Feb 27 (Reuters) - Antares Pharma Inc :
* Announces FDA acceptance of new drug application for Otrexup(TM)
* Says FDA has assigned a prescription drug user fee act (pdufa) date of
October 14, 2013 * Source text * Further company coverage
((Bangalore Newsroom; +1 646 223 8780))
* ViiV Healthcare places paediatric abacavir in patent pool
* Move follows earlier sign-up to pool by Gilead Sciences
LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline's HIV/AIDS drugs business is to share intellectual property rights on children's medicine in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available in poor countries.
ViiV Healthcare, majority-owned by GSK, is the second research-based pharmaceutical business to sign up to the new Medicines Patent Pool, following a lead set in 2011 by Gilead Sciences.
Although more than half of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS now get the drugs they need - thanks to a major roll-out of treatment in Africa - an estimated 6.8 million still go without, according to UNAIDS.
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), launched in 2010 by the UNITAID health financing system that is funded by a levy on airline tickets, aims to address the remaining gap by getting patent holders to share know-how with makers of cheap generic drugs.
In the case of ViiV, a key paediatric medicine known as abacavir will be made available to generic manufacturers which will be able to take a licence to make and sell it in 118 poor countries, the patent pool said on Wednesday.
ViiV and the patent pool have also agreed to negotiate further licences that will allow generics firms to manufacture low-cost versions of an experimental drug, dolutegravir, that is currently awaiting regulatory approval in Western markets.
There are 3.4 million children living with HIV worldwide but only 562,000 have access to medicines. Treating them is challenging because many drugs are not adapted for use in children.
Abacavir and dolutegravir are both seen as priority products for fighting HIV in poor countries. ViiV also sells other older drugs, some of which are already off patent and available as cheaper generics.
ViiV - which is owned 76.5 percent by GSK, 13.5 percent by Pfizer and 10 percent by Shionogi - only signed up to the patent pool after lengthy negotiations.
Some other major drugmakers have yet to join.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and privately owned Boehringer-Ingelheim are currently discussing plans to join the scheme, but Abbott, Johnson & Johnson and Merck have so far remained outside.
J&J decided in November to take unilateral action by not enforcing its patents on HIV drug Prezista in a limited number of poor countries, in a move that disappointed campaigners who argued joining the pool would have been more effective.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, Editing by Kate Kelland and Mark Potter)
* FDA does not know if Sensipar had role in patient death
* Drug approved for adults to remove calcium from blood
Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it has stopped all pediatric clinical trials of Amgen Inc's Sensipar after the death of a 14-year-old patient taking part in a study of the drug.
Sensipar, which is approved for adults, is used to lower dangerously high calcium levels in the blood.
The agency said it was collecting information on the circumstances of the teenager's death. It said it does not know if the Amgen drug had any role in the death.
"This communication is intended to inform health care professionals that we are evaluating the information and will communicate our final conclusions and recommendations when our review is complete," the FDA said in a statement posted on its website.
Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, said it had sent a letter last week to healthcare providers alerting them to the trials' halt and the patient death.
"Amgen is working as rapidly as possible to understand the circumstances of what happened. This analysis is ongoing and will be concluded as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.
Sensipar works by decreasing the release of parathyroid hormone from the parathyroid gland to lower calcium levels in the blood. High levels of calcium in the blood can lead to serious health problems.
Sensipar, which had worldwide sales of $950 million in 2012, is approved to treat adults 18 and over. The trials were being conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of the drug in younger patients.
Drugmakers also often conduct pediatric trials because they are rewarded with an additional six months of patent protection for testing medicines in children.
Reps. Raul Grijalva (left) and Keith Ellison, from the Progressive CaucusThere are several plans floating around to replace the so-called “sequester” spending cuts scheduled to kick in on Friday. Senate Democrats and the Congressional Progressive Caucus have both released their own plans, while House Republicans have not released a new plan, but point to one passed in the last Congress. According to a new poll commissioned by the Business Insider, the Progressive Caucus’ plan is the most popular of the three:
– Surprisingly, the plan that polled the strongest was the House Progressive Caucus plan. More than half of respondents supported it compared to sequestration and just a fifth of respondents were opposed.
– A plurality of people — 28 percent — believed the House Progressive Caucus Plan would have the least financial impact on them personally. This makes the most sense, as only 14 percent of respondents reported having income over $150,000.
– Shockingly, 47 percent of Republicans preferred the House Progressive plan to the sequester. This means that Republicans supported the House Progressive plan just as much as they supported their own party’s plan.
