<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce529e0021b4c340b3a3033-2000/screen shot 2019-05-22 at 113606.png" border="0" alt="MMS" data-mce-source="YouTube" data-mce-caption="A Red Cross official feeds a child toxic bleach in a 2012 video filmed by followers of a US religious leader who claim the substance cures all known illnesses" /><p class="source"><span>YouTube</span></p><p class="caption">A Red Cross official prepares to administer Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) in a 2012 video the organisation has now disowned.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>In videos posted online, followers of the Genesis II church appear to have given a substance called MMS, which they claim has miraculous healing powers, to people suffering malaria and other illnesses in Africa.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mms-jim-humble-bleach-autism-cure-youtube-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">MMS is actually a type of bleach</a>. Health officials say ingesting it can cause nausea, severe dehydration, and can even prove fatal in large doses.</li><li>An advocate of MMS admitted picking Africa as a target because drug safety laws are less strict and many people have poor access to conventional medicine.</li><li>In recent months a network supplied by a US pastor has given the bleach to tens of thousands of Ugandans. </li><li>A source told Business Insider that in one instance Red Cross officials were told they were making a video about water treatment, which was later edited to look like a support video for MMS. The video - which the Red Cross has disowned - has been held up as "proof" that MMS works.</li></ul><p>The film shows officials in Red Cross-branded shirts treating men, women and children who have been diagnosed with malaria in Iganga, a town in eastern Uganda.</p><p>They are being given what the narrator claims is an astonishing cure - "Miracle Mineral Solution," or MMS.</p><p>The results of the treatment are miraculous, declares narrator Klaas Proesmans, who describes himself as a charity executive.</p><p>"In total, we identified 154 malaria positive patients together with the local health authorities and the doctors, all of them were treated, and all of them between 24 hours and 48 hours malaria negative, without any side effects," he says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce7acdab8cb37556b2a7a82-2000/red cross video 2012.png" border="0" alt="Red Cross MMS video 2012" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="getreal155/YouTube" data-mce-caption="A Red Cross official gives MMS to a small child in the 2012 video." /><p class="source"><span>getreal155/YouTube</span></p><p class="caption">A Red Cross official gives MMS to a small child in the 2012 video.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Filmed in 2012, the video seems to offer a glimpse of a new breakthrough in malaria treatment, pioneered by the world's most famous aid organization.</p><p>A source at the charity now tells Business Insider that they believe their staff were duped into giving their patients poison.</p><p>MMS advocates with ties to a US religious group told local Red Cross staff they were working on a water treatment project. But they later edited the video to make MMS look like a cure for malaria, the source says.</p><p>The video then became a fundamental piece of "evidence" in a wider movement to push MMS on thousands of vulnerable people, even though the Red Cross denounced the video at the time.</p><p>When contacted by Business Insider, the advocates who made the video denied they did anything wrong. A spokesperson for the church said in an email, "We don't answer FAKE NEWS organizations that lie with an agenda from the REAL owners that are just plain evil and DO NOT want to see the TRUTH get out about how BIG Pharma/Medical industry are paying the politicians and the courts to look the other way while the world is being poisoned by their Toxic DRUGS!" </p><h2>As many as 50,000 Ugandans given MMS</h2><p>MMS is, in fact, a type of toxic bleach which is banned in several countries and can prove fatal in large doses. In the US, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mms-jim-humble-bleach-autism-cure-youtube-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">complainants to the Food and Drug Administration have claimed it is linked it to two deaths</a>.</p><p>This week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mms-jim-humble-bleach-autism-cure-youtube-2019-5">Business Insider published an investigation into MMS, laying out a slew of medical complaints, and at least one criminal prosecution, in several western countries</a>.</p><p>Recent reporting by outlets including the Guardian and Business Insider have prompted warnings in Uganda from the police, the government, and the US embassy, all of which state emphatically that MMS has no known curative properties.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-man-arrested-mms-bleach-bogus-cure-uganda-2019-5">On May 23, three men were arrested over their MMS activities</a>, in an apparent sign that Ugandan authorities are ready to take action.</p><p>In their mission to spread the word about MMS, followers of the Genesis II church have targeted communities in Africa, where they have found less resistance from government officials. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/18/bleach-miracle-cure-uganda-us-pastor-robert-baldwin-sam-little">According to the Guardian</a>, as many as 50,000 people in Uganda may have been exposed to MMS over the years.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ca227b6c6cc501b1d41d812-2000/screen shot 2019-04-01 at 155855.png" border="0" alt="MMS Red Cross" data-mce-source="screenshot" data-mce-caption="A man wearing the insignia of the Red Cross dispenses MMS in a video posted on YouTube" /><p class="source"><span>screenshot</span></p><p class="caption">A man wearing the insignia of the Red Cross dispenses MMS in a video posted on YouTube</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>"This video is not only wrong, it is dangerous"</strong></h2><p>The video has found particular traction on YouTube. It shows locals being used as guinea pigs in bogus medical trials - that the Red Cross says never occurred - depicting people in Red Cross shirts administering MMS to infants, disabled children, and people with HIV and malaria.</p><p>Sam Little, one of the men arrested on May 23, told Business Insider earlier this year that the video inspired him to go to Uganda in the first place.</p><p>Several versions were hosted by YouTube until the company was made aware of them by Business Insider. Some were removed for violating YouTube's policies against harmful content. </p><p>At the time of publication one version had been viewed more than 250,000 times, with other versions uploaded on the platform, subtitled in several languages, viewed thousands of times more.</p><p>In the film, Proesmans - identified as CEO of a non-governmental organisation called the Water Reference Center - says that his organisation partnered with the Red Cross to distribute MMS.</p><p>When reached by Business Insider staff, Proesmans denied that he had misrepresented the Red Cross. "It is not possible," he said. "There was no trial with Red Cross. There is more to the picture than meets the eye."</p><p>"But if you would move from behind your desk into the field with me, you can write about what you will witness with your own eyes," he said in an email.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce7acda9252e358f1339e73-2000/klass proesmans.png" border="0" alt="Klass Proesmans MMS Red Cross video" data-mce-source="getreal155/YouTube" data-mce-caption="Klaas Proesmans as seen in the Red Cross video claiming that MMS has curative properties." /><p class="source"><span>getreal155/YouTube</span></p><p class="caption">Klaas Proesmans as seen in the Red Cross video claiming that MMS has curative properties.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Red Cross denied involvement in the video <a href="https://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/opinions-and-positions/opinion-pieces/2013/ifrc-strongly-dissociates-from-the-claim-of-a-miracle-solution-to-defeat-malaria/">in a 2012 statement</a> claiming it "does not support or endorse in any manner the claims made in relation to this project, and has at no time been involved in 'clinical trials' related to malaria treatment."</p><p>But in 2019, a Red Cross official told Business Insider that the Ugandan Red Cross Society officials were duped into taking part. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the organisation was approached to partner on a water treatment project. (Sodium chlorite can be used to purify water in extremely small doses.)</p><p>The project was later morphed into the fake clinical trials depicted in the video without the Red Cross's understanding or consent, the source says.</p><p>Emanuele Capobianco, Director of Health at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Business Insider, "This video is not only wrong, it is dangerous. MMS is not a malaria cure. It is bleach - it is snake oil. At the very least, it diverts attention away from what actually works."</p><h2>Two bloggers have a theory about how a malaria cure could be faked</h2><p>Dutch skeptic and blogger Pepijn van Erp and <a href="https://mylespower.co.uk/2019/05/20/a-brief-history-of-mms/">British blogger and chemist</a> Myles Power <a href="https://mylespower.co.uk/tag/mms/">have written about the video, and have a theory for how the Red Cross could have been manipulated into helping present MMS as a cure</a>.</p><p>According to van Erp and Power, the advocates could have used sleight-of-hand to make it appear that people had malaria when they really did not. </p><p>Test subjects could have been screened for malaria using a rapid test method, which can give false positives, Van Erp and Power believe.</p><p>The false-positive patients could have then been given MMS, which can be seen in the video.</p><p>According to van Erp, the "patients" could then have been recorded taking a more reliable blood smear method the following day - which would naturally test negative for malaria.</p><p>The pair say that the elimination of the false positives - in people who never actually had malaria - could then be theoretically held up as evidence of a cure.