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Italy attempts to curb passive smoking
POLICY AND PEOPLE
Protests in India after arrest of HIV/AIDS activists
News in brief
S
Protection for US study participants On May 19, US Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna Shalala, announced initiatives aimed at protecting trial participants in the wake of concerns about genetherapy trials. Changes include a requirement that National Institutes of Health grant applicants must have received training in ethics.
described the prevalent sexual practices, the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS, and the perceived threat to the region based on risk factors. Funded by the US-based MacArthur Foundation, Sahyog has done significant work in training grassroots-level health workers. Since mid-April, the report was the subject of much negative coverage in the local press, and mobs attacked Sahyog offices. They objected to the portrayal of the inhabitants of the region as promiscuous and prone to high-risk behaviour. The explicit sexual quotations of those interviewed and reproduced verbatim in the report added to the angry disapproval. Sahyog was forced to issue an unconditional apology and withdraw the report. The project director of the National AIDS Control Organisation J V R Prasada Rao described parts of the report as “pure pornography”. While the arrests have infuriated the nongovernmental organisations, there is a strong feeling that the language of the report should have been more sensitive, cautious, and respectful to the inhabitants of the region. Panos Pictures
everal Indian non-governmental organisations have protested at the arrest of HIV/AIDS activists belonging to the Almora-based non-governmental organisation, “Sahyog”. The activists were charged with obscenity and rioting. Eleven members and sympathisers of Sahyog had been detained since
HIV/AIDS awareness: a delicate subject
April 20 after riots broke out in the region when Sahyog produced a report, AIDS aur Hum (AIDS and Us), in Hindi. Four of the activists, who still have not been released, were booked under the National Security Act. The controversial report, released last September, purported to look at the threat of HIV/AIDS in the hills of Almora district in Uttar Pradesh state. Based on interviews with the inhabitants of the region, it
Sanjay Kumar
Italy attempts to curb passive smoking n May 17, Italy’s Minister of Health, Umberto Veronesi, a breast-cancer surgeon, forwarded to the President of the Cabinet a draft law containing restrictions on tobacco consumption, primarily aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to passive smoking. The draft law plans to forbid smoking in all indoor private or public areas that open to the public; and outlaw smoking in all indoor working areas even if they are not open to the public. All military, police, and firemen’s indoor areas, whether they are used for working or not, would be affected. Smoking would be prohibited on all public transport and in stations, harbours, and airports. The ban would also include indoor sports, cultural, and recreational facilities. Smoking would also be banned in all shops, restaurants, and all places where food or drinks are served.
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The draft law states that waivers to the ban would only be granted providing that smokers are physically segregated from people in non-smoking areas and that owners of premises have proper ventilation. Transgressors will be charged fines of between 50 and 150 euros (US$45–$136). Owners and managers of premises that are responsible for enforcing the no-smoking policy will be fined up to 2500 euros ($2263) if they fail to do so. This is not the first attempt at limiting exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Italy but previous attempts have been overwhelmed by the extensive powers of pro-tobacco groups. Tobacco retailers, bar and restaurant owners’ associations, together with the tobacco industry, have announced they will oppose the draft bill.
Japan moves to improve remotearea medical care On May 15, the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry called for the establishment of an enhanced network of medical teams to improve care in remote parts of the country. According to a draft report, back-up teams would be set up at major local hospitals in each of the country’s 47 prefectures. USA tests readiness against biological weapons attack On May 20, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency began a series of mock terrorist attacks in various US states to test the responses of the local, state, and federal authorities and emergency services to a simulated attack by biological and chemical weapons. Austria calls for nappy ban Austria has called on the European Union to ban nappies containing tributyl tin (TBT) after Greenpeace, Germany, revealed it was present in most nappies (diapers) sold in Germany. Proctor and Gamble’s “Pampers” were alleged to be the most contaminated, but the company questioned the findings and denied any danger to babies. TBT, used in ships’ paint, is known to cause mutation in shellfish. Pill-packing nuns A recent documentary by the Dutch television channel IKON revealed an unexpected tolerance towards contraceptives by the Roman Catholic church in the recent past. In the early 1960s, with the bishop’s consent, the Dutch pharmaceutical company Organon contracted nuns in three convents to pack contraceptive pills for shipment. According to a spokesman for the company: “In those days the local clerical authorities allowed pill use by viewing it as a menstruation-regulating agent—contraception was just a side-effect.”
