17 October 2006
USA - Teachers Disregard the Success of Abstinence
The largest teacher’s group in the country is attacking abstinence education programs in an attempt to cut funding for abstinence programs from Congressional lawmakers. The teachers’ reports claims that it is “riddled with messages of fear and shame, gender stereotypes, and medical misinformation that put young people at risk”. However, studies have shown that these programs are achieving its intended results, of reducing sex and teen pregnancies. A study conducted by a University of Pennsylvania researcher revealed that abstinence education reduces teen sexual behaviour. These findings are confirmed by another study by the US Department of Health and Human Services. ...[more]
Kazakhstan - Doctors' Negligence Destroys Futures
The number of toddlers infected with HIV through doctors' negligence in the south of the country, has risen considerably in the past several days. The number of HIV cases among mothers has also risen, according to the health department, as authorities continue to test thousands of mothers and toddlers who could have contracted HIV while being treated in hospitals in the city of Shymkent. Five of the infected toddlers have died of AIDS-related diseases since the first HIV cases among toddlers were reported this past summer. Authorities are also searching for five donors who are suspected to be carriers of the virus. The country recorded a 70 percent increase in those infected with HIV since 2005. ...[more]
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USA - Alcohol Sales and Crashes Increase After Ban is Lifted
After a State-wide ban on selling alcohol on Sundays was recently lifted, a study revealed a considerable increase in alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health shows a 29% increase in alcohol-related accidents and 42% increase in alcohol-related fatalities. Five other states have lifted similar bans since 1998. Dr Garnett McMillan, co-author of the study says, "By increasing the availability of alcohol on Sundays, you open the door to more opportunities for drinking and driving and the negative consequences that result." ...[more]
United Kingdom - Soldier Kills Teacher While Under the Influence of Cannabis
Due to a cannabis-induced "psychotic episode", Laurie Draper, a 31 year-old paratrooper who served in Iraq, killed his friend's father with a pair of garden shears. His victim, 53 year-old Paul Butterworth, was stabbed to death, after sharing homegrown cannabis with his killer. Draper was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The incident is likely to stir further debate over the reclassification of cannabis, which was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug in 2004. ...[more]
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Switzerland - Depressives Rage over “Emergency Exit” Plan
Depression groups worldwide have reacted angrily to the news that Dignitas of Zurich plans to offer assisted suicide to the depressed and mentally ill. Ludwig Minelli, who runs Dignitas, announced his proposed “Emergency Exit” plan in the light of a patient suffering from manic depression requesting to die at the clinic. Leonie Young of Australia’s beyondblue national depression initiative said death was never the answer, especially now that effective treatment for depression is available. She says that suicide rates have declined since a large well-funded campaign to treat depression was put into place. Lewis Walpert, a British biology professor said that as a former sufferer of depression, he had thought of suicide repeatedly and if the option to die at Dignitas had been available, he would have considered it. "Knowing all that I do about what it is like to have severe depression, this idea of an ‘emergency exit’ appals me.” Having recovered from depression, he says, “I now want to live as ardently as I once wanted to die." ...[more]
Italy - Euthanasia debate raging
Following a plea by Mr Welby, (a patient with muscular dystrophy), to be allowed to die, the debate over euthanasia in Italy has been reignited. His appeal received wide media coverage, bringing the topic to the fore in Europe. Days after his appeal, several political leaders gave their support for legal changes in allowing some forms of euthanasia. However, the opposition to the move has been overwhelming. The Vatican has released many statements and appeals, as have several organisations and committees. An organisation of Christian doctors has released public statements refusing to “become executioners”. Terminal patients, some in similar conditions to Mr Welby, have expressed their desire to live, calling for more attention and resources to be placed in palliative care. They have called euthanasia not compassion, but contempt for the elderly and dying. ...[more]
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USA - Former Homosexual Provides Help to Molesters and the Molested
“… the great news is they don't have to be 'by-products' or victims of their childhood. These individuals can be 'victors' and not 'victims.' Change is completely possible,” says Stephen Bennett, who was a homosexual for 11 years. He is now married to his wife of 13 years, with two children. He is the founder of a national organisation – Stephen Bennett Ministries - helping homosexuals and their families, including those who have suffered molestation as children. He says that one has to stop worrying about being ‘politically correct’ regarding homosexuality and finally deal with the truths and facts that homosexual molestation of children can, and does produce future homosexual men and women. Also let them realise that therapy is available. ...[more]