Support for the Senate Democrat plan was weak, with just fewer than half of respondents preferring that plan compared with the sequester.– Opposition to the House Republican plan was strong, with 57 percent preferring the sequester to that plan.
The CPC’s plan involves replacing the sequester with $960 billion in new revenue — raised via closing loopholes that benefit the rich and corporations, as well as ending wasteful subsidies — $278 billion in defense cuts, and investment in new job creation measures, including spending $160 on America’s crumbling infrastructure. The House Republican plan, meanwhile, replaces the sequester with a basket of cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, and the social services block grant (which, among other things, funds Meals on Wheels).
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For Immediate Release February 26, 2013 Readout of the President’s Phone Call with Egyptian President MorsyPresident Obama spoke with Egyptian President Morsy today to reaffirm the United States’ strong commitment to the Egyptian people as they continue their transition to democracy. The President welcomed President Morsy’s commitment to serving as a President for all Egyptians, including women and people of all faiths, and emphasized President Morsy’s responsibility to protect the democratic principles that the Egyptian people fought so hard to secure. President Obama encouraged President Morsy, and all political groups within Egypt, to work to build consensus and advance the political transition. The two leaders also discussed Egypt’s economic situation and the importance of implementing reforms that have broad support and will promote long term growth. The two Presidents discussed regional security, and President Obama welcomed Egypt’s continued role in advancing regional peace and maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza. The President noted that Secretary Kerry will be traveling on March 2 to Egypt, where he will meet with government and opposition leaders and members of civil society, and will emphasize the need for all Egyptians to work together to build their democracy and promote economic stability and prosperity.
President Obama is on hand for the unveiling of the new Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol
February 27, 2013 12:00 PM ESTCatching Up with the Curator: Watch Meeting--Dec. 31st 1862--Waiting for the HourTo mark African American History Month, as well as the 150th anniversary of the year the Emancipation Proclamation, we talked with White House Curator Bill Allman about a painting called Watch Meeting--Dec. 31st 1862--Waiting for the Hour that hangs near the Oval Office in the West Wing.
February 26, 2013 3:00 PM ESTPresident Obama Calls for a Responsible Approach to Deficit Reduction
President Obama strongly believes we need to replace the arbitrary cuts known as the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, and today he was at a shipyard in Newport News, VA to talk about what failing to do so will mean for middle class families.
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En español Accessibility Copyright Information Privacy Policy Contact USA.gov Developers Apply for a Job BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - European Union regulators are investigating a number of drugmakers it suspects of preventing cheaper generic medicines reaching the market, in addition to four ongoing cases, the EU's competition chief said on Tuesday.
Antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic oppose "pay-for-delay" deals where brand-name companies pay manufacturers of generic rivals to keep their medicines off the market. It can mean consumers ultimately paying more.
The European Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-member EU, says such methods violate its rules against restrictive business practices and to prevent companies abusing their market power against competitors.
The EU executive, which has formally accused more than a dozen drugmakers over such practices as part of its four ongoing investigations, has identified more cases, Joaquin Almunia, the commission in charge, said.
"We have still some others in the pipeline," Almunia told the Reuters Euro Zone Summit.
"On the one hand, we need to create a framework to protect those who innovate and those who are owners of patents. Given the life of patents is not (unlimited), once the drug is transformed into generics, all citizens should have the right to benefit from lower prices," he said.
He did not identify the companies involved in the new cases.
Almunia said he was on the way to wrapping up investigations into French drugmaker Servier and Denmark's Lundbeck.
"We are now well advanced, in particular in two cases, Servier and Lundbeck. In the coming months, hearings of these two cases will take place. After the hearings, we will advance towards the end of these antitrust investigations," he said.
Lundbeck has denied any anti-competitive behaviour and maintains it has acted within EU rules. Servier too says it has not broken European regulations.
Lundbeck is scheduled to defend its case before the Commission and national competition regulators at a closed-door hearing on March 14-15.
The Commission launched its fight against pay-for-delay deals after a high-profile inquiry into the sector in 2009 found consumers were paying 20 percent more for their medicine because of such agreements.
Companies found in breach of EU antitrust rules can be fined of up to 10 percent of their global revenues.
(For other news from Reuters Euro Zone summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Eurozone13)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield/Jeremy Gaunt)
Office of the First Lady
State Dining Room10:40 A.M. EST
DR. BIDEN: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you, David, for that kind introduction. And thank you all for coming this morning. It was great to see you all last night. And wasn’t Audra McDonald incredible? (Applause.)