</p><h2><strong>"I'd seen a previous study from the Red Cross, it's on YouTube"</strong></h2><p>Since 2012, advocates of MMS have continued to target communities in Africa.</p><p>A network supplied by a pastor from New Jersey has this year alone distributed the bleach to tens of thousands of people in Uganda, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/18/bleach-miracle-cure-uganda-us-pastor-robert-baldwin-sam-little">as reported by the Guardian</a>.</p><p>They too have broadcast their efforts on YouTube. In a video uploaded to YouTube in March, Sam Little, the MMS advocate arrested on May 23, gave an MMS demonstration to officials in a government health centre in the town of Nyankwanzi, western Uganda.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce7acda828ac15d1655a0d2-2000/sam little mms vid 2 1.png" border="0" alt="Sam Little MMS video YouTube" data-mce-source="Sam Little/YouTube" data-mce-caption="Sam Little mixes MMS in a health centre in western Uganda in a video uploaded in March." /><p class="source"><span>Sam Little/YouTube</span></p><p class="caption">Sam Little mixes MMS in a health centre in western Uganda in a video uploaded in March.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>They are then shown distributing the substance to people with malaria, including a baby and a child who appears to be around eight years old.</p><p>Little claims that tests taken by a health center official show that all those who took MMS were cured of malaria, proving that MMS is a cure. He says he has treated "well over ten thousand people, and fifteen thousand people."</p><p>On May 23, 2019, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-man-arrested-mms-bleach-bogus-cure-uganda-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">Little was arrested by Ugandan police</a> in connection with his MMS activities.</p><p>Before his arrest, Little told Business Insider that it was the 2012 video which inspired him to go to Uganda himself. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce691cda7999b2d1d2d5ac5-2000/sam little mms vid.png" border="0" alt="Sam Little MMS video" data-mce-source="YouTube/Sam Little" data-mce-caption="A screengrab from Little's YouTube shows his hand on the head of a child being given Miracle Mineral Solution." /><p class="source"><span>YouTube/Sam Little</span></p><p class="caption">A screengrab from Little's YouTube shows his hand on the head of a child being given MMS.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Little spoke to Business Insider via cellphone from a community in Uganda, and said that he had become convinced that MMS works after giving it to a pet. He said he had "proved that it can cure HIV and malaria."</p><p>He claimed to be acting "out of the kindness of my heart."</p><p>He said: "If I was doing this to do something bad, I wouldn't be posting it on my Facebook. I've got nothing to hide. Any money the church gets, it gives out to help people. It's not a thing to make money."</p><p>He declined to give the names of doctors whom he had said could vouch for his claim that he had used MMS to cure HIV and malaria. </p><h2>"They don't have the options that we have in the richer countries"</h2><p>In his film, Little appears alongside a man called Samula Albert Araali. He appears to be the same man as Samuel Albert, whom police in Uganda named as one of the three arrested on May 23.</p><p>In videos uploaded last year Araali claims to be a "bishop" in the Genesis II Church, and distributes the substance to Ugandans whom he says suffer from "malaria, tuberculosis, common coughs and colds and diabetes."</p><p>Araali also cites the Red Cross video, which he says "proves " the substance works.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce7acda18fe605b955ffb62-2000/mms uganda - samula .png" border="0" alt="Samula Albert Aarali MMS YouTube video" data-mce-source="Samula ALbert Aarali/YouTube" data-mce-caption="Samula Albert Aarali, an MMS advocate who describes himself as a &amp;quotbishop&quot; in the Genesis II church." /><p class="source"><span>Samula ALbert Aarali/YouTube</span></p><p class="caption">Samula Albert Araali, an MMS advocate who describes himself as a "bishop" in the Genesis II church.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Araali did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider, made before and after his apparent arrest. </p><p>After being tipped off about Araali's video, an official from Uganda's National Drugs authority told Business Insider that officials were investigating, and are considering legal action.</p><p>The Ugandan network is organized by American pastor Robert Baldwin, according to the Guardian. When reached by Business Insider, Baldwin insisted that chlorine dioxide was FDA-approved for certain uses in food. "The FDA has a direct conflict of interest to approve any natural health treatments, they are staffed by people from the drug industry. You cannot patent natural health solutions like chlorine dioxide. Therefore, there is no profit," he said.</p><p>In a taped conversation with anti-MMS campaigner Fiona O'Leary, heard by Business Insider, Baldwin said he was training a network of pastors to give MMS to congregants.</p><p>Baldwin, who is based in New Jersey, said he went to Africa because of its weaker regulation.</p><p>"America and Europe have much stricter laws so you are not as free to treat people because it is so controlled by the FDA," he said. "That's why I work in developing countries."</p><p>"Those people in poor countries, they don't have the options that we have in the richer countries. They are much more open to receiving the blessings that God has given them."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-thrones-science-magic-poison-direwolves-crush-skull-2019-5">Dragons and white walkers aside, you can find some real science in 'Game of Thrones'</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/u6rXWxyO-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Promoters of toxic bleach targeted African communities with their 'MMS' miracle cure using a video the Red Cross now disowns to the help them

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5894d0e15124c96439728263-450-300/peru-to-give-visas-to-thousands-of-crisis-weary-venezuelans.jpg" alt="Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski holds a news conference at the conclusion of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit in Lima, Peru November 20, 2016.  REUTERS/Paco Chuquiure " border="0" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at a news conference at the conclusion of the APEC Summit in Lima.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thousands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to "build bridges" and "not walls," the Andean nation's interior ministry said, according to Reuters.</p><p>President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's government issued 20 temporary visas to Venezuelan migrants in Peru this week.</p><p>Kuczysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.</p><p>Some 6,000 Venezuelans are expected to receive the permit, which will allow them to study, work, and receive health services in Peru for a year, the interior ministry said late on Thursday.</p><p>Peru has enjoyed nearly two decades of uninterrupted economic growth and single-digit inflation, a sharp contrast to socialist-led Venezuela, where the ranks of the poor have swollen in recent years.</p><p>"We want to offer a different message on migration than what's offered in other places. We want to build bridges that unite us and not walls to separate us," Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said in a statement.</p><p>The comment appeared to be a thinly veiled shot at the new US government, which is traditionally an ally of Peru.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5812235e5124c97430aadd8c-800" alt="Opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Opposition supporters take part in a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>US President Donald Trump has imposed a temporary entry ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and insisted that Mexico will pay for his proposed wall along the US-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration.</p><p>Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker and free-trade advocate who took office last year, has previously compared Trump's proposed border wall to the Berlin Wall, and said he would oppose it in the United Nations.</p><p>Kuczynski and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last week that they would stand with Mexico and seek to strengthen regional trade, in the wake of rising tensions between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump.</p><p>Thousands of Venezuelans have left their country in recent years, as a deepening political crisis and ongoing economic dysfunction have made life there ever harder.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/583f4b8dba6eb61c008b6ea6-2400" alt="Venezuela Chile migration emigrant immigration Maduro" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Cristobal Saavedra" data-mce-caption="A Venezuelan woman living in Chile, whose mouth is taped, takes part in a protest against the visit of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, who will slated to attend the investiture of Chile's then-President-elect Michelle Bachelet in Santiago, March 10, 2014." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Cristobal Saavedra</span></p><p class="caption">A Venezuelan woman living in Chile, whose mouth is taped, takes part in a protest against the visit of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in Santiago, March 10, 2014.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>While the first years of this century saw Venezuela elites and educated classes depart the country, chaffing under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, since 2010 younger Venezuelans and members of the middle class have joined the ranks of the exodus.</p><p>Many Venezuelans have relocated to Colombia, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-migration-economic-political-crisis-2016-11" target="_blank">a significant number have gone to Chile</a>, making an arduous multiday trek by bus and boat across the Amazon jungle and the mountains and rivers of the Andes.</p><p>Over the last five years, Chilean visas issued to Venezuelans <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-migration-economic-political-crisis-2016-11" target="_blank">have jumped from 758 to 8,381</a>, Univision reported in September 2016.</p><p>About 5% of Venezuelan's roughly 30 million people are thought to have left, and the outflux has undergone a "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-migration-economic-political-crisis-2016-11" target="_blank">feminization</a>" of late, seeing 67 men leave for every 100 women departing.</p><p>"I think what you see now is that there are fewer and fewer educated professionals, younger people, who are opting to stay, or even considering opting to stay," Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-migration-economic-political-crisis-2016-11" target="_blank">told Business Insider late last year</a>.</p><p>"The tipping point basically, I think, has been reached where opportunities outside [the country] are far easier to come by and certainly better to imagine that opportunities inside."</p><p>(Reporting for Reuters by Mitra Taj; editing by Paul Simao)</p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-makes-largest-counterfeit-money-bust-peru-30-million-2016-11">The Secret Service seized $30 million in fake money in its biggest bust ever</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="FiYTFwNzE6gHRamLZfJAcYuzgcgSVUql" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'FiYTFwNzE6gHRamLZfJAcYuzgcgSVUql',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); 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Crisis-weary Venezuelans now have another escape route

