Scientists seek new methods for safe sex
For centuries, safe sex meant condoms. But the future holds new ways to keep intimacy healthy for everyone. On the research horizon is an "invisible condom" as well as "vitamin" to repel harmful bacteria. Behind these feverish inventions is a sober fact: The U.S. leads the industrialized world in sexually …
Rockfeller donation to help reform plan at WHO
The Rockfeller Foundation is to make a $2.5m grant to the World Health Organisation to help implement radical reforms planned by the WHO's incoming director general Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Fruit drink claim challenged
A health pressure group has challenged claims by SmithKline Beecham that its Ribena Tooth Kind fruit drinks will not encourage tooth decay. Action and information on Sugars says "independent and authoritative tests" at Zuric University show the drink can cause tooth decay.
Cradle-to-grave health data on all?
As legislation that would protect patient privacy languishes in Congress, the Clinton administration is quietly laying plans to assign every American a " unique health identifier" - a computer code that could be used to create a national database that would track every citizen's medical history from cradle to grave.
Using Taxes as stick, U.K. aims to cut car travel
In an ambitious attempt to reverse the traffic growth that is choking Britain's cities and clogging its highways, the government announced broad plans to impose new taxes on cars entering crowded urban areas, bolster spending on bus and rail services and even encourage parents to walk their children to school. …
ADB fails to compensate villagers affected by Theun-Hinboun dam in Laos
More than forty NGOs from twelve countries wrote to President Sato of the Asian Development Bank expressing their disappointment over the Bank's handling of the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project in Lao PDR. The letter conveys the frustration of many NGOs who believe that the ADB is failing to fully assess the …
Ear, ear to a new way of losing weight
Having a needle stuck in your ear may be a quick way to suppress your appetite and lose weight, research on the benefits of acupuncture as a weight loss technique has revealed. Researchers from the University of Adelaide and a private medical acupuncture practice used an electronic acupuncture device on …
Most children in Gauteng have lead poisoning - report
More than 60% of Gauteng children have unacceptable blood-lead levels in their systems, exceeding the US levels at which health workers would be legally required to take action. Lowered intelligence, reduced birth weight, hyperactivity and blood problems are consequences of excessive exposure to lead during early childhood. This shock finding …
Cauvery could mark watershed for PM
The Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka broke out in Parliament on Monday with the AIADMK-led front threatening the Centre with dangerous consequences if it failed to notify immediately the scheme to implement the disputes' tribunal interim order on water-sharing.
US passive smoking study found faulty
A federal judge ruled on Friday that the US Environmental Protection Agency made procedural and scientific mistakes when it decalred in a 1993 report that second-hand cigarette smoke caused as many as 3,000 cancer deaths a year among non-smokers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Students to adopt trees, save Delhi
The Delhi government on Monday announced a new scheme to check increasing pollution and create a better environment, under which students of Delhi government schools will adopt trees and take care of them till they bid adieu to their respective educational institutions. Announcing the scheme here on Monday, Delhi health …
Health funds stay unspent in Orissa
About Rs 16.97 lakh allotted for hospitals, dispensaries and other medical programmes were surrendered unutilised to the State finance department during 1997-98. The governemnt allotted Rs 2.25 crore for diet, medicine and equipment during the last financial year to the three State-run medical colleges and hospitals, the TB, Filaria and …
EPA plays down ruling on second-hand smoke
The US Environmental Protection Agency sought to play down the impact of a court ruling striking down a federal report linking second-hand cigarette smoke with cancer, and said it was confident the decision would be reversed on appeal.
The value of biodiversity
Last week's news that a drug derived from a fungus found only on Easter Island could sharply reduce the risk of rejection among kidney transplant patients has highlighted the economic and therapeutic value of biodiversity. About 50 per cent of all drugs in clinical use derive from natural products. But …
Women in developed countries more prone to smoking-related diseases
In a recent path-breaking report by the Unites National Children's Educational Fund, about 25-30 percent of women in developed countries are dying due to smoking-related diseases. On the other hand, the rate of deaths due to smoking is comparatively less in developing countries.
Shire claims Alzheimer advance
Shire Pharmaceuticals, the drugs company, has presented research indicating that its new treatment for Alzheimer's disease helps slow memory loss. The treatment, galantamine, is potentially the company's most valuable new drug.
Diseases kill 500 since April
At least 500 people have already died and 20,000 have received medical treatment in Nepal from infectious diseases since April this year, according to Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD).
Rheumatoid arthritis is linked to cancer risk
Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers have an increased risk of developing lymphoma and should be treated with drugs to protect them against the cancer of the immune system, Swedish doctors said.
Jhum major threat to biodiversity in North-east
Study : Jhum cultivation has emerged as one of the major threats to the rich biodiversity of the north-eastern region over the years. A study conducted by the local chapter of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) found that jhum cultivation translates forest areas into degraded wastelands wherever it is …