So we’re delighted to have you here at the White House again this morning. And the last time we were together, Michelle and I talked to you about one of our top priorities of our initiative Joining Forces, which I’m sure you all know about, which is our way to honor and support our troops, veterans and military families.
And we talked about one of the top concerns that we hear about from military spouses wherever we go, and that's professional licensing. So I’m sure you remember this from last year, many of you do who were here.
And our nation’s military spouses move 10 times more than their civilian counterparts, and 35 percent of those spouses have jobs that require a professional license. So they're our teachers, our nurses, our social workers. And we heard from a teacher -- this is just one of the instances -- who had 10 years' experience in her specialty in one state, and then when she moved to another state, she had to wait because the exam only took place twice a year. So she lost a lot of time and actually a lot of income because she had to wait. And then we met a nurse who moved 10 times during her husband’s service and needed to go through a different and complicated process every time she moved.
So these are just a few of the countless stories we’ve heard that illustrate what a challenge license portability really is for our military spouses.
Back in February of last year when we met with you, only 11 states had pro-spouse legislation. So the First Lady and I asked you for your help, and you’ve stepped up. Yes. (Applause.) And you stepped up because you appreciate how much our military families do for our country every single day. And just last month, Arkansas became the 28th state to pass legislation.
In just one year we’ve made tremendous progress, and the First Lady and I are really appreciative of your efforts. But there’s still more to do. Right now we’re thankful that we have 13 more states that already have introduced legislation and are headed in the right direction. So if your state has a small active-duty population, you might think that this issue may not impact you, but every state has a National Guard or Reserve. And with so many families -- military families transitioning out of the military now and in the next few years, they’ll be focused on finding good jobs, good schools and good communities, whether there is a military base nearby or not.
So for the sake of our military families, it’s important that all 50 states get this done. And passing these laws is just the first step. We hope all of you will reach out to your bases and your National Guard and Reserve communities, talk with the military spouses -- I’m sure many of you already do this already -- and make sure that these laws are working for our military families.
So thank you for helping ease the burden for our military spouses and you’ve all done so much in all of your states. So again, thank you for all that you’ve done already.
And now I’d like to introduce someone who has been working tirelessly for military families, someone who would like to tell you about our next effort. You didn't think you were coming here without an ask, right? (Laughter.) So to make sure that all of our military families have good family -- good family-supporting jobs, so I’d like to introduce our First Lady, Michelle Obama. (Applause.)
MRS. OBAMA: Thanks so much. (Applause.) Thank you all. Good morning. Thank you. I hope you all got some rest after last night. We had a good time -- little tired. (Laughter.) If you noticed, I stayed up a little bit later -- (laughter) -- a little bit longer than I had anticipated, but it was well worth it. But it's good to have you back this morning.
I want to thank Jill, once again, for that introduction, but more importantly for being such a tremendous partner on our Joining Forces initiative. She's brought her level of passion and focus to this. We could not be where we are without somebody like Jill who knows these issues, who lives them as a Blue Star mom every day. So I want to thank her. But I also want to echo -- absolutely. (Applause.)
And to echo Jill, I want to start by thanking all of you for the incredible work that you have done on the effort of spousal licensing. I mean, it's truly a tremendous effort to go from 11 states to all but 13 states having gotten that done. And as I was talking to Governor Christie and others, this isn't an issue that people don’t want to work on, it's just a matter of governors being aware of what's going on in their states. And the truth is, is that once you know, so many of you have stepped up because we all want the best for our troops, our veterans, and for their families.
Your leadership has been truly phenomenal, and it just goes to show the power that states and governors have to make a difference for our troops, veterans and our families. But, like Jill said, our work here is far from finished. And I'm not just talking about licensing for our military spouses, I'm also talking about supporting our men and women in uniform as more and more of them make that transition back to civilian life.
And as my husband announced during the State of the Union address, 34,000 troops are going to be coming home from Afghanistan in the next year. And that -- yes, that’s a good thing. (Applause.) And that war will be over by the end of 2014. So in the coming years, more than 1 million servicemembers -- 1 million of them -- will make the transition to civilian life. I mean, just think about that impact -- a million men and women hanging up their uniform, trying to figure out what's next, and doing everything they can to make that change as seamless as possible for all of their families.