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a6b62f9cf841047498b484e-1200/bi-graphicschronic-pain-thumb2x1.png" alt="BI Graphics_Chronic pain thumb_2x1" data-mce-source="Samantha Lee/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>There are <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/news/press/08112015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25 million</a> people in the US living with chronic pain. Some turn to devices or non-opioid painkillers, others to yoga or meditation. But many have found relief only from opioid painkillers.</strong></li><li><strong>As the US opioid crisis escalates, those who suffer from chronic pain and take opioid-based painkillers are feeling pressure from new policies that limit prescriptions.</strong></li><li><strong>"They completely forgot about the people who have to live with chronic pain every day," one patient told Business Insider. </strong></li><li><strong>At the same time, access to less addictive pain-management treatments remain out of reach for many as insurers ask their members try more addictive medications first. </strong></li></ul><hr /><p><br />Dominique Goodson says she would be happy to get off her opioid prescription.</p><p>A New Jersey resident, Goodson has <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/sicklecellanemia.html">sickle cell anemia</a>, an inherited blood condition in which the body has a hard time producing healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. It can cause intense pain. She has tried to cut her prescription before, and her doctors are now slowly lowering the dose of the long-acting painkiller.</p><p>"I would love to not be on opioids or any medication, period," Goodson told Business Insider.</p><p>Goodson is one of the <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/news/press/08112015">25 million</a> people in the US living with chronic pain. Some turn to devices or non-opioid painkillers, others to alternatives like yoga or meditation. But many have found relief only from opioid painkillers.</p><p>These painkillers are at the heart of a crisis that's raging. Between 1990 and 2015, more than 183,000 people in the US <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html">died from overdoses related to prescription opioids</a>.</p><p>In 2017, the crisis gained national attention when President Donald Trump declared it a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-opioid-crisis-public-health-emergency-declaration-2017-10">public-health emergency</a>, escalating the attention and some of the funding that can go toward addressing the issue. It's led to new legislation and policies aimed at limiting prescriptions and doses and increasing pressure on pain doctors, while <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intermountain-healthcare-plans-to-cut-opioids-by-40-in-2018-2017-8">hospitals</a> and <a href="https://www.cigna.com/newsroom/knowledge-center/opioid-pledge">insurers</a> are looking for ways to cut down on opioid misuse by limiting the number of pills they prescribe or authorize.</p><p>It's also led to pain patients being caught in the middle.</p><p>Business Insider spoke with eight people who suffer from chronic pain stemming from a number of conditions, including sickle cell anemia, nerve pain, and debilitating migraines. All are facing the same daily pressure of worrying about what might happen if their doses get cut or denied altogether.</p><p>For those who have been on a high dose of opioid-based pain medication, lowering that dose or coming off - either by personal choice or because doctors are limited in what they can prescribe - can be painful. The body, which has become dependent on opioids, begins to go through withdrawal, an uncomfortable process that's added to the chronic pain.</p><p>At the same time, patients and providers have found, when pain patients are prescribed less addictive treatments like methadone, those prescriptions are denied by the insurer. Instead, the patients are being asked to try more addictive medications like oxycodone first.</p><p>And as doctors and insurers pull in different directions, patients suffer.</p><p>"To be honest with you, if they take away any more pills from me, I will probably commit suicide," Donna Kerger told Business Insider. Kerger is a Maryland resident who has been living with chronic pain after a throat surgery hit one of her nerves 18 years ago. Other pain patients Business Insider spoke with mentioned suicide as well, either as something they'd personally considered or experienced within the chronic pain community. </p><p>"I can't handle the pain, and I definitely do not want to go through withdrawal the way these places handle it," she said, referring to addiction treatment centers. </p><h2>'We're treated like drug addicts.' What life with chronic pain is like in 2018</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a6b7c64cf84106c018b4d56-1778/rtx3idh6.jpg" alt="Trump opioid crisis public health emergency" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump displays a presidential public health emergency declaration on the nation's opioid crisis in the East Room of the White House." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">President Donald Trump displays a presidential public health emergency declaration on the nation's opioid crisis in the East Room of the White House.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Chronic pain is the blanket term for any kind of pain that lasts more than 12 weeks. Pain related to a surgery or an accident would be considered acute pain.</p><p>For the men and women Business Insider spoke with, the chronic pain came from conditions like diabetic neuropathy, a surgery that struck a nerve the wrong way, and the symptoms of sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder.</p><p>Goodson said the pain she feels from a sickle cell <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca/signs">crisis</a> can be enough to make her cancel plans. The pain from having a childbirth - her friends who also have sickle cell reassure her - is nothing compared to a crisis.</p><p>"Imagine someone hitting you with hammers but leaving no marks," Goodson said.</p><p>The pain can be constant, keeping people in bed for much of the day. Being on an opioid isn't so much about getting a feeling of euphoria or absolute pain relief. Instead, it almost helps shift the focus from the pain so that you don't care as much. "It helps you psychologically deal with it," Kerger said.</p><p>For many, being on a prescription opioid comes as a last resort.</p><p>"For me, I literally tried about 50 or 60 other treatments when you take into account other medications and surgical procedures and nerve blocks, and everything you could possibly think of," Zachary, who says he's been living with chronic pain for seven years and preferred not to give his full name, told Business Insider.</p><p>But for those on the medication, they view it as a game changer.</p><p>"I feel much more capable and confident when I have my medication,"</p><blockquote class="pullquote float_right">"I feel much more capable and confident when I have my medication."</blockquote><p>Zachary said.</p><p>Because of the volume of opioid misuse, chronic-pain patients looking to take an opioid have a lot of restrictions and rules to follow.</p><p>That includes signing contracts assuring that they'll take the medication as prescribed, submitting to regular drug tests, background checks to be sure they aren't getting a prescription from any other doctor, and maintain a relationship with one ER in the case of dire circumstances.</p><p>"We're treated like drug addicts," said Dave Cole, who has had chronic pain for more than 15 years stemming from diabetic neuropathy.</p><p>But for these people, misusing the drugs wouldn't make much sense, they say.</p><p>"I have no desire to do that. I need the medicine next week and the week after," Mark Zobrosky, who has been living with back pain for two decades, said.</p><p>Zobrosky - who has pain stemming from injuries and surgeries - said that to make sure he stays honest, he has his wife fill up his daily prescription so that he doesn't have access to anymore.</p><p>One time his prescription was stolen at an airport. His doctor couldn't give him anymore to make up for it. Zobrosky said he recalled his doctor telling him, "You're going to be in a lot of pain for a while."</p><h2>Faking out your brain with spinal-cord stimulation</h2><p>People living with chronic pain are facing increasing pressure in the growing opioid crisis. In 2017, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/overdose-drug-death-statistics-fentanyl-2017-12">opioid painkillers</a> took the lives of more than 63,300 people, with many deaths attributed to fentanyl. And in 2016 there were <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/maps/rxrate-maps.html">more than 214,000</a> opioid prescriptions written in the US, fewer than prescribed in 2015.