Bruno Simini
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000
Protests in India after arrest of HIV/AIDS activists
News in brief
S
Protection for US study participants On May 19, US Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna Shalala, announced initiatives aimed at protecting trial participants in the wake of concerns about genetherapy trials. Changes include a requirement that National Institutes of Health grant applicants must have received training in ethics.
described the prevalent sexual practices, the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS, and the perceived threat to the region based on risk factors. Funded by the US-based MacArthur Foundation, Sahyog has done significant work in training grassroots-level health workers. Since mid-April, the report was the subject of much negative coverage in the local press, and mobs attacked Sahyog offices. They objected to the portrayal of the inhabitants of the region as promiscuous and prone to high-risk behaviour. The explicit sexual quotations of those interviewed and reproduced verbatim in the report added to the angry disapproval. Sahyog was forced to issue an unconditional apology and withdraw the report. The project director of the National AIDS Control Organisation J V R Prasada Rao described parts of the report as “pure pornography”. While the arrests have infuriated the nongovernmental organisations, there is a strong feeling that the language of the report should have been more sensitive, cautious, and respectful to the inhabitants of the region. Panos Pictures
everal Indian non-governmental organisations have protested at the arrest of HIV/AIDS activists belonging to the Almora-based non-governmental organisation, “Sahyog”. The activists were charged with obscenity and rioting. Eleven members and sympathisers of Sahyog had been detained since
HIV/AIDS awareness: a delicate subject
April 20 after riots broke out in the region when Sahyog produced a report, AIDS aur Hum (AIDS and Us), in Hindi. Four of the activists, who still have not been released, were booked under the National Security Act. The controversial report, released last September, purported to look at the threat of HIV/AIDS in the hills of Almora district in Uttar Pradesh state. Based on interviews with the inhabitants of the region, it
Sanjay Kumar
Italy attempts to curb passive smoking n May 17, Italy’s Minister of Health, Umberto Veronesi, a breast-cancer surgeon, forwarded to the President of the Cabinet a draft law containing restrictions on tobacco consumption, primarily aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to passive smoking. The draft law plans to forbid smoking in all indoor private or public areas that open to the public; and outlaw smoking in all indoor working areas even if they are not open to the public. All military, police, and firemen’s indoor areas, whether they are used for working or not, would be affected. Smoking would be prohibited on all public transport and in stations, harbours, and airports. The ban would also include indoor sports, cultural, and recreational facilities. Smoking would also be banned in all shops, restaurants, and all places where food or drinks are served.
O
1896
The draft law states that waivers to the ban would only be granted providing that smokers are physically segregated from people in non-smoking areas and that owners of premises have proper ventilation. Transgressors will be charged fines of between 50 and 150 euros (US$45–$136). Owners and managers of premises that are responsible for enforcing the no-smoking policy will be fined up to 2500 euros ($2263) if they fail to do so. This is not the first attempt at limiting exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Italy but previous attempts have been overwhelmed by the extensive powers of pro-tobacco groups. Tobacco retailers, bar and restaurant owners’ associations, together with the tobacco industry, have announced they will oppose the draft bill.
Japan moves to improve remotearea medical care On May 15, the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry called for the establishment of an enhanced network of medical teams to improve care in remote parts of the country. According to a draft report, back-up teams would be set up at major local hospitals in each of the country’s 47 prefectures. USA tests readiness against biological weapons attack On May 20, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency began a series of mock terrorist attacks in various US states to test the responses of the local, state, and federal authorities and emergency services to a simulated attack by biological and chemical weapons. Austria calls for nappy ban Austria has called on the European Union to ban nappies containing tributyl tin (TBT) after Greenpeace, Germany, revealed it was present in most nappies (diapers) sold in Germany. Proctor and Gamble’s “Pampers” were alleged to be the most contaminated, but the company questioned the findings and denied any danger to babies. TBT, used in ships’ paint, is known to cause mutation in shellfish. Pill-packing nuns A recent documentary by the Dutch television channel IKON revealed an unexpected tolerance towards contraceptives by the Roman Catholic church in the recent past. In the early 1960s, with the bishop’s consent, the Dutch pharmaceutical company Organon contracted nuns in three convents to pack contraceptive pills for shipment. According to a spokesman for the company: “In those days the local clerical authorities allowed pill use by viewing it as a menstruation-regulating agent—contraception was just a side-effect.”
Bruno Simini
THE LANCET • Vol 355 • May 27, 2000