Yasemin Balci

Trust & Verify no. 176, Summer 2025 - VERTIC The Winter 2023 edition of T&V opens with a lead article on diplomatic momentum and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. The rest of the edition covers issues ranging from the conviction of a ma...

📢 T&V No. 176 is out! Marking 50 yrs of the BTWC 🧬 & 100 yrs of the Geneva Protocol 📜, with a lead article by Jean Pascal Zanders (@ban-cbw.bsky.social), plus insights on nuclear irreversibility, institutionalisation of the BTWC & maritime sanctions evasion. Read: www.vertic.org/2025/07/trus...

Recently, VM hosted a workshop with @filippalentzos.bsky.social on compliance monitoring approaches under the BWC. Stay tuned, as we will share some insights during a public side event at August's BWC Working Group!

VERTIC co-hosted a successful Biosecurity Legal Frameworks Workshop in Jakarta, 9–11 July 2025, with the Indonesian Biorisk Association, supported by NORAD. Participants explored Indonesia’s biosecurity and legal frameworks. Thank you to all who made it possible! 🤝🇮🇩

It was a pleasure to attend the launch of the Nicholas A Sims Archive on Biological Disarmament on Friday and to celebrate his innumerable contributions to the BWC. Thanks to @filippalentzos.bsky.social for hosting the event and archive!

Living with long Covid can be devestating – but it needn't be

Jo Platt MP says the system doesn’t recognise the experience of people with long Covid – ministers have a real opportunity to put this right.

The image contains a quote in white text on a dark blue background with a pink quotation mark symbol. The quote reads: "Why that is is not entirely understood. There is a big research gap, generally, in trying to understand why responses to infectious diseases could have these sex biases." Below the quote, the author's name and title are displayed in pink text: DR. PRASANNA JAGANNATHAN ASSOC PROF OF MEDICINE The image has a minimalistic design with a neon color scheme and a small stylized hand logo in the top right corner.

🧪 Studies, anecdotes & research are consistently showing that women are at higher risk of #LongCovid

Yet, the systemic gender bias shows we are still light years behind understanding why

This silence is present in:
🔻Messaging
🔻Protection
🔻Access to healthcare
🔻Treatment

February marked a milestone with the EU CBRN Project 81:BIOSEC Closing Conference in Hanoi. VERTIC is proud to have served in this project under SCJS Europe, tackling biosecurity challenges in Southeast Asia. We thank our partners & team leader, John Jones OBE, for their collaboration and friendship

OTD five years ago, I took my two primary school children out of school, 2 days before national lockdown was announced in the UK.
It wasn't magic foresight or anything - just family & friends in Germany going into lockdown weeks earlier.
A short thread on how
#CovidIsNotOver 🧵 1/n

At the heart of every attack on disability benefits is the myth disabled people “get perks”: a free car, loads of cash, a life off work. It misrepresents the reality of disability, whilst exploiting low wages and high living costs to make the public envy people in daily pain.

Long Covid is the pandemic’s dark shadow. Why does no one in power in Britain want to talk about it? | Frances Ryan Five years after the first lockdown, millions of lives are still being ruined by this debilitating disease. You wouldn’t know it, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

“In 2025, Long Covid is the public health crisis no one wants to talk about, taking a wrecking ball to people’s lives, the economy and the health service while those with power pretend there’s nothing to see here.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Long Covid is the pandemic’s dark shadow. Why does no one in power in Britain want to talk about it? | Frances Ryan Five years after the first lockdown, millions of lives are still being ruined by this debilitating disease. You wouldn’t know it, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

"when they should be running around the playground, these children can barely make it out of bed. Not that you ever hear about 🦠 in the school absence debate. Instead, parents of CYP with #LongCovid are threatened with being taken to court"
bit.ly/3RhUwAA
#LongCovid #LongCovidKids #Education

It's #LongCovidAwarenessDay

👂🏼Listen to our stories

😔 Believe us when we say it's bad

😷 Help us normalise mask wearing

🚨 Raise awareness - look through the hashtag and share in your network

🫂 Check on your friends and family - who has been missing from gatherings?

🔬 Politicians: fund research!

A heartfelt thanks on Long Covid Awareness Day to the incredible myalgic encephalomyelitis community who've used their precious energy to provide crucial information and validation to desperate Long Covid sufferers like myself. Five years ago, you were the only ones who understood.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Sometimes you will see people at author events wearing #ffp3 or #n95 masks. This is mostly because they recognise that SarsCov2 is airborne and still circulating widely. And that any Covid infection could be the one that leads to #LongCovid
#LongCovidAwarenessDay

Poster stating "Millions suffering. Infections & reinfections. No mitigations. No cure. CURE LONG COVID NOW.