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a69f3d6cf841028008b457f-1201/bi-graphicsdrug overdose deaths in the us 19992016.png" alt="BI Graphics_Drug overdose deaths in the US (1999-2016)" data-mce-source="Samantha Lee/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Of course, there are ways to treat chronic pain that don't involve opioids.</p><p>For one, there are other medications, like non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as well as injections like nerve-blockers and steroids.</p><p>Then there are non-medication-based treatments, such as operations and implants. Neuromodulation devices, for instance, like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-epidemic-treatment-neuromodulation-to-treat-chronic-back-and-nerve-pain-2017-10">spinal-cord stimulation</a>, send electrical signals to certain nerves in the body, creating interference that overrides the nerves from signaling pain to the brain.</p><p>"It just fakes your brain out so your brain thinks you're not hurting as much as you are," Zobrosky, who's been using the implanted device for about eight years, said.</p><p>Zobrosky's use of spinal-cord stimulation kept him from increasing his opioid dose, he said. But often, having access to these alternatives - or even less addictive or deadly forms of opioids - can be a challenge.</p><h2>Fearing the doctor</h2><p>Cole has experienced the challenge of getting access to non-opioid medication. Cole's pain doctor is cutting back on his opioid dose. During that time, there were eight months when his new insurer wouldn't give him Lyrica. Cole had been on the drug, which is used to treat nerve and muscle pain, for a few years before then. During those eight months, Cole said he had suicidal and lived in a state of high pain.</p><p>"I lived in constant fear of going to the doctor," Cole said, explaining that he was worried the dosage would be cut back further.  He turned to alternative treatments, such as infrared light therapy, yoga, acupuncture, and cannabidiol oil, which had varying degrees of success in helping. But it can get expensive, especially while living on $1,600 a month.</p><p>Goodson's been on opioids since 2008. In 2017, she started to have trouble getting her prescription. For two months, her doctors worked to get her a long-acting dose of oxycodone. Eventually, she was able to get the prescription.</p><p>Cole's and Goodson's experiences aren't unique. Heather Gore, the CEO of the Orthopedic and Spine Center, is dealing with insurers asking her doctors to put their patients on fentanyl before Butrans patches, which tend to be more expensive but are less addictive.</p><p>Gore <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OSCpain/">regularly posts rejection letters</a> from insurance companies that want the center's patients to take their preferred versions of opioid medications, which often include Oxymorphone ER, MS Contin, and fentanyl patches.  Currently, there are <a href="https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/ucm337066.htm">10 approved abuse-deterrent opioids</a>. No generic abuse-deterrent formulations have been approved.</p><p>"No one wakes up and says, 'I want to be an addict,'"</p><blockquote class="pullquote">"No one wakes up and says, 'I want to be an addict.' When you're pushing addictive medication, of course you're going to be susceptible.""</blockquote><p>Gore said. "When you're pushing addictive medication, of course you're going to be susceptible."</p><p><span> America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents health insurance companies argues that abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) of opioids aren't much of a solution to the opioid crisis. </span><span></span></p><p><span>"Any opioid comes with some form of risk for abuse or dependence. So, despite their name, there is very little evidence that ADFs actually fully protect chronic pain patients from abuse or illicit use of opioids,"  AHIP communications director Cathryn Donaldson said in an emailed statement. "Also they are relatively new, cost prohibitive, and the evidence of efficacy is still limited. Health plans will continue to review the evidence base as it grows."</span></p><h2>Cutting back on dosage</h2><p>While those suffering from chronic pain often struggle to access alternative treatments, they're seeing their existing opioid dosages restricted.</p><p>Cole, for example, once took as much as 350 milligrams of an opioid painkiller a day. Now his doctors are working to cut him down to 120 milligrams. So far he's managed to bring it down to 140 milligrams, but the restriction has taken its toll.</p><p>It means he can't get out of bed as much; it means he can't see his grandkids or children as often because he gets too angry because of the pain.</p><p>"Now, I've got them maybe once a month, maybe less than that. It's because I'm in so much pain that I yell at them. I'm not going to just sit here and yell at my grandkids," Cole said. "As much as I love to see them, I'm not going to sit there in pain."</p><p>Cole said he used to be able to leave his bed and move around 40% of the day. Now, with the reductions in his dose, it's closer to 10%.</p><p>"They completely forgot about the people who have to live with chronic pain every day," Cole said. Ideally, he said, he thinks he could function with 165 milligrams daily.</p><p>Getting off the medication altogether can be daunting. For the past five years, Kerger has been looking for a rehabilitation center that could help her manage both the <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000949.htm">withdrawal symptoms</a> and her nerve pain. So far, she hasn't had much luck. Because she is on Medicare, rehab centers won't admit her because it's not covered. What is covered is a short hospital stay, which she said isn't long enough.</p><p>Her doctor hasn't decreased her dose, but the fear that it could be cut back has her concerned.</p><p>"I'm terrified," she said.</p><h2>Policy in the doctor's office</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a6b7b9217842552248b4af3-1778/ap17006205962371.jpg" alt="Fentanyl opioids" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="In this Aug. 9, 2016, file photo, a bag of 4-fluoro isobutyryl fentanyl which was seized in a drug raid is displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Testing and Research Laboratory in Sterling, Va." /><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">A bag of fentanyl seized in a drug raid.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Because prescription drugs have been integral to the opioid crisis, restrictions around the drugs have been part of the solution that policymakers and the healthcare industry have turned to.</p><p>But, Zachary said, the moves feel about five years too late. Instead, he said, the focus should turn to illegal opioids, including heroin and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-fentanyl-the-drug-that-killed-prince">fentanyl</a>, which have the deadliest consequences.</p><p>Instead of blanket policy decisions that cap prescription limits, most pain patients have a simple request for what they'd rather see happen for the opioid crisis: They want their relationship with their pain doctors left alone.</p><p>"The CDC shouldn't be telling my doctor how much I need," Cole said.</p><p>The hoops needed to jump through to have that relationship, like drug tests and routine checkups, are just fine.</p><p>"We do have accountability and we need to stick with that," Zobrosky said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ufo-video-department-of-defense-scientists-dont-care-2018-1">Why most scientists don't care about these incredible UFO videos</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7ydYM9hW-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

'We're treated like drug addicts': As America fights opioid addiction, the healthcare system is failing people who live with chronic pain

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/580905015124c9bf1d3ca06a-800" alt="Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a book with a photo of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez as he talks to the media during a news conference after the 17th Non-Aligned Summit in Porlamar, Venezuela September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Marco Bello" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Venezuela's President Maduro holds a book with a photo of Venezuela's late President Chavez as he talks to the media during a news conference after the 17th Non-Aligned Summit in Porlamar" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a book with a photo of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez during a news conference in Venezuela, September 18, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Socialist Party of Venezuela, first under Hugo Chavez and now under Nicolas Maduro, has held the country's presidency for 18 years, since Chavez swept into office at the end of 1998.</p><p>But recent years have been tumultuous for the PSUV, the Socialist Party's initials in Spanish.</p><p>Since Maduro took over by winning a special election after Chavez's death in early 2013, Venezuela has been buffeted by economic crises spurred on by poor policy and the decline of the price of oil, from which Venezuelan <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/latin-america-professional-worker-brain-drain-2015-8" target="_blank">draws the vast majority</a> of its export earnings, as well as by political tensions stoked in part by Maduro's efforts to maintain power.</p><p>While Chavez maintained some level of popularity - a 2009 survey put his approval at <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2009/02/10/views-of-chavez/" target="_blank">54% to 45%</a> disapproval, and a survey soon after his death in 2013 found <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/09/many-venezuelans-want-better-relations-with-the-u-s/" target="_blank">55% of respondents</a> wanting his policies to continue - Maduro has seen his popularity steadily decline.</p><p>A spring 2015 survey found the current Venezuelan president with <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/12/03/wide-ideological-divides-on-most-major-issues-as-venezuelas-elections-near/" target="_blank">a 68%-29%</a> approval-disapproval rating, and more recently he has seen his popularity <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKBN13D02N" target="_blank">fall below 20%</a>. Now support for Maduro's Socialist Party appears to be feeling the same decline.