six-fold increase from about a decade earlier. Most such calls are about young children who accidentally got into bottles of melatonin, some of which come in the form of gummies for kids, the report said.

Dr. Karima Lelak, an emergency physician at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and the lead author of the study published in 2022 by the CDC, found that in about 83 percent of those calls, the children did not show any symptoms.

However, other children had vomiting, altered breathing, or other symptoms. Over the 10 years studied, more than 4,000 children were hospitalized, five were put on machines to help them breathe, and two children under the age of two died. Most of the hospitalized children were teenagers, and many of those ingestions were thought to be suicide attempts.

Those researchers also suggested that COVID-19 lockdowns and virtual learning forced more children to be at home all day, meaning there were more opportunities for kids to access melatonin. Also, those restrictions may have caused sleep-disrupting stress and anxiety, leading more families to consider melatonin, they suggested.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 21:40

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Red Candle In The Wind

Red Candle In The Wind

By Benjamin PIcton of Rabobank

February non-farm payrolls superficially exceeded market expectations on Friday by…

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Red Candle In The Wind

By Benjamin PIcton of Rabobank

February non-farm payrolls superficially exceeded market expectations on Friday by printing at 275,000 against a consensus call of 200,000. We say superficially, because the downward revisions to prior months totalled 167,000 for December and January, taking the total change in employed persons well below the implied forecast, and helping the unemployment rate to pop two-ticks to 3.9%. The U6 underemployment rate also rose from 7.2% to 7.3%, while average hourly earnings growth fell to 0.2% m-o-m and average weekly hours worked languished at 34.3, equalling pre-pandemic lows.

Undeterred by the devil in the detail, the algos sprang into action once exchanges opened. Market darling NVIDIA hit a new intraday high of $974 before (presumably) the humans took over and sold the stock down more than 10% to close at $875.28. If our suspicions are correct that it was the AIs buying before the humans started selling (no doubt triggering trailing stops on the way down), the irony is not lost on us.

The 1-day chart for NVIDIA now makes for interesting viewing, because the red candle posted on Friday presents quite a strong bearish engulfing signal. Volume traded on the day was almost double the 15-day simple moving average, and similar price action is observable on the 1-day charts for both Intel and AMD. Regular readers will be aware that we have expressed incredulity in the past about the durability the AI thematic melt-up, so it will be interesting to see whether Friday’s sell off is just a profit-taking blip, or a genuine trend reversal.

AI equities aside, this week ought to be important for markets because the BTFP program expires today. That means that the Fed will no longer be loaning cash to the banking system in exchange for collateral pledged at-par. The KBW Regional Banking index has so far taken this in its stride and is trading 30% above the lows established during the mini banking crisis of this time last year, but the Fed’s liquidity facility was effectively an exercise in can-kicking that makes regional banks a sector of the market worth paying attention to in the weeks ahead. Even here in Sydney, regulators are warning of external risks posed to the banking sector from scheduled refinancing of commercial real estate loans following sharp falls in valuations.

Markets are sending signals in other sectors, too. Gold closed at a new record-high of $2178/oz on Friday after trading above $2200/oz briefly. Gold has been going ballistic since the Friday before last, posting gains even on days where 2-year Treasury yields have risen. Gold bugs are buying as real yields fall from the October highs and inflation breakevens creep higher. This is particularly interesting as gold ETFs have been recording net outflows; suggesting that price gains aren’t being driven by a retail pile-in. Are gold buyers now betting on a stagflationary outcome where the Fed cuts without inflation being anchored at the 2% target? The price action around the US CPI release tomorrow ought to be illuminating.

Leaving the day-to-day movements to one side, we are also seeing further signs of structural change at the macro level. The UK budget last week included a provision for the creation of a British ISA. That is, an Individual Savings Account that provides tax breaks to savers who invest their money in the stock of British companies. This follows moves last year to encourage pension funds to head up the risk curve by allocating 5% of their capital to unlisted investments.

As a Hail Mary option for a government cruising toward an electoral drubbing it’s a curious choice, but it’s worth highlighting as cash-strapped governments increasingly see private savings pools as a funding solution for their spending priorities.

Of course, the UK is not alone in making creeping moves towards financial repression. In contrast to announcements today of increased trade liberalisation, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has in the recent past flagged his interest in tapping private pension savings to fund state spending priorities, including defence, public housing and renewable energy projects. Both the UK and Australia appear intent on finding ways to open up the lungs of their economies, but government wants more say in directing private capital flows for state goals.

So, how far is the blurring of the lines between free markets and state planning likely to go? Given the immense and varied budgetary (and security) pressures that governments are facing, could we see a re-up of WWII-era Victory bonds, where private investors are encouraged to do their patriotic duty by directly financing government at negative real rates?

That would really light a fire under the gold market.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 19:00

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Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Mandating COVID-19…

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Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Mandating COVID-19 vaccination was a mistake due to ethical and other concerns, a top government doctor warned Dr. Anthony Fauci after Dr. Fauci promoted mass vaccination.

