Preparedness Critical in 2022, States Physicians for Civil Defense

TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While preparedness has always been the message of Physicians for Civil Defense, the time for procrastination is over, states president Jane M. Orient, M.D., as the ball drops to herald 2022.

Two harbingers are especially concerning, she notes, for impending severe shortages.

One is that China is hoarding strategic commodities, she states. These include computer chips, minerals, grains, and cotton. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that China currently holds nearly half of the global reserves of corn and other major grains. In 2021, China's corn and sorghum imports jumped four and five times respectively from the previous year. U.S. exports of soybeans and soy-based products during the 2020-21 season reached an all-time high of 74.76 million metric tons, with two-thirds of them shipped to China.

"To the Chinese, 'food insecurity' has a deeper meaning than it does to the American Medical Association, which calls for referring at-risk patients to social workers and community food banks," Dr. Orient pointed out. "But federal subsidies cannot buy grain that isn't there. The formerly vast U.S. grain reserves are gone. The national system of holding grain in reserve was abolished in 1996 and gradually depleted until 2008, when the USDA decided to convert all that was left into its dollar equivalent."

The second factor is the exhaustion of buffer capacity in other essential systems, not only food. In order to optimize output, Dr. Orient pointed out, redundancy has been stripped out of essential systems. The supply chain is dependent on the weakest link. "As Tyler Durden writes, 2022 could be the year of breakdown."

"Families and communities all need to have their own buffers," Dr. Orient advises. "Stock your pantry and medicine cabinet, learn useful skills, cultivate self-reliance, be ready to help your neighbor, buy tools, and do not rely on a government check to rescue you."

.           Physicians for Civil Defense provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, [email protected]

SOURCE Physicians for Civil Defense

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