</p><p>A recent survey of political leanings by Venezuelan pollster Datanálisis found that the PSUV is no longer the dominant political force in the country.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5812235e5124c97430aadd8c-800" alt="Opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Opposition supporters take part in a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Opposition supporters at a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"The independents are at 45% while the opposition [is] around 27% and the PSUV only amounts to 18%," said Datanálisis director Jose Antonio Gil, <a href="http://globovision.com/article/datanalisis-el-psuv-deja-de-ser-el-principal-partido-del-pais" target="_blank">according</a> to Globovision. "The big news is that the PSUV lost from 2004 to now the primacy as the principal party in the country."</p><p>When Chavez died from cancer in 2013, 40% of Venezuelans identified with the PSUV, but Maduro's administration "has lowered it to less than half" that number, Gil <a href="http://www.dw.com/es/chavismo-dej%C3%B3-de-ser-principal-fuerza-pol%C3%ADtica-en-venezuela/a-36992941" target="_blank">said</a>.</p><p>Gil, who didn't <a href="http://www.dw.com/es/chavismo-dej%C3%B3-de-ser-principal-fuerza-pol%C3%ADtica-en-venezuela/a-36992941" target="_blank">specify</a> the period over which the survey was taken, <a href="http://globovision.com/article/datanalisis-el-psuv-deja-de-ser-el-principal-partido-del-pais" target="_blank">added</a> that in terms of political self-definition, 47% of respondents identified with the opposition, and only 20% aligned with the governing socialists. Those saying they were "neither nor" were 33%.</p><p>Those who are "neither nor" reject both the government and the opposition, Gil <a href="http://globovision.com/article/datanalisis-el-psuv-deja-de-ser-el-principal-partido-del-pais" target="_blank">said</a>. "They want dialogue and peace, they are fed up with the conflict between the government and the opposition. For these people sitting at the dialogue table was a positive opportunity."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/582371105124c90b69a7635e-800" alt="Jesus Torrealba (R), secretary of Venezuela's coalition of opposition parties (MUD), talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Marco Bello" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Jesus Torrealba, secretary of Venezuela's coalition of opposition parties (MUD), talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Jesus Torrealba right, secretary of Venezuela's opposition coalition (MUD), talks to the media at a news conference in Caracas, November 2, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Socialist Party's unpopularity was demonstrated in December 2015, when<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/caracas-the-worlds-most-violent-city/#in-decembers-legislative-elections-many-erstwhile-government-supporters-submitted-votos-castigos-punishment-votes-against-the-government-28" target="_blank"> it was drubbed in a national legislative election</a> that saw the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), take a commanding majority. Since then, amid widespread popular distaste, the PSUV's leadership has <a href="http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/post/155300143969/venezuela-ten-questions-for-2017" target="_blank">held together</a>, and the party has pursued other means to maintain political control.</p><p>It contested some of those legislative elections, seeking to deny the opposition a supermajority. Over the last several months, Maduro's government has <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5125870ccbcb4fde9fb2d124a9d6d41d/opposition-cries-dictatorship-after-venezuela-blocks-recall" target="_blank">stymied opposition efforts</a> to mount a recall referendum that could have removed him from office and triggered a new election.</p><p>Maduro's efforts to block the recall <a href="https://www.apnews.com/36d3694faa7645c29e13f8cdab23291c" target="_blank">were aided</a> by other government bodies, the national electoral council and the supreme court in particular, that dragged their feet on official decisions and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-venezuela-congress-says-maduro-abandoned-post-congress-called-disobedient-2017-1" target="_blank">blocked moves</a> by the opposition-controlled legislature to check Maduro's power and bring on the recall vote.</p><p>The window has closed on the period during which a recall would have ousted Maduro and led to a new election; at this point, Maduro's vice president would take over should a recall vote him out of the presidency.</p><p>Opposition leaders <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-arrests-3-opponents-amid-threat-of-crackdown/2017/01/12/ab82f2d8-d926-11e6-a0e6-d502d6751bc8_story.html" target="_blank">have been divided</a> on how to proceed.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/582b96ff5124c99139d8a1e9-800" alt="Deputies of the Venezuelan coalition of opposition parties (MUD) Romel Guzamana (L), Julio Ygarza (2nd R), Nirma Guarulla (R), and the governor of the Amazonas state Liborio Guarulla (2nd L) attend to a meeting at the Supreme Court in Caracas January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Marco Bello" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Deputies of MUD Guzamana, Ygarza, Guarulla, and the governor of the Amazonas state Guarulla attend to a meeting at the Supreme Court in Caracas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Venezuelan coalition of opposition party (MUD) deputies and the governor of Amazonas state at a meeting at the supreme court in Caracas, January 13, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Some have called for a new round of street protests, while others want to continue Vatican-mediated dialogue with the government. The MUD's leader <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-venezuela-opposition-rules-out-more-crisis-talks-2017-1" target="_blank">has ruled out</a> further talks.</p><p>In the National Assembly, the opposition has mounted other efforts to condemn Maduro.</p><p>This week, opposition lawmakers <a href="https://www.apnews.com/36d3694faa7645c29e13f8cdab23291c" target="_blank">adopted a resolution</a> declaring that Maduro had <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-venezuela-lawmakers-pass-key-motion-against-president-2017-1" target="_blank">abandoned</a> his office, saying that while he regularly appeared on television (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-president-dances-salsa-while-venezuela-churns-2016-11" target="_blank">and hosted a salsa show</a>) for hours a day, he had "failed to perform the basic duties of governing."</p><p>Socialist Party leadership dismissed the resolution, saying the assembly had acted <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-venezuela-congress-says-maduro-abandoned-post-congress-called-disobedient-2017-1" target="_blank">disobediently</a> and that the opposition legislature's political trial would amount to nothing.</p><p>Maduro himself called the measure a "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-venezuela-president-threatens-opposition-over-coup-2017-1" target="_blank">coup d'etat</a>" and said he was launching an "anti-coup commando squad" made up of hardline senior security officials. In recent days, police acting under orders of that new squad have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-arrests-3-opponents-amid-threat-of-crackdown/2017/01/12/ab82f2d8-d926-11e6-a0e6-d502d6751bc8_story.html" target="_blank">arrested three opposition politicians</a> on weapons charges and accusations of plotting a coup.</p><p><span>"President Maduro has not resigned and he will not resign," Socialist Party Vice President <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-venezuela-congress-says-maduro-abandoned-post-congress-called-disobedient-2017-1" target="_blank">Diosdado Cabello said</a> before the vote. "He has not abandoned his post, and we have not recognized nor will we recognize a disobedient legislature."</span></p><p>"The truth is Maduro will continue as president," Cabello <a href="https://www.apnews.com/36d3694faa7645c29e13f8cdab23291c" target="_blank">said</a> after the resolution passed.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55631f696da811137f0b369b-2400" alt="Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro Diosdado Cabello" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) and national assembly president Diosdado Cabello attend a military parade to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the failed coup attempt by late president Hugo Chavez in Caracas in this February 4, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace. " /><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, right, and then National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello at a parade commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the coup attempt by late President Hugo Chavez, February 4, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Recent moves by Maduro have demonstrated how high his administration views the stakes in its struggle for political survival in Venezuela.</p><p>Earlier this month, he appointed former Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami as vice president. El Aissami, like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-indicts-venezuela-officials-drug-trafficking-2016-8" target="_blank">other recent government appointees</a>, has been linked to US drug-trafficking investigations.</p><p>Bringing El Aissami and other Venezuela officials who could face charges abroad into his inner circle "<span>is not simply an attempt to slap the US in the face, but rather a rational move for Maduro, since he knows [they] will now fight to the end," David Smilde, senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-indicts-venezuela-officials-drug-trafficking-2016-8" target="_blank">told Business Insider in August last year</a>.</span></p><p><span><span>"There is also a perverse logic whereby anybody with an indictment or subject to sanctions suddenly has extremely high exit costs" if they were to oppose the Maduro administration, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-indicts-venezuela-officials-drug-trafficking-2016-8" target="_blank">Smilde said at the time</a>. "This makes them extremely attractive to the Maduro government as core defenders."