Today is #LongCovidAwarenessDay. Millions are living with destructive fatigue, facing the risk of reinfections in a world with no mitigation measures and no cure. We need medical care, funding of biomedical research, public awareness campaigns, and clean air in buildings. #CureLongCovid 💚😷

UK Covid-19 Inquiry on X: "/1 The annual Day of Reflection is this Sunday 9 March across the UK for the Covid-19 pandemic. It is an opportunity to take a moment to remember everyone who died during the pandemic. Find out more 👇 https://t.co/SI2OM0ugzJ #DayOfReflection https://t.co/IoQPwhPQHX" / X /1 The annual Day of Reflection is this Sunday 9 March across the UK for the Covid-19 pandemic. It is an opportunity to take a moment to remember everyone who died during the pandemic. Find out more 👇 https://t.co/SI2OM0ugzJ #DayOfReflection https://t.co/IoQPwhPQHX

Important to reflect, but also be aware of an ongoing pandemic.
~10K cert COVID deaths in 2024, majority underlying.
Millions suffer #LongCovid .
Yet, IPC cell denies airborne transmission. HCW & patients unprotected.
Kids exposed to repeat infections.

Living with ≠ ignore 💔

x.com/covidinquiry...

"A different narrative has invaded the conversation: it wasn’t the virus that ruined our lives, but the response."

Kids keep getting sicker as evidence for COVID immune damage builds As the press pushes "immunity debt" past the breaking point of believability, are parents ready to wake up to the illness crisis?

As kids get sicker, media ignores scientific papers pointing to immune damage after COVID. Instead, parents are urged to “watch out” for unusual waves of RSV, flu, pneumonia, & more, while masks, clean air and the pandemic are pointedly never mentioned.

www.thegauntlet.news/p/kids-keep-...

Having just returned from a 55 mile hike along the rugged coastline of Northern Ireland (with photography and great coffee on the way), I am genuinely bemused that some people will still tell me that I'm not living my life solely because I put a mask on anytime I was indoors.

VERTIC congratulates Deputy Executive Director Angela Woodward on her appointment to the New Zealand Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC). Read more about Angela’s appointment, and about the role of the PACDAC, here: www.vertic.org/2025/01/depu...

Last week, VERTIC held a workshop on nuclear latency and irreversibility, with support of our partners at ONN. Participants explored indicators of nuclear latency and possible future verification measures in a disarmed or disarming and tested these concepts in a tabletop exercise.

VERTIC hosts seminar on the impact of the current global situation on prospects for nuclear disarmament and verification - VERTIC From 28 – 29 January 2025, VERTIC, in collaboration with the African Nuclear Disarmament Verification Hub and the Radiation and Health Physics Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand hosted […]

Last week, VERTIC hosted a seminar on current global prospects for nuclear disarmament & verification in collaboration with the African Nuclear Disarmament Verification Hub & the Radiation and Health Physics Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand. Read more here: www.vertic.org/2025/02/vert...

Trust & Verify no. 175, Winter 2025 - VERTIC The Winter 2023 edition of T&V opens with a lead article on diplomatic momentum and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. The rest of the edition covers issues ranging from the conviction of a ma...

Trust & Verify No.175 is out! Featuring a lead article on the establishment of the new Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team for implementation of UNSCRs relating to North Korea, plus pieces on North Korea’s enrichment programme & the use of AI for tracking dark ships
www.vertic.org/2025/01/trus...

Patients dying in hospital corridors, say nurses The Royal College of Nursing details harrowing cases from more than 5,000 nurses across the UK.

"Patients are dying in corridors and pregnant women are miscarrying in side rooms as overwhelmed hospitals struggle to cope, nurses say."

Failure to prevent respiratory illnesses has consequences way beyond the illnesses themselves.

VERTIC was pleased to hold a workshop on biosecurity legal frameworks over the past two days in Cambodia under the EU #CBRNCoEProject81 with members of the National Authority for prohibition of CBRN weapons (NACW). Thank you to all participants for your active engagement.

🚨New VERTIC commentary

Recent events in Syria present potential opportunities and challenges for verifiably eliminating chemical weapons stockpiles. Our latest piece explores the future implications for #CWC national implementation.

Read our commentary here: t.co/v075n5NwXz

"Science tells us that portable air filters reduce infections. It's time for public health authorities to make this clear"

"WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove ticked off those figures with exasperation. “The world I live in right now, no one wants to talk about COVID-19,” she told the gathering. “Everyone is acting as though this pandemic didn’t really happen.”"

Vaccination prior to Covid-19 infection does not significantly reduce neurological symptoms seen in #LongCovid.
academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...

Busy train to London, a cacophony of coughs.
Woman opposite appears to be coughing up her spleen...
Grateful for my FFP2 😷!