So the fact is that while this time of war may be ending, the truth is that our responsibilities to our troops and their families will really just be ramping up. And that’s what I want to talk with you all about today -- how we can fulfill what is perhaps our most pressing responsibility to our troops. And that is to make sure that when they come home after serving and stepping up on our behalf, that they can find a job -- and not just any job, but a good job, the kind of job that they can raise their families on. Now, some of this work has already begun. Last summer, my husband created a taskforce to help our servicemembers obtain the national certification that they need to help fill high-demand civilian jobs starting with the manufacturing industry.
And today, we are excited to announce that we’re expanding this effort to the state level to focus on the health care and transportation industries. So the idea is simple. Many of you are working on these issues already. If a servicemember has spent years treating wounded troops in a military hospital, they shouldn’t have to then spend thousands of dollars to get back into the classroom and study things that they've already learned just to get the same kind of job in the civilian world. We want to make it easier for those who served as medics or drivers in the military to get new jobs as paramedics and nurses and physician assistants or truck drivers.
And since the credentials and licenses for those jobs are issued through the states, that means that all of you as America's governors have a very unique responsibility and opportunity to address this issue. We know that right now our men and women in uniform face all kinds of obstacles before they can put their skills to use at home. These men and women have spent thousands of hours in combat zones, saving lives amid explosions and gunfire. They've driven armored vehicles thousands of miles on dangerous roads lined with IEDs. Yet, back here at home they can't get hired to drive a semi or serve as an EMT.
So take the example of Maria Aliftiras. She spent eight years as a medic in the Army Reserves -- eight years. But when she left the Reserves, she had to take 1,200 hours of courses and clinical work to get her civilian paramedics license. And she said that hundreds of those hours, about half of the coursework she had to take, was spent reviewing skills she had already mastered.
And then there is former Navy Corpsman Eric Smith, who was once in charge of a 20-bed intensive care unit in San Diego. After that, he served two tours in Iraq as a combat medic for a Marine infantry unit. But when he came home, he couldn't get hired in a medical clinic. So he had to take up odd jobs. He had to serve as a bartender, do some day work. And at one point, he even had to sign up to be a test patient for a drug study just to make enough money to get by. And as he put it -- and these are his words -- he said, "In the civilian world, my military education and training did not translate because I didn't have a piece of paper saying that it did." So we all have to think about that. Because of a piece of paper, because our credentialing processes don't adequately reflect the skills and expertise our troops have gained serving this country, putting their lives on the line -- troops like Petty Officer Smith end up tending bar instead of saving lives.
But, fortunately, again, all of you have the power to make this right. As we have seen on the spousal licensing issue, there are a number of ways that you as governors can help put our troops back to work without lowering a single professional standard in your states, because that's something we talked about. This is not about lowering standards. We've done this for our troops with manufacturing skills, and hundreds of them have earned advanced certifications already. So now it’s time to get them back to work in the medical and transportation fields as well, and to do it right away.
So our goal is that by the end of 2015 -- we’ve got another goal, 2015 -- we want all 50 states to have taken legislative or executive action to help our troops get the credentials they need. And that means that our troops will be taken care of no matter what state they decide to call home, which is why on the spousal licensing issue it is so important to get the rest of those 13. We don’t want our men and women -- and their families -- in uniforms and veterans to be limited to where they can live because not all states are onboard.
Now, we know that every state is different and that what works beautifully in one state might not work as easily in another, so we’ve given you all packets like we did a year ago that lay out, step by step, all kinds of options for what each of your states could do on this issue. And in your packet you’ll also get some tips and also some success stories from states like Oklahoma, Colorado, where Governors Fallin and Hickenlooper have taken important steps to ease the credentialing burden on their veterans in their states. So we have some wonderful models already out there.
And I want to emphasize that today will not be the last time that you hear from Jill and me on this issue, because with everything that involves our troops, veterans, and families, we will be working to help support you in whatever way we can along the way. And we have a couple of folks here today who can help with whatever you need. We have Todd Veazie, who is here, who’s the new Executive Director for Joining Forces. Todd is right there. We have Frank DiGiovanni, who is with the DOD. Frank, would you stand so that they can see you as well?
They are here and ready to answer any questions, to provide any follow-up that you may need. Put them in contact with whoever they should be talking to in your states. And, more importantly, we’re also going to be talking to your spouses about this, which is really the key -- (laughter) -- because we’re going to make sure they nag you until this happens in your state. It’s what we’re doing at lunch.