</span></span></p><p><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5776c7404321f11b008b5a8b-2400" alt="Venezuela grocery store shelves" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Mariana Bazo" data-mce-caption="People line up to buy food and other staple goods inside a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela June 30, 2016." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Mariana Bazo</span></p><p class="caption">People line up to buy food and other staple goods inside a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela, June 30, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></span></p><p><span><span>The Venezuelan military - already cited by both sides as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-military-exercises-amid-nationwide-unrest-2016-5" target="_blank">a possible "king-maker" in Venezuela</a> - has been brought further into the government's fold. </span></span></p><p><span><span>In summer last year, Maduro put the military <a href="http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/post/155761191729/mounting-exit-costs-complicate-change-in-venezuela" target="_blank">in charge of distributing</a> food and medicine, both of which are in short supply for much of the country. An Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/64794f2594de47328b910dc29dd7c996/Venezuela-military-trafficking-food-as-country-goes-hungry" target="_blank">report indicates</a> this control has led the military to develop trafficking and bribery schemes, which add to accusations military personnel are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-indicts-venezuela-officials-drug-trafficking-2016-8" target="_blank">heavily involved in the drug trade</a>.</span></span></p><p><span><span><span>"By allowing the military to oversee food distribution in Venezuela, Maduro has made the armed forces a direct stakeholder in permanence of the regime," Geoff Ramsey <a href="http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/post/155761191729/mounting-exit-costs-complicate-change-in-venezuela" target="_blank">wrote this month</a> for WOLA's Venezuela <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">Politics</keyword> and Human Rights blog. "In effect, military officials have enough 'skin in the game' to side with the government instead of the people if there is social upheaval."</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span>The military's leadership seems cognizant of these ties. Earlier this month, in a rebuke to new National Assembly President Julio Borges, the Venezuelan armed forces restated their "<a href="http://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/venezuela-fuerzas-armadas-reiteran-absoluta-lealtad-maduro-noticia-1958750" target="_blank">absolute loyalty and unconditional support</a>" for Maduro.</span></span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/president-elect-donald-trump-calls-out-news-reporter-during-press-conference-cnn-buzzfeed-2017-1">'You are fake news': Watch Trump attack a news reporter during his first press conference as president-elect</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="QzY3R1ODE6PlfzcDBKozck-A7-ZvcQHv" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'QzY3R1ODE6PlfzcDBKozck-A7-ZvcQHv',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

'Skin in the game': Venezuela's Socialist Party is losing its influence but tightening its grip on power

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bf44e280d7c67098f45ec56-1777/23andme-4.jpg" border="0" alt="DNA Testing 23andMe" data-mce-source="Hollis Johnson/Business Insider" /></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lunadna-pays-for-genetic-information-2018-12">Genetic testing</a> will be a cornerstone of healthcare in 2019, experts say.</li><li>There are two ways to do the testing: getting a costly but complete genetic workup through a doctor or opting for a cheaper at-home test <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-delete-your-data-23andme-ancestry-2018-7">like those sold by 23andMe</a>.</li><li>Clinicians and advocates criticize the at-home approach, which they say prioritizes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-ancestry-23andme-share-data-companies-2018-8">convenience over privacy</a> and long-term health.</li><li>But entrepreneurs counter that the at-home approach lets more people access information.</li><li>Which method will win out, and at what cost?</li></ul><p>As millions of Americans sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, biomedical researcher <a href="https://www.vumc.org/getprecise/person/james-hazel-phd-jd">James Hazel</a> sent out a stark warning about the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-ancestry-23andme-share-data-companies-2018-8">genetic-testing kits</a> that he surmised would be a hot topic of conversation.</p><p>Most of them are neither safe nor private.</p><p>Hazel reached this conclusion after reviewing the privacy policies and terms of service of nearly 100 genetic-testing companies that offer their services directly to individuals. Most people use these services either by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-ancestry-23andme-share-data-companies-2018-8">submitting a sample of saliva</a> or uploading their raw digital DNA signature to a public database. Their lofty common draw is enabling people to learn more about their health, family history, and ultimately their identity.</p><p>Hazel, a researcher at Vanderbilt University, studied companies ranging from popular startups like 23andMe - which offers health and ancestry information - to under-the-radar outfits such as GEDmatch, which simply houses genetic information to help people build family trees. His <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6417/898">article</a>, which was published on Thanksgiving Day in the journal <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword>, found that nearly half lacked even a basic privacy document that governed genetic data.</p><p>Privacy isn't the only concern that experts have with consumer genetic tests. In addition to collecting sensitive data on ancestry, companies like 23andMe claim to show how your DNA affects your health. But clinicians, medical professors, and genetic counselors told Business Insider that this information is misleading and could put people at risk of missing warning signs for diseases like cancer.</p><p>"It's very scary for us because patients think they've had a genetic test when they haven't," said <a href="https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/127180/theodora-ross.html">Theodora Ross</a>, the director of the cancer-genetics program at the University of Texas Southwestern.</p><p>Still, comprehensive genetic workups - the kind that require a doctor's visit - remain expensive and time-consuming.</p><p>That's led millions of Americans to rely on at-home kits for most of their genetic knowledge. This holiday season, genetic-testing kits broke sales records. Ancestry announced after Thanksgiving that it had sold 14 million DNA kits worldwide. 23andMe has assembled genetic data on more than 5 million customers.</p><p>Experts agree it's time for a different model, something between a pricey doctor-ordered test and the limited spit kits available in drug stores. And though several companies are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lunadna-pays-for-genetic-information-2018-12">trying new approaches</a>, none has emerged as a leader. In the meantime, sensitive customer data is being uploaded and housed in large databases - sometimes forever.</p><h2>Your sensitive data can be shared with others - even if you've never taken a genetic test</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bf5aa619e8c5338115ff054-1776/23andme-2.jpg" border="0" alt="DNA Testing 23andMe" data-mce-source="Hollis Johnson/Business Insider" /></div></div></div></p><p>For law-enforcement officials to arrest suspected <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-california-man-arrested-in-golden-state-killer-case-suspected-in-12-slayings-2018-4">Golden State Killer</a> Joseph DeAngelo on charges including four murders and dozens of rapes, they did not need him to participate in any genetic-testing services.</p><p>Instead, DeAngelo's arrest hinged on the participation of several of his distant family members. At some point, 24 people distantly related to him uploaded their genetic data to a public DNA database called GEDmatch.</p><p>After creating a fake GEDmatch profile using DNA they'd gathered at the scene of a 1980 crime, investigators were led to those people. By cross-checking the list against several other databases such as census data and cemetery records, they were able to close in on DeAngelo.</p><p>That's something Hazel and other researchers call "reidentification." He said it's a significant risk for people, even if they haven't ever personally taken a genetic test.</p><p>"The fact that law enforcement has access to this with just a subpoena, that was the impetus for my article," Hazel said. "I wanted to use it to highlight the deficiencies of the system."</p><p>Still, the process required a specialist and years of work, Curtis Rogers, the cofounder of GEDmatch, told Business Insider.</p><p>"It takes many people, each supplying little bits of information, to begin the complicated process of solving a cold case," Rogers said.</p><h2>'Informed consent' is not always informed</h2><p>Most genetic-testing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-ancestry-23andme-share-data-companies-2018-8">companies</a> say they use something called "informed consent" to verify that people understand <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-delete-your-data-23andme-ancestry-2018-7">what their genetic data may be used for</a>. Most well-established companies like Ancestry or 23andMe ask for consent when a customer signs up or registers their kit; others put it in a 10- or 20-page terms-of-service document.</p><p>Informed consent is especially important because some companies <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-delete-your-data-23andme-ancestry-2018-7">keep genetic data</a> for a long time, sometimes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-delete-your-data-23andme-ancestry-2018-7">indefinitely</a>. That means it can be used in different ways, including for purposes like solving a murder, that customers might not have anticipated.