Watch out: Zika outbreak

The Zika virus is an alarming and disturbing infection that may be linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains, is spreading through America.  And there are already 5 people who has the Zika virus in Germany.

The dangerous virus was discovered in a forest in the East African state of Uganda seven decades ago. The Zika virus is now spreading explosively in the Americas, says the World Health Organization. They estimated between 3 million to 4 million infections in the region of a 12-month period. 80% of those who are infected with the Zika virus don’t even feel sick. The major worry is for the pregnant women and their babies face. Researchers say that there’s been a corresponding increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads.

No medicines are available to threat those with the Zika virus, and there are no vaccines to prevent it. But the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that the vaccine could be in the beginning of this year. The preventive option is to advise women to avoid getting pregnant as long as the Zika virus remains. The WHO will focus more on advising women in America who want to get pregnant to reduce their risk of mosquito bites.

Deaths are rare and only one in five people are infected is thought to develop symptoms such as: mild fever, conjunctivitis, headache, joint pain and a rash. Patients are advised to rest and drink plenty of fluids. This is only very dangerous for babies who are developing in the womb. The Zika virus can cause an abnormally small head of a baby, so their brain cannot developed properly. It can be deadly if the brain is so underdeveloped that it can’t regulate the functions vital to life. Children that do survive face intellectual disability and development delays.

I think a lot of people don’t even know that the Zika virus is spreading rapidly. People have to make sure that they don’t get pregnant when the Zika virus is spreading close to the place where the mosquitoes are present. It is a big disappointment when you get a baby that has an abnormally small head and will development all kinds of disabilities. We have to help each other to avoid the virus and reduce it.

It’s getting hotter and hotter…

Recently NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have reported that 2015 was the year with the highest global temperatures since they could record temperatures in 1880. The average temperature has risen 0.13 degrees since last year. Every year it’s getting hotter and hotter. “Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and NASA’s vital work on this important issue affects every person on Earth,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Climate change and extreme weather, these are some of the signs of global warming. To first know what global warming is causing you have to know what global warming is. Global warming is an increase in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. The main cause of this global issue is that there is too much carbon dioxide in the air. This gas acts a blanket which traps heat and as a consequence heats the planet. We get this carbon dioxide in the air through the burning of fossil fuels. This means that every day we do so much damage just by driving in our car and letting the factories work to create our products.

We are already suffering the consequences of global warming: ice is beginning to melt worldwide, some animals are beginning to disappear or move to other colder places and precipitation has increased globally. These are just the consequences for the climate. It also has a great effect on humans. There is a significant increase in the risk of illness and death related to extreme heat, some diseases transmitted by food and insects are likely to increase and the elderly and children are the most vulnerable to the extreme weather.

The good news is that because we humans caused this global issue we can still do something about it. We have to do something now before it too late. Some solutions we can start using are:

• Biofuels. We have to start thinking of a way we can make biofuels replace fossil fuels.
• Consume less. We humans always buy too much food, for example, and then throw a lot of it away.
• Solar panels. We have to start building more solar panels to provide the energy needed for houses.

I think we have to start making changes quick. If it’s starts affecting our health it’s a serious issue. People these days are selfish and don’t think about what their actions could have as consequences. They only think about making money and so using fossil fuels in factories for example. This only makes everything worse and passes on the problem to the future generations. This means that they have to solve the problem we caused. Not really fair, is it?

Paying taxes over inheritance

 

Recent times there has been a lot of discussion about the issue about inheritance taxes: Should those be payed directly or should they be payed when the heir is possessing the inheritance? The current system is not working for 100%, but would a new system work more effectively?

This seems to be a simple issue, because you always own the inheritance directly after your fellow one dies right? And at that moment you pay taxes? Yes, in most cases this is true. But, there are a lot of cases still in which this changes. Imagine; a father of two under-age children dies. The children owe a part of the inheritance, but because they are under-age, the inheritance goes to the mother, temporarily. The children (officially) have to pay taxes over their own part at that moment still. In this case, this problem won’t be too big probably because the mother will pay it for them. But this is not always the case. This shows the unlogical and ineffective system for inheritance taxing which is working now.

But, on the other side, a delay of paying the taxes would make it more difficult to ensure the payment in the end. Opposers claim heirs will be able to escape the taxes in the end. However, as tax academic Reinier Kooiman claims, the annual tax system for inheritance has so many different rules and exceptions that it gives the possibility to heirs to escape the tax payments as well, if they try to. So this makes clear that the opposing parties of delaying inheritance taxes don’t have a very strong argument.

