16 June 2007
South Africa - No ARVs, AIDS Related Deaths to Soar According To A Study
The latest research has shown that about 388 000 South Africans are expected to die of AIDS in 2010 alone, even with a steady rollout of ARVs. Without ARVs, the number of AIDS-related deaths could soar to 505 000 in just one year. This is according to the Demographic Impact of HIV and AIDS in South Africa report for 2006 the number of AIDS deaths by 2010 could even be as low as 291 000 a year, if 90 percent of people progressing to AIDS were to receive treatment. It also reported that 225 000 people were receiving ARVs, whereas about 711 000 were in need of treatment. The report also found that there were 1,5-million orphans in South Africa, two thirds as a result of AIDS. ...[more]
Spain - Compound From Olive-Pomace Oil Inhibits HIV Spread
Researchers in Madrid are claiming that they have discovered that a type of wax found in olive skin can help to slow the spread of HIV. Their work shows that maslinic acid - a natural product extracted from dry olive-pomace oil in oil mills - inhibits serin-protease, an enzyme used by HIV to release itself from the infected cell into the extracellular environment and, consequently, to spread the infection throughout the whole body. The scientists from Granada determined that the use of olive-pomace oil can produce an 80% retardation in the spreading of AIDS in the body. ...[more]
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USA - “Medical Marijuana” Unnecessary
Former New York mayor and Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said the he believed that the effort to try and make marijuana available for medical uses is really a way to legalize it. He also said there are better alternatives and that marijuana adds nothing to the array of legal medications and prescription medications that are available for pain relief. ...[more]
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Australian Kevorkian running for Office
Philip Nitschke, euthanasia activist and founder of Exit international, is running for parliament – against a legislator who overturned the world’s first voluntary euthanasia law.
Australia's Northern Territory allowed assisted suicide in 1996, but the legislation was overturned in March the following year by the federal parliament. "Ten years have passed since this politician (Andrews) used the parliament to disenfranchise Territorians and take away the rights of the terminally ill," Nitschke said in a statement on Sunday. "The time has come to make him accountable for his actions." Nitschke has gained notoriety with his extreme ideas on assisted suicide – from suicide pills available in supermarkets to euthanasia for depressed teenagers. ...[more]
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Netherlands – Euthanasia Ok, Alternative Therapies Not
A physician lost his license for attempting to treat his dying cancer patient with alternative treatment. In a commentary over the issue, bioethicist Wesley J. Smith commented, “I am not for quackery, of course… but this extreme sanction is being imposed by the same medical establishment that would have applauded had the doctor killed his patient in euthanasia instead of trying a questionable approach to keeping her alive. This is the same medical establishment that has applauded infanticide and winks at "termination without request or consent”. Bottom line: in the Netherlands, a doctor can kill his patients whether they ask for it or not and confidently expect the support of their medical peers. But engage in questionable treatments and you lose the right to practice medicine.” ...[more]
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New Zealand - Study Finds Homosexuals Are More Susceptible To Drug Abuse
A health expert is calling for better-targeted policies to help homosexual, lesbian and bisexual people combat drug and alcohol abuse. Frank Pega is the lead researcher of a Massey University study, which suggests homosexuals, lesbians and bisexual people take more drugs and booze than heterosexuals. It found that over the last year, they were four times more likely to have used amphetamines and LSD regularly, three times as likely to have used ecstasy and twice as likely to have smoked marijuana. Mr Pega will present his findings to the Public Health Association conference that opens in Auckland today. ...[more]
USA - Psychologists to Review Policy on Homosexuality
The American Psychological Association (APA) will begin reviewing the organization's 10-year-old policy on homosexuality, which opposes counseling that treats same-sex attraction as a mental illness, but does not forbid various therapies that address unwanted same-sex attraction. More than 250 pro-family organizations and individuals joined forces urging the APA to recognize the religious beliefs of clients and to allow those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction to receive therapy. Rhea Farberman of the APA, said that there is a growing awareness that religion is important to many people and an important part of mental health for many people. Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of issue analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said she believes the APA "is on a path to religious discrimination," and that a possible outcome is that the APA will declare any therapy that does not affirm homosexuality unethical — regardless of the client's goal. ...[more]
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South Africa – Sex Clients Risk Arrest Under New Law
The prospect of arresting prostitutes’ clients, as proposed in the new Sexual Offences Bill is brewing a storm. Nicole Fick, of the Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Taskforce, yesterday told a seminar in Pretoria that the Bill’s aim of “levelling the playing field” would leave prostitutes more vulnerable to abuse. Debbie Toughey, a former prostitute who is now spokeswoman for Doctors for Life, which helps prostitutes leave the trade, disagreed and stated: “It’s excellent. Prostitutes have carried the can for far too long, taking all the responsibility. Clients facilitate the whole process and by criminalising them, demand will be decreased.” ...[more]
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England – British Government Supports Population Control in Africa
The British government has confirmed that it supports population control in Africa. Speaking in the House of Lords, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon said: "The Government are committed to improving sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, across Africa. In 2006, [the Department for International Development] provided £25.1 million to [the United Nations Population Fund] and £7.5 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation to support work on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She also said: "We firmly believe that policy should be driven not by moral ideology, but by a firm evidence base," adding that she meant this specifically in reference to issues such as abortion. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "The British government's renewed commitment to spreading the culture of death abroad makes all the more worrying Baroness Amos' nomination to the post of European Union special representative to the African Union." ...[more]
England – Teens’ Abortion Rights More Liberal
Schools in Britain can now give abortifacient morning-after pills to girls as young as 11 without telling their parents. As part of the government campaign to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, sexual health clinics that provide the pills and other means of birth control, are being set up in secondary schools. Norman Wells, the director of Family and Youth Concern, described the policy as "undermining the law on the age of consent." Gill Frances, chairman of the Government's independent advisory group on teenage pregnancy, said: "Of course we wish under 16’s were not having sex at all, but if they are it is important that they are protected from sexually-transmitted diseases and having babies." ...[more]
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South Africa - Plants Used by African Healers May Suppress HIV Activity
Two plants used in traditional medicine in South Africa contain substances that can prevent human immunodeficiency virus activity, according to a group of Japanese and South African researchers. Under lab conditions, HIV always infects human cells in vitro. However, when the extracts of the two plants were added to the human cells in the test tube, the contamination was largely suppressed, according to the researchers. One plant was found to contain betulic acid, which has been discovered to restrain HIV activity. The substance in other plant is still under examination. Local traditional healers blend several plants in brewed medicines. The ingredients and measures are said to be a secret, but in cooperation with the group's research, local people interviewed such doctors over six months and identified the plants believed to be effective. ...[more]
UAE - Testing Herbal Drugs For Our Health
A herbal medicine that manufacturers claimed was a sure cure for diabetes was found to contain toxic chemicals which would have adversely affected the liver of patients according to Dr Mazen Ali Naji, General Manager of the Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine. The herbal medicine has been banned. The Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine has compiled a list of poisonous plants in the UAE and other countries and Dr. Naji says that research into new medicines for chronic diseases is the most important activity at the complex. ...[more]
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