DR. BIDEN: Yes, that’s right.
MRS. OBAMA: We also have members of the American Legion here today as well, because they’re behind this effort 100 percent. And we are so grateful that they’ll be spreading the word about all of this throughout their state and local chapters across the country.
But in the end, all of you are the ones who can make the biggest difference for our troops on this issue. So we need you. We need you to champion these credentialing issues right from the governor’s mansion. We need you to find allies and supporters in your state legislators. We need you to galvanize and involve the media in this effort in every way that you can as well.
Because what we do know is that when you do all that -- what you know as well as Jill and I have seen that people step up. You see that this is one of those issues, as we talked about at dinner, that everyone can get behind. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not going to have to twist many arms to make this happen. People on both sides of the aisle will start lining up to help on this issue because they know like you and I know that if we do this, we’re not just upholding our values and honoring our troops -- we’ll also be lowering the unemployment rate. We’ll be improving our health care system. We’re going to be boosting economic growth in this country through these efforts.
And most importantly, we’re going to be strengthening our country not just for now but for the years ahead. And in the end, that’s really what Joining Forces is all about. It’s not just about supporting our heroes while they’re on the battlefield. It’s about standing with them in these times; standing with them and their families when they come home. When they come, it’s a forever commitment, because we know that they don’t stop serving this country when their military service ends. That is the beauty of our servicemembers. They keep on going.
We know that they are the next generation of leaders all over the place -- in our businesses, in our hospitals, in our schools. They are the key resources that will put this country on the track and keep it on the track of greatness. So we don’t just owe it to them to get issues like this right. We owe it to our communities and we owe it to our country. That’s how we will continue to grow our economy, lift up our families, and create even greater opportunities for generations to come.
So today, I want to once again thank you all. Thank you for everything you do as leaders in your states. Thank you for the sacrifices that you and your families make to do these jobs. And thank you for everything that you have done and will continue to do for our men and women in uniform and their families. And Jill and I look forward to working with you all in the years to come.
So again, thank you. God bless. I hope you have a productive day. And we’ll be following up. (Laughter.) Take care. (Applause.)
END
11:08 A.M. EST
President Obama is on hand for the unveiling of the new Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol
February 27, 2013 12:00 PM ESTTo mark African American History Month, as well as the 150th anniversary of the year the Emancipation Proclamation, we talked with White House Curator Bill Allman about a painting called Watch Meeting--Dec. 31st 1862--Waiting for the Hour that hangs near the Oval Office in the West Wing.
President Obama strongly believes we need to replace the arbitrary cuts known as the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, and today he was at a shipyard in Newport News, VA to talk about what failing to do so will mean for middle class families.
view all related blog postsEWING, N.J. -- Shares of Antares Pharma Inc. climbed Wednesday after the drug developer said U.S. regulators will review its application for the potential rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis treatment Otrexup.
The Ewing, N.J., company said the Food and Drug Administration intends to complete its review and make a decision on whether to approve the treatment by Oct. 14.
Antares makes self-injectable drugs. Otrexup combines the company's Medi-Jet drug delivery system, which allows patients to inject a drug, and methotrexate, a commonly prescribed rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
Antares shares climbed 4.6 percent, or 16 cents, to $3.52 in midday trading, while broader trading indexes rose less than 1 percent.
Rachel Nuwer via Take Part
In 1922 the conservationist Aldo Leopold canoed through a lush, verdant delta full of green lagoons, darting fish and squawking waterfowl. But Leopold’s “milk and honey wilderness,” where the Colorado River empties into Mexico’s Gulf of California, ceased to exist decades ago. In its stead, a cracked, barren mudflat stretches for miles.
“If we choose, we can have healthy rivers alongside healthy economies,” Postel said. “We don’t have to be running our rivers dry.”
“This amazing place does not exist anymore,” said Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project and freshwater fellow of the National Geographic Society. “A lot was lost.”
Ten major dams — from the Hoover Dam, erected in 1936, to the Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1966 — block the flow of the Colorado River. Countless towns and industries siphon water from the river and its many tributaries as it meanders to the sea. Today the Colorado River joins the likes of the Indus, the Rio Grande, the Nile and other major world rivers that are so over-tapped they no longer reach the sea for long stretches of time. “This is one of America’s iconic rivers,” Postel said. “I don’t think this country would be the one we know today without the Colorado.”