To me the best solution for this issue is clear enough. The taxes over the inheritance should be payed when the heir possesses its inheritance. This is the fairest solution for everyone: the heirs pay taxes over what they receive, and the tax authorities receive their taxes when they pay out the inheritance to the heir. In this way both parties get what they deserve after paying what the other one deserves. This makes the tax system for inheritance not simpler, to be honest, because of the delay of payments over the inheritance. But the current tax system for inheritance isn’t simple either so that won’t be much of a difference. So in short: the heirs should pay taxes over the inheritance at the moment they receive the inheritance. Easier? No, not really. Fairer? That’s for sure!

 

 

Consumer fireworks, a do or don’t

The firework discussions have been fired up again. This is due to the fact that there are 90.000 reports of firework inconvenience which are 18.000 more than the year before. A staggering number of 39 fires were caused by fireworks at New Year’s Eve! Another problem is that fireworks are used more and more often to do people harm or to destruct things. Mostly this is done by illegal fireworks which are imported to the Netherlands more than ever before. On the other hand people like to fire fireworks and a large part of the Dutch population does know how to handle fireworks. So the big question is: should we or should we not allow people to light their own fireworks unhindered?

It does sound quite shocking; 90.000 reports of firework inconvenience.However this might be partially caused by the fact that the hotline of firework inconvenience was opened for five more days. All of these reports were made possible by the hotline set up by the municipal councils of GroenLinks. This is a part of the plan GroenLinks has set up to lower the number of firework inconvenience. The actual goal of GroenLinks is to only allow professionals to light up fireworks.. Most of these reports are about hard bangs caused by firework bombs but also firework stress by pets and dangerous situations and damage caused by fireworks was often the subject of these reports. You should also consider that there were 10.000 false reports, but those were filtered out for 99 % according to Bonte, a council member of GroenLinks.

GroenLinks is not the only one who wants to ban the fireworks for consumers; a big group of doctor organizations agree with them. They want to prevent that people get burns or even lose limbs because of fireworks. Every year more and more people get hurt due to fireworks. This is partially caused by the increasing import of illegal fireworks but also by the making of firework bombs. An example of such a dangerous firework bomb is the accident in Hoensbroek, Limburg. In that place the windows of six houses broke because of a big bang caused by a firework bomb. In this explosion two children of six and three years old got slightly injured and two cars got damaged.  The children could leave the hospital within a few days and two suspects were arrested. “This case does not have really serious consequences yet but this could have been worse” the doctors say. In Den Bosch, Beilen, Vlaardingen and Rotterdam boys even lost one of their hands because of illegal fireworks. However most of the eye injuries are caused by the legal decorative fireworks. Eye doctor Tjeerd de Faber concludes the eye injuries are worse than the previous New Year and if we do not stop individuals from firing more fireworks, it will be worse next New Year.

On the other hand measures have already been taken such as the delayed time (18.00) on which you can legally fire your fireworks and the firework-free-zones. Even the firework discussion has its effects; people are more aware of the dangers of fireworks and think better before they light fireworks. In Groningen there are already some places where it is illegal to fire fireworks. Seven out of ten people does not light fireworks themselves and one out of eight people does not even buy fireworks. Fireworks is already very expensive what restrains the number of buyers. Six municipalities are also testing a detection system for fireworks. With this system they can trace where the firework noise comes from and identify the hotspots. In this way they can prevent more firework inconvenience from occurring by arresting the offenders.

You can conclude the firework resistance is increasing; more and more people want the fireworks only to be lit by professionals. GroenLinks and the doctors organizations are accompanied by the Animal Party, the 50-plus party and individual citizens. They are in favour of big firework shows instead of everybody lighting his own firework. In this way they hope to prevent many of the accidents and inconvenience of fireworks. On the other hand other measures have already been taken with success; people are more aware and can go to a firework-free-zone if that is what they want. However despite those measures the severeness of eye injuries and the number of accidents caused by fireworks have actually risen last New Year, so are these measures reaching far enough?

I think fireworks cause a lot of unnecessary accidents which could have been prevented. The pleasure of firing fireworks yourself does not weigh up to the number of accidents in my eyes. Therefore I am in favour of the firework shows organized by the municipality. In such a show you can still enjoy the beauty of fireworks, but there is a much smaller chance you get hurt. The fireworks are professional and therefore much more beautiful than the fireworks consumers can buy. So I think it is a win-win situation; you have a minor chance to get injured and the fireworks are more beautiful! What more would you wish for? Except for most of the boys and their dads, because for them it is a tradition and a part of being the man by showing off what they are capable off. They will probably miss the excitement and the loud bangs.