27 November 2006
[ Africa - Continent 'Still Has Most HIV Cases'] - A UN AIDS report has revealed Sub-Saharan Africa is still bearing the force of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Almost three-quarters of deaths from AIDS in 2006 occurred on the continent and currently it is still home to two-thirds of people living with HIV. According to the UN, there are an estimated 39.5 million people world-wide living with HIV. The number of HIV infections has increased everywhere, with the most striking spikes in East Asia and Central Asia/Eastern Europe. Some countries, such as Uganda , are seeing a resurrection in new HIV infection rates which were previously stable or declining. ...[more]
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[ Canada - Profs Win Right to Smoke Pot] - The relaxation of marijuana laws for medical use, has given two Toronto professors the right to something that many students only dream of - access to specially ventilated rooms where they can indulge in pot. The two professors claim they suffer chronic medical conditions which, according to some medical practitioners, can be eased by smoking marijuana. This brings the total of Canadians who are allowed to use the drug for apparent health reason to almost 1,500. The two professors petitioned their employers for the right to smoke pot using human rights legislation. Brian MacLean, a York University criminology professor said, "It helps me to maintain my mobility as a physical problem but it also helps me to keep the pain at a distance so I can focus on my work.". ...[more]
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[ Germany - Serial Mercy-Killer Convicted] - A nurse was convicted of killing at least 28 of his patients in South German hospital. According to evidence, he murdered his patients using a cocktail of drugs similar to those used in the Netherlands and the Dignitas clinic of Switzerland . He testified at the start of his trial that he had killed patients but could not remember how many. The judge said he was an active proponent of assisted suicide and appeared to want to put an end to what he deemed to be senseless suffering. ...[more]
[ USA - Singer “Use brain-damaged humans for HIV experimentation”] - Peter Singer, head of bioethics in Princeton University known for his outrageous views (including eugenics, infanticide and extremist animal rights) now implores the scientific community to do HIV experimentation on brain-damaged human beings rather than chimpanzees. From the story 'An Ethical Man': "HIV research using chimps has not been very helpful as they don't seem to get the disease in the same way humans do,' Singer explains. 'So I don't think it's right to continue using them. It is also causing a lot of suffering and distress to beings who are sensitive animals… If we need beings very like us to do this on, we should perhaps [turn to] the families of people who tragically have been brain-damaged and have no hope of recovery from persistent vegetative state…” ...[more]
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[ Belgium - Gay Adoption Law Passed] - The Belgian parliament has voted to grant homosexual couples the right to adopt children. They are not the first country to grant this right to homosexuals. Homosexual couples are allowed to adopt children in the Netherlands , Spain and Sweden , as well as in England and Wales . Gay couples won the right to marry in Belgium in June 2003. The new law grants them the same adoption rights as heterosexual couples. In December 2005, the lower house of parliament voted 77-62 in favour of the measure. In Germany and Denmark , homosexual adoption is limited to the partners' biological children. ...[more]
[ South Africa - Court Grants Homosexuals Inheritance Rights] - South Africa 's Constitutional Court ruled that gay people may inherit the property of their partners who die without a will. This is another step toward gay equality in a country where same-sex marriages will be legal by the end of the year. The court also chastised the government for failing to amend various laws to accommodate same sex partnerships and ordered the ministry of justice to pay court costs. This will make South Africa the first country in Africa to accord homosexual couples over the age of 18 the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. This would be following countries such as Belgium , the Netherlands , Spain and Canada . ...[more]
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[New Zealand - Stem Cell Patient Dies] - A New Zealand woman has died after receiving stem cell treatment. She was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2004. In April last year she became the first New Zealander known to undergo the experimental treatment, which involves transplanting cells from aborted foetuses into the brain. According to reports, she was drinking within hours after the surgery at Beijing West Hill Hospital , China . Within days, her talking, eating and breathing improved. However, the initial effects did not last and her condition deteriorated. She died in the arms of her husband at the age of 66. ...[more]
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[ USA - Porn's Evasiveness Hurt Everyone] - Scientists are beginning to put pornography on par with addictive drugs. In fact Dr Judith Reisman said pornography doesn't act like a drug, it is a drug. Prof Victor Cline, a renowned psychotherapist who has treated roughly 350 men for sexual addiction over 25 years, compiled MRIs to generate medical evidence to prove that pornography has the same damaging effect on the brain as other addictive drugs. ...[more]
[ South Africa - Young Porn Viewers Increasing in Numbers] - More than two-thirds of South Africa 's children have access to pornography from the Internet, via cellphones, in both movies or pictures. This is the conclusion of the Film and Publications Board, which conducted a survey of 1000 pupils between the ages of 13-17 in Gauteng , the Western Cape and KZN. “We wanted to see if children had access to porn either by accident or design. We think the results are shocking,” said the board's spokesperson, Modjakji Makoela. ...[more]
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[ USA - The Reality of Repeat Abortions] - Almost half of all women who have abortions in the U.S. have already aborted at least one pregnancy, according to a recent report by the research affiliate of Planned Parenthood, the Alan Guttmacher Institute. In the study entitled Repeat Abortion in the United States , released this month, researchers found that 48.2 percent of women who had abortions between 2000-2001 were obtaining repeat abortions. This included 29 percent who had one previous abortion, 12 percent who had two previous abortions, and 7 percent who were aborting their fourth or more pregnancy. ...[more]
[ USA - Planned Parenthood May Have Caused Women's Abortion Drug Deaths] - A doctor who has reviewed the seven cases of women in the United States who died after using the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 has admitted that it's possible the deaths occurred because Planned Parenthood gave women incorrect instructions. When the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the abortion drug in the waning days of the Clinton administration, it said Mifepristone should only be used orally. Despite these recommendations, the abortion company told women to use it vaginally, claiming it would produce fewer complications. Planned Parenthood also uses a different dosage of the abortion drug than the FDA suggests. It wasn't until more women had died after developing fatal infections from the abortion drug that Planned Parenthood finally changed its policy. ...[more]
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[ Australia - Babies for $200k at 'Factories'] - A baby girl in Sydney was born with a $200,000 price tag on her head, to three mothers, of which two were on the other side of the world. Due to Australia 's infertility and strict surrogacy laws the 'mother' was compelled to visit a Californian baby factory, where she hand-picked the other two mothers, the egg donor and the woman who would give birth to her baby. The business transaction made her dream of a second child come true. She said, "She is a miracle - what price do you put on a miracle? Her creation was approached in a very business like manner, but she is my baby." ...[more]
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[ Burkina Faso - Traditional Ways Could Worsen Spread of HIV] - In Batié, a village three hours from Yaoundé, most people go to both traditional healers and medical doctors. The traditional treatments often involve blades to cut the skin. On a recent afternoon, Berlin Simeu, a villager, visited the darkened hut of Sop Kamtchewo, a healer, in a ceremony that was intended to cure illness and ward off witchcraft. With a razor blade that had been wrapped in a sheet of paper, the healer made three short cuts on his patient's body, one on his wrist, back and shoulder respectively. A fruit was placed on the wounds to draw out any bad influences. It was unclear whether or how the blade was cleaned before this incident and before its next use. Yves Moumbé, a doctor in Batié, said that almost all of his patients with H.I.V. went to traditional healers before they saw him. ...[more]
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