Glenn Ashton

Glenn Ashton

Glenn is a multidisciplinarian with a background in geography. Besides being a published author, he also edited "A Patented World? The Privatisation of Life and Knowledge," published by Jacana in South Africa. He currently is on the editorial board of the SA Journal of Natural Medicine.

Additionally, Glenn has written many commentaries and analyses of wide ranging issues including waste management, water use, food security, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, health, agricultural fuels, marine resources, climate and many other environmental and socially relevant issues.

He has also presented many papers and talks to a wide range of audiences. He specialises in communicating complex scientific issues in an accessible manner. He is a freelance writer and researcher.

Human Rights are More Important than Money in Medical Care

Picture: Chickenlump Glenn Ashton - South Africa’s dual healthcare system depicts a crudely unjust and shameful state of affairs. To state the obvious, our grossly unequal system is typified by a world-class privately funded health care system serving a narrow group of materially comfortable South Africans; sharply contrasted against a hopelessly inadequate state-funded public health care system, which the majority of South Africans, under conditions of poverty and powerlessness, use at their peril. The...

The War on Drugs: Is It Time to Change?

Picture: Splifr Glenn Ashton - South Africa has one of the highest rates of drug abuse in the world. The most commonly abused drugs are alcohol and dagga (cannabis). The abuse of chemical stimulants such as tik (methamphetamine) has recently soared. Other synthesised drugs like cocaine, heroin and mandrax remain deeply problematic, both to users and society. The drug scourge is an historical international problem linked to globally connected and well resourced criminal enterprises. Russian, Italian, Columbian, Chinese,...

Doing It for Ourselves

Picture: Trevor Samson - World Bank Glenn Ashton - We South Africans have all grown up in a big brother state. For whites it was a big brother that smothered them in privilege at the expense of everyone else; for blacks it was a more sinister big brother. As different as our segregated societies were, we had much in common. We were all ruled by an apparently omnipotent, fascist, militaristic and bureaucratic state. Blacks had passbooks, whites had books of life. Now we all have identity documents.  We have not really moved away from the...

What Is Really Driving the Sugar Price Spike? Sugar, Biofuels and Price Spikes

Picture: Uwe Hermann Glenn Ashton - Sugar is currently trading near record highs, at levels not seen for around 28 years. Industry commentators cite predicted low monsoon rainfalls affecting the Indian crop and shortages from Brazilian producers, coupled to technical trading positions as the ostensible causes. A major cause for the price spike is being overlooked. This is the increasing profitability of ethanol production from sugar cane and the pressure this is exerting upon international sugar markets. Ethanol is globally...

If Capitalism Dies, What's Next?

Picture: Rafik Berlin Glenn Ashton - The current global economic turmoil gives rise to the question, "If capitalism dies, what alternatives exist, or will emerge, to replace it?" The question inevitably provokes utterly predictable positioning. The stock response that capitalism has already trumped communism, to the degree that the old communist bogeymen of Russia and China have embraced the capitalist model, is dishonest. Do we really have to take an either/or position regarding capitalism and communism? Western...

The Hidden Mental Health Crisis in South Africa

Picture: Unknown Glenn Ashton - South Africa has some of the highest levels in the world of mental health disability and disease, with around one in five people affected. While popular belief holds that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, obsessive behaviours, depression, bipolar disorder and various phobias are caused solely by individual susceptibility to these maladies, the reality is rather more nuanced. It appears that susceptible individuals are more likely to exhibit symptoms when stressed by personal or...