</p><p>DNA data collected by the companies is also being used for drug research, like in the case of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-ancestry-23andme-share-data-companies-2018-8">23andMe's $300 million deal</a> with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, and for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancestry-google-release-first-genealogy-study-longevity-aging-genetics-2018-11">research on longevity and aging</a>, like in the case of Ancestry's now-ended <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-calico-ancestry-dna-genetics-aging-partnership-ended-2018-7">partnership with Google spinoff Calico</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-delete-your-data-23andme-ancestry-2018-7">DNA-testing company 23andMe signed a $300 million deal with a drug giant. Here's how to delete your data if that freaks you out.</a></em></p><p>The conflict over informed consent mirrors a recurring debate in medicine about the role of gatekeepers in healthcare. Just as the web made it easy for patients to research their symptoms before reaching out to a doctor, consumer genetic tests have enabled people to query their genome without needing permission from a specialist.</p><p>Entrepreneurs say these new capabilities are empowering because they arm people with new information about themselves. Anne Wojcicki, the founder of 23andMe, has said repeatedly that giving individuals the ability to peek inside their genes allows them to be more active stewards of their health.</p><p>"My hope is that 23andMe, by being less and less regulated, will enable more people to open their eyes to science," Wojcicki <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/11/30/23andme-anne-wojcicki-dna/">said at a Fortune conference</a> in 2016.</p><p>An Ancestry spokesperson shared that sentiment.</p><p>"Our highest priority is protecting our customers' privacy, starting with enabling our customers to always maintain ownership and control over their own data and educating them on how to manage their privacy settings," they said.</p><p>"Any data included in research collaborations is based on customers' voluntary explicit informed consent to participate in research."</p><p>But privacy advocates and clinicians disagree with this view. Genetics is a scientific field that even experts are only beginning to understand, they say. Although there are several genetic mutations that we can firmly say are related to disease, there are thousands of tweaks to our genome that we still have yet to even identify, let alone fully comprehend.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aa18eba23aa631c008b4741-909/3274642410411036efec1b.jpg" border="0" alt="surprised phone texting" data-mce-source="Evgeny Belikov/Strelka Institute/Flickr" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/strelka/32746424104/" /></div></div></div></p><h2>Some genetic tests could mislead you about your risk of disease</h2><p>Today, 23andMe is the only genetic testing startup that does not require interacting with a physician to get information about how your DNA might affect your risk of disease. For $199, you can order its "Health and Ancestry" product online or buy one at a pharmacy.</p><p>But genetics experts and clinicians caution against using the test for anything beyond entertainment. The tests are not comprehensive, meaning they don't look at all your DNA. Experts say they are also frequently misunderstood by patients. Ross, the University of Texas Southwestern clinician, said that whenever a patient comes in with results from an at-home testing kit, she tells them to throw them away.</p><p>"When it comes to health, 23andMe is not helping. They're getting in the way," she said.</p><p>The 23andMe health report looks at some of the genes related to diseases, including breast cancer, celiac disease, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. It also tells you if you carry a genetic variant that you could pass on to your children, increasing their risk of genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia.</p><p>The problem is that a 23andMe report that comes back negative for those genetic variants doesn't mean you're at a low risk of disease, because the tests don't look at all your DNA. Instead, they analyze only a small selection of all the genes that have been highly studied and are known to relate to disease risk.</p><p>"If you think of your DNA as a book, the vast majority of consumer genetic tests [let you] see a few letters on the page," <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elissa-levin-0aa8884/">Elissa Levin</a>, the senior director of clinical affairs for personal genomics startup Helix, told Business Insider.</p><p>"Those letters are very valuable if that is a particular mutation that's been highly studied," Levin added.</p><p>More important, while 23andMe tests for three of the tweaks known to be related to breast-cancer risk, there are other disease-linked mutations the test <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-new-cancer-test-problem-genetics-testing-2018-3">does not include</a>.</p><p>"If someone did a consumer genetic test, they could be misinformed that there's nothing there of concern, when in fact they've only looked at a very small part of their genome," said Lisa Alderson, the CEO of genomic service network and medical practice Genome Medical.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-new-cancer-test-problem-genetics-testing-2018-3">Genetics testing company 23andMe has a new cancer test, but scientists say it's dangerous</a></em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bf5a9fb0d7c672745613d2a-1778/23andme-8.jpg" border="0" alt="DNA Testing 23andMe" data-mce-source="Hollis Johnson/Business Insider" /></div></div></div></p><p>A 23andMe representative said the company makes all these limitations clear to customers when they sign up for the test, and added that the product has been thoroughly reviewed by federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.</p><p>"Our health product undergoes levels of FDA scrutiny beyond most clinical tests," the representative said. "Our health tests meet a bar above 99% accuracy and contain information that meets the FDA requirements for clinical validity, meaning it's information related to one's health that's been well established in scientific literature."</p><p>They also said that the 23andMe health report clearly states that a negative report does not mean you are free of disease risk. The report reads:</p><p>"[Name], you do not have the three genetic variants we tested. However, more than 1,000 variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are known to increase cancer risk, so you could still have a variant not included in this test."</p><h2>Current tests may leave out 'the part that may save your life'</h2><p>The single most important missing element when it comes to at-home genetic tests may be the human element, experts say.</p><p>That facet of genetic testing - translating genetic findings into health guidance that people can use - is the same one that's vital to a good doctor's visit. A person-to-person interaction can make the difference between a patient feeling defeated and determined.</p><p>Say you learned from a genetic test that you were at a heightened risk of a certain kind of cancer, for example. You might be left feeling hopeless and anxious. But imagine if instead of simply being told you were at a higher risk of cancer, you were also told that you could take a medical imaging test each year that has a high chance of catching your cancer early, when there's still time to intervene and save your life.</p><p>That's a role many experts say must be played by humans, at least until we have technology that can replace them.</p><p>"When you sit down with your doctor or genetic counselor or whoever the human being is who's talking to you about your result, you get a completely different view of it then if you're sitting on a computer or it comes in the mail," said Ross.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5afaecc37708e92ea7481713-1200/patient doctor skin.jpg" border="0" alt="patient doctor skin" data-mce-source="Joe Raedel/Getty" /></div></div></div></p><p>But there aren't enough doctors or genetic counselors to meet the current demand for genetic-testing services. According to a <a href="https://www.nsgc.org/p/bl/et/blogaid=879">recent report</a> from the National Society of Genetic Counselors, for every graduate of genetic counselor training programs, there are two to three jobs available.</p><p>That's something Helix's Elissa Levin thinks about a lot. She's been watching the development of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stanford-therapy-chatbot-app-depression-anxiety-woebot-2018-1">chatbots</a> (robots that you can text or direct message with, similar to normal conversation) and wonders if they might one day play a role in helping deliver the findings of genetic tests.</p><p>"To me, part of the balance of providing something responsibly and making a safe and quality experience is making sure the information is provided in a really digestible way," she said.</p><p>But a new and better model hasn't emerged. There are some genetic testing services that let you order a genetic test through an independent physician who can help translate genetic findings remotely, including from Helix and a startup called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genetics-test-for-cancer-cholesterol-2018-5">Color Genomics</a>.</p><h2>A brave new world for genetic testing?</h2><p>Some startups are beginning to experiment with new models for genetic testing. For instance, <a href="https://www.nebula.org/">Nebula Genomics</a>, says you can get your entire genome (your full book of genomic data, rather than simply a few letters) sequenced, own the data set, and <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610221/this-new-company-wants-to-sequence-your-genome-and-let-you-share-it-on-a-blockchain/">earn digital money</a> by sharing it.</p><p>Another approach is being pioneered by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lunadna-pays-for-genetic-information-2018-12">LunaDNA</a>. Cofounded by Dawn Barry, a 12-year veteran of biotech giant Illumina, Luna is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lunadna-pays-for-genetic-information-2018-12">offering to pay people</a> for their genetic information in the form of shares of LunaDNA.</p><p>Barry created Luna as one answer to the problematic genetic-testing landscape, which she said doesn't prioritize privacy or offer people control over their data.</p><p>"In many cases you're buying a product, but maybe you are the product, and those models don't feel as transparent as they should," Barry told Business Insider.</p><p>She said Luna ensures that when customers contribute their DNA data, that data is anonymized and maintained in what she called an "analytics sandbox," which protects it from hacking or leaks.</p><p>"If you want to delete your data, there's only one copy," Barry said. "It's gone. Your shares go back. You're forgotten about, so to speak."</p><p class="tagline"><hr><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/ai-in-us-healthcare?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen_ai_in_us_healthcare"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5b1988cc1ae66235008b54c1" alt="Business Insider Intelligence Exclusive FREE Report: The 5 Ways AI Will Change U.S. Healthcare" border="0" style="display: block; width: 100% !important; max-width: 640px !important; margin: 0 auto !important" /></a><hr /></hr></p>

