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insurance to those without. Other factors being equal, they found that uninsured children were 60 per cent more likely to die in hospital than those with insurance. When comparing death rates by underlying disease, the uninsured appeared to have an increased risk of dying regardless of their medical condition. The findings only captured deaths during hospitalisation and did not reflect deaths after discharge from hospital, nor did they count children who died without ever being hospitalised, which means that the real death toll of uninsured children could be even higher. investors attempt to turn a profit in biofuels and soft commodities markets. Historically, with big industrial agriculture comes the expansion of western agricultural biotechnologies. The introduction of genetically modified organisms in the US and other countries has primarily profited patent- holding companies while creating farmer dependence on the chemical fertilisers and pesticides produced by a few US corporations and used to the detriment of human health, soil quality and the environment. A tangled consortium of multinational corporations, funded by taxpayer dollars via the United States Agency for International Development, seeks to further the aims of biotech abroad, especially in Africa where Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia were singled out and have been the testing grounds for this strategy. The obvious beneficiaries of such international development are the handful of corporations which own the patents and technology and produce the herbicides and pesticides required by the use of such seeds. 7. External Capitalist Forces Wreak Havoc in Africa for Int Resource exploitation in Africa is not new, but the _ of bio scale of agricultural "land grabbing" in African nations is — Mali, unprecedented, becoming the new colonisation of the — single 21st century. State violence against Kenyan indigenous __ strate; pastoralists and Nigerian civilians in oil-rich regions has _—_develc heightened, leaving thousands dead as the military the pa burns whole communities to the ground and police —_ and pe commit crimes including extrajudicial killings, rapes, beatings, thefts, arson and intimidation. 8. Ma In the midst of a severe food and economic crisis, the On’ "land grabbing" trend has grown into an international = Amazc phenomenon. The term refers to the purchase or lease = Alan C of vast tracts of land by wealthier, food-insecure nations = comm and private investors from mostly poor, developing Free T! countries in order to produce crops for export. Thre Approximately 180 instances of such land transactions police have been reported since mid-2008, as nations attempt and fle to extend their control over food-producing lands and _ jungle 8. Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US-Peru FTA On World Environment Day, 5 June 2009, Peruvian Amazon Indians were massacred by the government o Alan Garcfa in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common lands—a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the US. Three Mi-17 helicopters took off from the nationa police base in E] Milagro, Peru, at 6 am on Friday 5 June and flew over part of the Peruvian highway that joins the jungle to the northern coast, which had been occupied or the past 10 days by 5,000 Awajtin and Wampi indigenous peoples. The helicopters launched ear gas on the crowd (witnesses say they also ired machine guns), while a group of agents simultaneously attacked the roadblock by ground, firing AKM rifles. An estimated 500 police bore down on the protesters, some of whom were still sleeping, and opened fire. One undred people were wounded by gunshot, and between 20 and 25 were killed. The government claimed days after the clash hat 11 indigenous were dead as well as 23 police = agents. The indigenous organisations reported 50 dead among their ranks and up to 400 disappearances. According to witnesses, the military burned bodies and threw them into the river to hide the massacre, and also took prisoners from among the wounded in hospitals. While accounts differ, what is certain is that the fe government sent the armed forces to evict a peaceful protest that had been going on for 57 days in five jungle regions: Amazonas, Cusco, Loreto, San Martin and Ucayali. upa The US-Peru FTA was signed on 8 December 2005 in Washington, DC, by then Presidents George W. Bush and Alan Garcia. In June 2006, it "Just send me a text reminding me to email you about setting up a Skype session to discuss organising a video conference." 14 * NEXUS DECEMBER 2010 - JANUARY 2011 www.nexusmagazine.com