Regulating excessive speculation: commodity derivatives and the global food crisis

Evidence suggests that commodity derivatives speculation contributed to extraordinary patterns of grain price volatility that led to a global food crisis in 2007–11. People in countries throughout the world are increasingly dependent on international commodity markets for access to food. Almost everywhere, now, the value of food is determined by a single condensed symbol of its worth—its price. Persuaded of the need to ensure that this measure of value is not put at risk of distortion in the pursuit of financial profit, governments in the US and in the EU are now implementing new regulations designed to curb ‘excessive’ levels of speculation in derivative markets. Carrying out an analysis of these regulatory measures, the article demonstrates that both sets of reforms suffer from a critical limitation: They are predicated on an inaccurate understanding of how activity in commodity derivative markets can impact on underlying food prices. If the new regulations for commodity derivative markets are not up to the task, as this article argues that they are not, a more fundamental revision of global economic structures may be required if the basic needs of human beings are not to be subsumed to the interests of financial capital in the years to come

World hunger, the ‘global’ food crisis and (international) law

The global food crisis 2007-11 has been described by the UN Human Rights Committee as a failure of national and international policies to ensure access to food for all. Another influential camp attributes the crisis to another kind of failure – market failure. This article seeks to qualify these prevalent views on two principal grounds. First, the tendency to ascribe the predicament of hungry peoples to failure – of policy, markets, or both – distracts from the fact that commodity markets were working in this same period for the benefit of other actors in the global economy. Second, the focus on policy elides the equally important role that law has played in this context. Legal solutions are highly visible in debates on how to tackle hunger. Less visible are the ways in which legal regimes have entrenched the same conditions of poverty and precarity to which legal remedies are now offered in response. The article argues that not only must the global legal order be understood as a producer of hunger in the world, but that bodies of law that constitute the global food system may present the greatest obstacle to efforts by the international community to eradicate it

Food commodity speculation, hunger, and the global food crisis: whither regulation

This thesis takes as its starting point claims that practices of financial speculation in commodity derivative markets were instrumental in the causation of the global food crisis in 2007-08. Adopting an approach informed by critical legal studies, I seek to challenge dominant conceptions about the role that law has played in this context. Campaigners concerned about these practices place great faith in financial regulation as means of restraining ‘excessive’ speculation. Equally, those concerned with the vulnerability of poor communities to its effects — their condition of ‘food insecurity’, as it is designated in the prevailing discourse — turn to human rights, in particular, the right to adequate food, as a means of response. In both instances, law is positioned as the solution to fix malfunctioning markets. Examining the significance of law in the creation of the two global markets in question — one for a trade in financial instruments linked to food commodities, the other for tangible food commodities — I will consider whether this way of positioning law is accurate. I will explore the possibility that a preoccupation with regulatory solutions obscures other roles that law might play in global commodity markets. Focusing on the role law plays in enabling market behaviours, such as speculation, and in entrenching market entitlements that prevent equitable access to food, I will suggest that a body of law that is constituting and entrenching the market might stand in the way of regulatory ambition. The call for financial regulation to tackle food price volatility and for the strengthening of domestic legal regimes to protect against vulnerability is a call on the state to use law to constrain the excesses of the market in the interests of society. Is this a promising strategy, however, when the constitutive role of law and the state in facilitating the operations of the market is taken into account

Commodity derivatives, contract law, and food security

Speculation in commodity derivative markets has been linked to the causation of the 2007- 11 global food crisis. Derivatives have also been implicated in the causation of the global financial crisis. Much of the legal scholarship on derivatives is concerned with how best to regulate their use. Other work has pointed to the role of transnational actors, such as the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), in facilitating the growth of the global derivatives market. What is missing in this scholarship is an account of how the norms of contract law have been altered, extended, and even distorted to create a new generation of financial assets linked to food prices. In this paper, I begin a project of examining how the trade in commodity derivatives has disrupted some of the established principles of contract law, and I reflect on the significance of my findings for the debate about derivatives regulation