Genetic testing could be the future of healthcare, but some doctors think companies like 23andMe might be doing more harm than good

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55439c56dd089548258b456a-1200-924/peter-thiel-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Peter Thiel"><p class="source"><span>Blake Ezra Photography</span></p><p class="caption">Peter Thiel. </p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel gave an on-stage interview in London on Wednesday night, where he explained his political philosophy, as well as what he looks for in investments.</p><p>One of the first questions that Thiel was asked by interviewer Niall Ferguson was how he spotted the potential in Facebook back in 2004. Thiel was the first outside investor in the fledgling social network, but sold most of his stake after its IPO in 2012.</p><p>Thiel said that he had looked "at a number of social networks" before finding Facebook. But it wasn't the product itself that Thiel felt was most important, but the fact that it had the potential to create a monopoly on social networking.</p><p>"Always aim for a monopoly," Thiel said. "It's one big transgressive idea, and you're not allowed to talk about it. That's a clue that it's an under-explored idea. There are questions on what point is it good or bad for societies. From society's perspective, it's complicated. But from the inside, I always want to have a monopoly." </p><p>Talking about Facebook, Thiel said that early on a key indication that the company could be successful was that it didn't have a vast market. That's an unusual thing to say - the established wisdom is that startups should have a big group of customers waiting for the product. But Thiel said that "big markets are quite often bad. Companies grow powerful and successful when they capture small markets, and help that market to grow over time."</p><p>Thiel explained how PayPal, the online payments company he co-founded in 1998, started as a product used by power sellers on eBay. It captured around 30% of the market share in five months, he said, and from there it was built out in concentric circles to expand the market. Similarly, Facebook started as a networking tool for Harvard students which reached 60% market share in 10 days, and that model could be extended to other colleges.</p><p>Another topic that Thiel discussed was originality in technology. It's an important quality, he said. "The next Mark Zuckerberg won't start a new social network. The next Larry Page won't start a search engine. The next Bill Gates won't start an operating system." However, it's not quite that easy. "There's something about originality which is much harder than people think. Even in Shakespeare, the word 'ape' meant primate and imitate. We are powerful imitating machines. And there are places where that goes wrong. Think of the madness of crowds, financial market bubbles, and crazy fashion."</p><p>"Thinking for oneself is easy to say but hard to do. There's a strange phenomenon in Silicon Valley where large levels of successful founders seem to have Asperger's. You can turn that around as an indictment of society. What is it about society where if you don't have Asperger's, you're talked out of ideas before they're fully formed?"</p><p>But even though there is originality in Silicon Valley, Thiel doesn't feel that technology has achieved enough to advance civilisation as much as we thought it would. "Twitter is quite successful, but not remotely enough to take civilisation to the next level. There's a lot of great, specific success in Silicon Valley, and we're better of with them than without. But I'm a little bit sceptical of generalisation. How much technological progress is generally happening? I think the exponential curve, the dizzying rates of progress, that strikes me as somewhat off."</p><p>"The story of technological progress has been a tale of two worlds: The world of computers, the internet and software has seen significant progress. But other areas have seen much less, if any. Think biotech, medicine, energy, flying cars, supersonic aviation, space travel. There has been some progress, but not as much as people expected in, say, the 1960s."</p><p>The event Thiel spoke at was part of the Alan Howard Foundation / JW3 Speaker Series, which is a series of talks intended to raise money for a Jewish center in London. The conversation ranged from technology, as well as education, which Thiel is known to be outspoken about.</p><p>Thiel launched a scheme called the Thiel Fellowship, which pays US college students to "stop" out of college and build a business. Ferguson, a Harvard professor, asked Thiel what he saw as the problem within colleges and universities. For Thiel, it's a deep-running issue. He said that issues in education are "deeply linked to a malaise in the West where a supertracked system teaches people the same things and educates them the same way. It's not that conducive to finding new paths to the future."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55439c56dd089548258b456b-1200-924/peter-thiel-interviewed-by-niall-ferguson.jpg" border="0" alt="Peter Thiel interviewed by Niall Ferguson"><p class="source"><span>Blake Ezra Photography</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That's not all that Thiel had to say on education (it's one of his favourite subjects). He went on to pose the question "What good is education?" Is it an investment to earn a better living? Or a decision based on consuming as much of the college experience as possible? Thiel says that for him it was a blend of both, which led to irrational decision-making. Now, he says that parents often pay for their children's education as an insurance policy designed to stop them falling through the cracks of society.</p><p>College has become a tournament, Thiel says. And he thinks that a diploma from a lesser college has become a "dunce hat in disguise." He feels that the current value of education is based on exclusivity, and that top universities are like a nightclub with a velvet rope outside. Thiel went on to remind the audience of how the Catholic church sold indulgences hundreds of years ago. Diplomas are just like that, Thiel said.</p><p>Ferguson asked Thiel about his political views, which tend to be categorised as libertarian. "If you went down a list of political issues, I'm fiscally conservative and socially liberal, in a US sense. We always put too much hope in our politicians and leaders - I aspire to be more of a political atheist."</p><p>Thiel has a neat analogy to explain the political system: "A lot of politics resembles World Wide Wrestling," he said. "But the key difference is that wrestlers know it's all fake. It's extraordinary how disconnected it is from voting. We do not live in democracies or republics. We live in advanced technological civilisations with permanent complex bureaucracies that are hard to change. But if we were to make it more populist, that would be catastrophic."</p><p>Does Thiel think that there's a way of getting back to democracy? He's not optimistic. "It seems like every time you do that, you get bad outcomes. They are right to [think] that the systems are unrepresentative. People get scared of populists coming to power because they get the sense that they are the wrestlers who believe it 100%."</p><p>So which countries does Thiel think are well-governed?</p><p>"There are very few, if any, that are remotely democratic. Some are better governed than others. Singapore is reasonably well-governed, although there are not as many liberties as I would like. Northern Europe is, in general, also well-governed."</p><p>One of the last questions that Thiel received is perhaps the most important: Are we in a tech bubble? </p><p>"It's certainly on an absolute scale," Thiel said. "Valuations have been drifting up steadily over the last 10 to 12 years. I think, with hindsight, in 2004 and 2005 Facebook was badly undervalued. People had a hangover from the late nineties. That hangover gradually wore off."</p><p>The question of whether we're in a tech bubble is asked a lot, Thiel says. "All bubbles are a psychosocial phenomenon - it's only dangerous when the public as a whole gets involved. For the second tech wave in Silicon Valley, the public has not been involved. There were 300 IPOs in the US in 1999, and 37 in 2014."</p><p>Ferguson asked Thiel which companies he saw as being undervalued: "I'm long Airbnb and short Uber. Investors like being driven around in town cars, not sleeping on peoples couches. The most undervalued companies are tech companies where the pitch is that they need $5 million to build a new machine or drug. It only work if all the pieces are there. That is a category that is systematically underfunded and hard to pull off. For our SpaceX investment in 2008, people thought we were crazy, but the rocket launches were paid for in advance."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-aha-moment-2014-12">Peter Thiel Reveals The Key To A Great Tech Company</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hubWQ0cjqIv5ZVKOjm1_i4328htelbQo" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'hubWQ0cjqIv5ZVKOjm1_i4328htelbQo',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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