A year into presidency, Marcos quietly keeps...

assures the international community of the Philippine government's commitment to improving its human rights record.

“Extrajudicial killings have not only continued, but the policies that spur them are also firmly in place,” Karapatan said.

“Marcos Jr. has not rescinded any of the operational guidelines formulated, issued and implemented by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in relation to the 'war on drugs' such as Oplan Double Barrel and Project Tokhang, which are both reflected as policies through a series of PNP Command Memorandum Circulars,” the group added.

The human rights group was referring to the PNP’s “Double Barrel” campaign against illegal drugs first launched in 2016 under then-PNP chief Ronaldo Bato Dela Rosa, who is currently a senator.

"Project Tokhang" or "Oplan Tokhang," meanwhile, is part of PNP's "Double Barrel" campaign and targets small-time drug dealers.

Human Rights Watch similarly said that "drug war" killings continue under Marcos albeit at a “lower rate” than his predecessor.

At least 336 drug-related killings have taken place since Marcos became president, most during law enforcement’s antidrug operations, according to the UP Third World Studies Center, which maintains a running count of drug-related killings based on media reports.

More than half of these killings or 175 of them took place in the first six months of Marcos’ term, according to the center.

Inherited drug war policy

Marcos previously criticized his predecessor's violent approach to curbing illegal drug use, saying that "there were abuses by certain elements of government" in the "war on drugs" campaign.

Official figures put deaths from Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign at more than 6,000, but estimates from human rights groups peg the actual number of fatalities as at least 30,000.

In his numerous overseas trips and meetings with representatives of foreign governments, Marcos has also consistently vowed that the Philippine government is committed to improving human rights.

But Marcos “needs to do more than issue statements about democracy and the rule of law to demonstrate a genuine commitment to human rights,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Without concrete action to break old patterns of abuses and secure accountability for past crimes, his words have little credibility,” Lau said.

Besides formally announcing an end to the “drug war,” Marcos should also order investigations into officials involved in the alleged killings, Human Rights Watch said.

Marcos’ administration still refuses to cooperate with the International Criminal Court that is investigating crimes against humanity allegedly committed during Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, with the president saying in March that the country will be “disengaging” with the court after it denied their request to suspend its probe pending resolution of their appeal.

Despite the Philippines’ departure from the ICC in 2018, which took effect 2019, the international court retains jurisdiction over the crimes committed when the Philippines was still a member of the court.

Relatives of "war on drugs" victims have said that they believe that the ICC remains the only avenue for a genuine and impartial investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed during Duterte’s "drug war."

In their communications with the ICC, the victims have also stressed inaction from local courts and the present administration’s unwillingness to investigate "war on drugs" killings.

A portion of a representation made on behalf of the victim read: “Cases against the perpetrators of the crimes have not been forthcoming. Even attempts to obtain recognition that the killings were extralegal have, unfortunately, been met with resistance from state institutions.”

Marcos ‘conspicuously silent’

Karapatan said Marcos has also remained “conspicuously silent” about the rampant rights violations committed during his term “in a devious attempt to distance himself from the sordidness of his own human rights record.”

Karapatan and Human Rights

Watch noted that besides the drug war, red-tagging and violent counter-insurgency programs continue to be implemented—

Kai Sotto o cially included in...

The NBA Summer League will run from July 7 to 17. Each participating team will play four games from opening day to July 14.

The top four teams will advance to the playoffs and participate in the semifinals on July 16 with the two winning teams meeting for the championship game on the 17th. Sotto and the Magic will begin their preseason run on July 8 when they face the Detroit Pistons at Thomas & Mack Arena. (Rommel Fuertes Jr./ Inquirer.net) acts that Duterte himself openly encouraged and supported.

Lau said that Marcos must “demonstrate a break from the past and show concrete, measurable progress on human rights.”

“The Philippines’ international partners should stop getting a runaround from Marcos and settle for nothing less than real change,” Lau added. (with reports from Xave Gregorio, Janvic Mateo)

by GINA JIMÉNEZ California Healthline

VANESSA Langness had always been a bit worried about the chemicals she worked with as a biomedical researcher, but when she got pregnant in October, her concerns grew.

The 34-year-old based in Santa Maria, California, suspected the ethidium bromide she was using in the lab for molecular cloning could put her and her baby at risk. She wasn’t sure what to do; she was only a few weeks into her pregnancy and didn’t know how it would affect her career.

“Women are taught: You aren’t supposed to tell people until after the first trimester,” she said. “But that’s actually a really delicate stage for the formation of the baby.”

Langness did some research online but couldn’t find much information on what kind of extra precautions she should take because of her pregnancy. Without realizing it, she had stumbled upon an often overlooked area of science and medicine: the occupational health of pregnant workers. Those who are pregnant often face hazardous circumstances doing jobs in which they must lift heavy objects, stand for long periods, or, like Langness, work with chemicals.

At the end of last year, Congress approved the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to those who are pregnant. But the new law, which took effect June 27, has a big hole in it: Public health experts say not nearly enough is known about which work circumstances are dangerous for pregnancies, especially when chemical exposures are involved. That’s because occupational health studies overwhelmingly have been centered on men, and so have the health and safety standards based on those studies.

“A pregnant person’s physiology is very different from a nonpregnant person,” said Carissa Rocheleau, an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. “A lot of our existing permissible exposure limits date back to 1970. In the studies they based the limits on, there were very few women in general and even fewer pregnant women, if any.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidance for employment considerations during pregnancy says that very few chemical compounds “have been sufficiently studied to draw conclusions about potential reproductive harms.”

Even though the data is sparse, several physiological factors suggest pregnant workers face higher health risks from chemical exposures than other adults, said Julia Varshavsky, a Northeastern University environmental health scientist focused on maternal and child health. And chemical exposures during pregnancy can be dangerous not just for the prospective parent, but also for the fetus, which can absorb toxins through the placenta.

For one thing, blood volume increases during pregnancy because the body is working overtime to supply the fetus with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to develop. Such bloodflow expansion can make those who are pregnant susceptible to developing high blood pressure. Some studies also suggest a link between exposure to lead during pregnancy and high blood pressure.

Pregnancy also considerably alters a person’s metabolism; the body prioritizes breaking down fats instead of sugars to preserve the sugar for the developing fetus. Especially after the first trimester, those who are pregnant have high blood sugar and must double their insulin production to keep it under control. It’s risky for them to be exposed to chemicals such as PFAS that have been linked to insulin resistance, a condition in which cells don’t respond to insulin anymore. Finally, those who are pregnant are also especially susceptible to a category of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors. Estrogen is the hormone responsible for promoting the body’s changes during pregnancy. When u PAGE A5