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United Kingdom - Chaplain Harassed by Porn on Ship Wins Claim
A Royal Navy chaplain, Rev. Mark Sharpe, won a sexual harassment case after being exposed to hardcore pornography. He said he was ordered to turn a blind eye when he was kept awake by shipmates watching pornographic DVDs. Sharpe’s claim that he was sexually harassed by being exposed to porn was accepted by the Ministry of Defence. He received a five-figure payout after the tribunal. The father of four has left the Navy after 24 days at sea and is now a rector in Worcestershire. ...[more]
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Australia - Stem Cell Champion Tipped for Nobel Prize
Australian biomedical researcher Professor Elizabeth Blackburn is tipped to win next year's Nobel Prize, after winning two of the world's major science awards in the past three weeks. Two years after being fired from President George Bush’s Council on Bioethics, this would come as sweet victory for her, being an outspoken advocate of human embryonic stem cell research. Last night at a ceremony in New Orleans, the Hobart-born scientist and professor of biology at the University of California, was awarded the James Gruber international genetics prize for her research on how human cells age, and its implications for controlling cancer tumours. ...[more]
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United Kingdom - New Ultrasound Images Called “Dangerous”
According to a trio of experts in the neonatal field, startling new images of unborn babies have no significance for the abortion debate. The images show babies, at 12 weeks gestation, sucking their thumbs and “walking”. The images triggered the recent debate on lowering the gestational age for legal abortion, but the experts insist that the images don’t prove that unborn babies have feelings. Donald Peebles, a foetal medicine consultant at University College London said, “The temptation is to associate foetal movements with adult movements… I think it’s that step which is extraordinarily dangerous.” A reader in developmental neurobiology at Imperial College London, Huseyin Mehmet, says, “To suggest that an early foetus… has those kind of human qualities of being able to suck its thumb and move…is very difficult indeed.” ...[more]
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England - Female Students Turn to Prostitution to Pay Fees
A study done by the Kingston University in southwest London revealed that an increasing number of students are resorting to prostitution or other jobs in the sex industry to pay rising university-tuition fees. The research shows a 50% rise the past six years. Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students, warned that students in the sex industry were vulnerable to abuse and disease. Dr Ron Roberts, author of the study, and his co-authors, called on education and welfare authorities to acknowledge the problem of increased costs that forces students to turn to sex-work to pay their fees. ...[more]
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USA - Homosexual Activists Say There is no Link to Paedophilia
The homosexual community was not surprised at the disgraced former Congressman, Mark Foley’s decision to acknowledge that he is homosexual. Since the scandal broke surrounding sexually explicit Internet communications with teens, homosexual activists cautioned that Foley's sexual orientation has nothing to do with his paedophilic actions with minors. "It's definitely a shame that he wasn't able to come out when the issue was just his sexuality. When he comes out at the same time of these revelations you can't help that some people will equate that (being gay) with being a paederast," said Eric Johnson, the openly gay chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.. "It's not true." His attorney, David Roth said, "Any suggestion that Mark Foley is a paedophile is false." Although a 1994 study in the journal Pediatrics found no scientific connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, this may often be the case. ...[more]
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Uganda – MP’s Asked to Stop Witchdoctors From Advertising Services
The State Minister for youth and Children Affairs, Maj. James Kinobe has appealed to Parliament to enact a law that will make it a criminal offence for traditional healers to advertise themselves. Many have been advertising their services in newspapers and on radio stations. Kinobe said that while medical doctors are prohibited from advertising, it is unfair for traditional healers to be allowed to do so. He says the numbers of traditional healers are increasing to alarming levels with many quack traditional healers entering the trade, making their “cure” promises hard to believe. Kinobe says Ugandans should be protected from this breed of traditionalists who claim that they have treatments for every kind of a problem. ...[more]
Mozambique - Healing Lessons for Ugandan Peacemakers
Now that the civil war in Mozambique has come to an end, the government is seeking a way in reintegrating child soldiers back into the community. They have found their answer in the form of traditional healers. Mostly conducted at night, the rituals are aimed to 'expel bad spirits' from the traumatised fighters and reduce the violence among them. Many experts felt this was a locally relevant way to reintegrate the children back into their communities, often as traumatised as the children themselves. The programme involving traditional healers evolved out of concerns that Western psychological treatments might not be relevant in the African context. ...[more]
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