Proanthocyanidins Modulate MicroRNA Expression in Human HepG2 Cells

Mi(cro)RNAs are small non-coding RNAs of 18-25 nucleotides in length that modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. These RNAs have been shown to be involved in a several biological processes, human diseases and metabolic disorders. Proanthocyanidins, which are the most abundant polyphenol class in the human diet, have positive health effects on a variety of metabolic disorders such as inflammation, obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance. The present study aimed to evaluate whether proanthocyanidin-rich natural extracts modulate miRNA expression. Using microarray analysis and Q-PCR, we investigated miRNA expression in HepG2 cells treated with proanthocyanidins. Our results showed that when HepG2 cells were treated with grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE), cocoa proanthocyanidin extract (CPE) or pure epigallocatechin gallate isolated from green tea (EGCG), fifteen, six and five differentially expressed miRNAs, respectively, were identified out of 904 mRNAs. Specifically, miR-30b* was downregulated by the three treatments, and treatment with GSPE or CPE upregulated miR-1224-3p, miR-197 and miR-532-3p. Therefore, these results provide evidence of the capacity of dietary proanthocyanidins to influence microRNA expression, suggesting a new mechanism of action of proanthocyanidins

Group mindfulness-based intervention for distressing voices: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial

Group Person-Based Cognitive Therapy (PBCT) integrates cognitive therapy and mindfulness to target distinct sources of distress in psychosis. The present study presents data from the first randomised controlled trial inves- tigating group PBCT in people distressed by hearing voices. One-hundred and eight participants were randomised to receive either group PBCT and Treatment As Usual (TAU) or TAU only. While there was no significant effect on the primary outcome, a measure of general psychological distress, results showed significant between-group post-intervention benefits in voice-related distress, perceived controllability of voices and recovery. Participants in the PBCT group reported significantly lower post-treatment levels of depression, with this effect maintained at six-month follow-up. Findings suggest PBCT delivered over 12 weeks effectively impacts key dimensions of the voice hearing experience, supports meaningful behaviour change, and has lasting effects on mood

Drug resistance outcomes of long-term ART with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in the absence of virological monitoring

Objectives: The resistance profiles of patients receiving long-term ART in sub-Saharan Africa have been poorly described. This study obtained a sensitive assessment of the resistance patterns associated with long-term tenofovir-based ART in a programmatic setting where virological monitoring is yet to become part of routine care. Methods: We studied subjects who, after a median of 4.2 years of ART, replaced zidovudine or stavudine with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate while continuing lamivudine and an NNRTI. Using deep sequencing, resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) were detected in stored samples collected at tenofovir introduction (T0) and after a median of 4.0 years (T1). Results: At T0, 19/87 (21.8%) subjects showed a detectable viral load and 8/87 (9.2%) had one or more major NNRTI RAMs, whereas 82/87 (94.3%) retained full tenofovir susceptibility. At T1, 79/87 (90.8%) subjects remained on NNRTI-based ART, 5/87 (5.7%) had introduced lopinavir/ritonavir due to immunological failure, and 3/87 (3.4%) had interrupted ART. Whilst 68/87 (78.2%) subjects maintained or achieved virological suppression between T0 and T1, a detectable viral load with NNRTI RAMs at T0 predicted lack of virological suppression at T1. Each treatment interruption, usually reflecting unavailability of the dispensary, doubled the risk of T1 viraemia. Tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz selected for K65R, K70E/T, L74I/V and Y115F, alongside M184V and multiple NNRTI RAMs; this resistance profile was accompanied by high viral loads and low CD4 cell counts. Conclusions: Viraemia on tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz led to complex resistance patterns with implications for continued drug activity and risk of onward transmission

Brief Coping Strategy Enhancement for distressing voices: an evaluation in routine clinical practice

Background – hearing voices can be a common and distressing experience. Psychological treatment in the form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) is effective, but is rarely available to patients. The barriers to increasing access include a lack of time for clinicians to deliver therapy. Emerging evidence is suggesting that CBTp delivered in brief forms can be effective and offer one solution to increasing access. Aims – we adapted an existing form of CBTp, Coping Strategy Enhancement (CSE), to focus specifically on distressing voices in a brief format. This intervention was evaluated within an uncontrolled study conducted in routine clinical practice. Methods - This was a service evaluation comparing pre-post outcomes in patients who had completed CSE over four sessions within a specialist outpatient service within NHS Mental Health Services. The primary outcome was the Distress scale of the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale – Auditory Hallucinations (PSYRATS-AH). Results – data were available from 101 patients who had completed therapy. A reduction approaching clinical importance was found on the PSYRATS distress scale post-therapy when compared to the baseline. Conclusions – the findings from this study suggest that CSE, as a focussed and brief form of CBTp can be effective in the treatment of distressing voices within routine clinical practice. Within the context of the limitations of this study, brief CSE may best be viewed as the beginning of a therapeutic conversation and a low-intensity intervention in a stepped approach to the treatment of distressing voices