It does not have to be this way, however. A restoration and outreach effort called Change the Course seeks to return the river to the sea. To pursue this goal, the National Geographic Society, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and Participant Media teamed up and pooled their expertise — science, social media, storytelling and policy — to change the fate of the once-mighty Colorado River.
A key to the campaign’s potential success rests on reversing more than 100 years of water use along the river. Since the mid-1800s, the Colorado River’s water was legally divided amongst farmers, landowners and ranchers along its course. Then, in the 1920s, seven states in the Colorado basin were allowed to divert additional water for cities, agriculture and industry. The result: more people have rights to divert water than the river has water to supply.
The clincher, however, is this: water rights holders have to “use it or lose it.” If a stakeholder does not divert his allocated amount of water from the river each year, he may lose those rights.
Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a nonprofit based in Portland, seized upon this idea.
The foundation’s water restoration certificates (WRCs) are designed to give landowners a choice in how they use their water. WRCs are a voluntary, market-based program that provides economic incentives allowing water rights holders to devise new water management solutions to restore water to critically dewatered ecosystems. Simply put, the WRC program provides funding to support projects that allow landowners to change they way they use their water rights in order to restore vital water to dewatered rivers and streams.
“We use market-based ideas to involve the private sector in solving environmental challenges,” said Todd Reeve, Bonneville’s chief executive officer. “The certificates can act as currency and a reporting mechanism to allow any business to restore to the planet the amount equal to the resources used in its operations.”
So far, Silk, the soy, almond and coconut milk company, has joined the campaign, and Reeve hopes that a myriad of others seeking to bolster their sustainability profiles join in the weeks and months to come. But it isn’t just companies that Change the Course hopes to reach. Importantly, it’s young people too.
Though 70 to 90 percent of the Colorado’s water is used for agriculture and industry, tackling the problem holistically means addressing the remaining consumption by households throughout the West. Following the theme of its film Last Call at the Oasis, Participant Media is launching the social action portion of the campaign, seeking to target 100,000 millennials as its core audience. After watching a minute-and-a-half informative video on the project and on individuals’ water footprints, people can sign a pledge to minimize their own water footprints. Joining the campaign automatically ensures that 1,000 gallons of water return to the Colorado River, which corporate sponsors such as Silk support by purchasing water restoration certificates.
People who sign up for the campaign receive sporadic texts and emails to keep them updated on the Colorado’s progress and also to educate them about their personal water footprints and ways to minimize their impacts.
For example, a participant may get a text informing her that 634 gallons of water are used to produce a single hamburger; that the person she loves most in the world is composed of 78 percent water; that only one percent of all water on Earth is not saltwater or frozen in ice; or that her T-shirt or winter salad comes from water-gobbling crops supported by the Colorado River.
Additionally, Participant Media plans to host an alternative summer break, inviting about a dozen young people to join them at restoration sites along the Colorado in the hopes that they will blog about their experiences and spread the word about the campaign to their universities. A series of short videos called Life Without Water is Awkward will also soon be released to raise attention for the campaign.
If things go well, the Colorado River could reach the sea in five to seven years, thanks to the efforts of Change the Course and numerous other nonprofit groups working to the same goal. “I think this has the potential to be one of the most significant environmental achievements of the last 50 to 100 years,” Reeve said.
Postel is confident that just adding water would do wonders for restoring wetland and riparian ecosystems, as demonstrated in a recent accidental natural experiment. Arizona, finding some of its water too salty to use, began sending the liquid waste over the border to Mexico’s desiccated delta. Soon, 14,000 acres of vegetation popped up around that life-giving source. “This is an example of how resilient the ecosystem is,” Postel said. “If you just add water, it will bounce back.”
“If we choose, we can have healthy rivers alongside healthy economies,” Postel said. “We don’t have to be running our rivers dry.”
For the Colorado and its tributaries, these fixes could mean changing where and how irrigation water is diverted so as to keep more water in natural river channels, or making use of opportunities to buy or lease water, as Change the Course successfully did with conservation partners last summer for the Yampa River near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Pending the campaign’s success, Change the Course is already imagining applying its formula to other rivers in need around the world, such as the Ganges or the Yellow. “We hope this community grows over time, and that Change the Course can help not only the 30 million people dependent on the Colorado River, but other people living in endangered freshwater systems around the world,” said Chad Boettcher, Participant Media’s executive vice president of social action and advocacy.
Rachel Nuwer is a science journalist writing for venues such as the New York Times, Scientific American, Smithsonian and Audubon Magazine, among others. She lives in Brooklyn.
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