Coercing or forcing people to take a vaccine can have negative consequences from a biological, sociological, psychological, economical, and ethical standpoint and is not worth the cost even if the vaccine is 100% safe,” Dr. Matthew Memoli, director of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases clinical studies unit at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Dr. Fauci in an email.

“A more prudent approach that considers these issues would be to focus our efforts on those at high risk of severe disease and death, such as the elderly and obese, and do not push vaccination on the young and healthy any further.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, ex-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID. in Washington on Jan. 8, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Employing that strategy would help prevent loss of public trust and political capital, Dr. Memoli said.

The email was sent on July 30, 2021, after Dr. Fauci, director of the NIAID, claimed that communities would be safer if more people received one of the COVID-19 vaccines and that mass vaccination would lead to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re on a really good track now to really crush this outbreak, and the more people we get vaccinated, the more assuredness that we’re going to have that we’re going to be able to do that,” Dr. Fauci said on CNN the month prior.

Dr. Memoli, who has studied influenza vaccination for years, disagreed, telling Dr. Fauci that research in the field has indicated yearly shots sometimes drive the evolution of influenza.

Vaccinating people who have not been infected with COVID-19, he said, could potentially impact the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19 in unexpected ways.

“At best what we are doing with mandated mass vaccination does nothing and the variants emerge evading immunity anyway as they would have without the vaccine,” Dr. Memoli wrote. “At worst it drives evolution of the virus in a way that is different from nature and possibly detrimental, prolonging the pandemic or causing more morbidity and mortality than it should.”

The vaccination strategy was flawed because it relied on a single antigen, introducing immunity that only lasted for a certain period of time, Dr. Memoli said. When the immunity weakened, the virus was given an opportunity to evolve.

Some other experts, including virologist Geert Vanden Bossche, have offered similar views. Others in the scientific community, such as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists, say vaccination prevents virus evolution, though the agency has acknowledged it doesn’t have records supporting its position.

Other Messages

Dr. Memoli sent the email to Dr. Fauci and two other top NIAID officials, Drs. Hugh Auchincloss and Clifford Lane. The message was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, though the publication did not publish the message. The Epoch Times obtained the email and 199 other pages of Dr. Memoli’s emails through a Freedom of Information Act request. There were no indications that Dr. Fauci ever responded to Dr. Memoli.

Later in 2021, the NIAID’s parent agency, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and all other federal government agencies began requiring COVID-19 vaccination, under direction from President Joe Biden.

In other messages, Dr. Memoli said the mandates were unethical and that he was hopeful legal cases brought against the mandates would ultimately let people “make their own healthcare decisions.”

“I am certainly doing everything in my power to influence that,” he wrote on Nov. 2, 2021, to an unknown recipient. Dr. Memoli also disclosed that both he and his wife had applied for exemptions from the mandates imposed by the NIH and his wife’s employer. While her request had been granted, his had not as of yet, Dr. Memoli said. It’s not clear if it ever was.

According to Dr. Memoli, officials had not gone over the bioethics of the mandates. He wrote to the NIH’s Department of Bioethics, pointing out that the protection from the vaccines waned over time, that the shots can cause serious health issues such as myocarditis, or heart inflammation, and that vaccinated people were just as likely to spread COVID-19 as unvaccinated people.

He cited multiple studies in his emails, including one that found a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in a California health care system despite a high rate of vaccination and another that showed transmission rates were similar among the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Dr. Memoli said he was “particularly interested in the bioethics of a mandate when the vaccine doesn’t have the ability to stop spread of the disease, which is the purpose of the mandate.”

The message led to Dr. Memoli speaking during an NIH event in December 2021, several weeks after he went public with his concerns about mandating vaccines.

“Vaccine mandates should be rare and considered only with a strong justification,” Dr. Memoli said in the debate. He suggested that the justification was not there for COVID-19 vaccines, given their fleeting effectiveness.

Julie Ledgerwood, another NIAID official who also spoke at the event, said that the vaccines were highly effective and that the side effects that had been detected were not significant. She did acknowledge that vaccinated people needed boosters after a period of time.

The NIH, and many other government agencies, removed their mandates in 2023 with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

A request for comment from Dr. Fauci was not returned. Dr. Memoli told The Epoch Times in an email he was “happy to answer any questions you have” but that he needed clearance from the NIAID’s media office. That office then refused to give clearance.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, said that Dr. Memoli showed bravery when he warned Dr. Fauci against mandates.

“Those mandates have done more to demolish public trust in public health than any single action by public health officials in my professional career, including diminishing public trust in all vaccines.” Dr. Bhattacharya, a frequent critic of the U.S. response to COVID-19, told The Epoch Times via email. “It was risky for Dr. Memoli to speak publicly since he works at the NIH, and the culture of the NIH punishes those who cross powerful scientific bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci or his former boss, Dr. Francis Collins.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 17:40

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