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Lancet 175th anniversary celebrated
POLICY AND PEOPLE
US contraceptive mandate dropped n a highly unusual move, a provision approved by both the House and Senate to require health plans serving federal employees to cover prescription contraceptives was dropped. During House consideration, abortion opponents had argued that, because some forms of contraception are abortifacients, federal government should not cover them. But they were outvoted and the Senate later approved the requirement. Abortion opponents kept up their efforts, however, and during negotiations on the final version of the bill the requirement was dropped. Sponsors of the measure said the language was simply too controversial. But backers of the contraceptive language charged that the removal was an abuse of the Congressional process, since, by tradition, language included in both the House and Senate version of a bill is not altered. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, District of Columbia) said: “A measure that had overwhelming support was just won by the losers.”
Lancet 175th anniversary celebrated
Julie Rovner
Spain brings forward mifepristone approval
O
n Oct 6, Spain’s House of Commons approved a motion to allow immediate use of the abortifacient mifepristone to all public and private hospitals. The conservative Partido Popular, currently in power, was the only party that voted against the motion. The new law brings forward the release date from summer 1999. Although use of mifepristone for procuring abortions was approved by the House of Commons Health Commission in November, 1997, bureaucratic proceedings meant that the launch of the drug has been delayed. The approved motion also specificies that all hospital pharmacies be supplied with sufficient stocks of the drug. The drug will be used to terminate pregnancies of up to only 7 weeks. It has been estimated that, between now and next summer, 12 000 surgical terminations will have been avoided due to availability of mifepristone.
Xavier Bosch
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • October 17, 1998
Susan Gordon-Brown
I
On the evening of Oct 9, a celebratory dinner was held at the Royal Society of Arts, London, UK, to mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of The Lancet. Before dining, editors and
invited guests enjoyed a lecture by Prof Jan Vandenbrouke of Leiden University, the Netherlands, on “Medical Journals and the Shaping of Medical Knowledge”. M
World Bank to support clean waste disposal he World Bank is to promote ecologically friendly technologies for biomedical waste management in its health projects in India, and not finance incinerators, according to Salim Habayeb, principal public health specialist of the World Bank for South Asia. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the health effects of incinerators. Several Indian states have initiated large health projects funded by the Bank, which had included installation of incinerators. “This [programme] has not been and will not be implemented”, says Habayeb. The Bank’s funding will be in tune with the new regulations. On July 27, the Indian Ministry of Environment notified the Biomedical Waste (management and Handling) Rules. The government was forced to recognise the deteriorating medical-waste situation in Delhi following a publicinterest writ filed by the noted legal activist B L Wadhera against the union government in 1994, which focused primarily on solid waste. The
T
court gave orders to the government in the ongoing case to formulate guidelines to deal with biomedical waste nationwide. The new guidelines put the onus for safe handling, treatment, and disposal of biomedical waste on the generating institution and also define categories of waste and methods and standards of disposal and treatment. Hospitals and nursing homes in towns with more than 3 million inhabitants have to install treatment facilities by Dec 31, 1999, or earlier. “The guidelines are in tune with the current environmental concerns” says environmentalist Bharati Chaturvedi, “but now procedures and systems of implementation will have to be put in place so that informed decisions are made to deal with biomedical wastes”. And Wadhera adds: “The courts are monitoring the progress of the case and the Central Pollution Control Board will have to report to it periodically”. Sanjay Kumar
1293
US contraceptive mandate dropped n a highly unusual move, a provision approved by both the House and Senate to require health plans serving federal employees to cover prescription contraceptives was dropped. During House consideration, abortion opponents had argued that, because some forms of contraception are abortifacients, federal government should not cover them. But they were outvoted and the Senate later approved the requirement. Abortion opponents kept up their efforts, however, and during negotiations on the final version of the bill the requirement was dropped. Sponsors of the measure said the language was simply too controversial. But backers of the contraceptive language charged that the removal was an abuse of the Congressional process, since, by tradition, language included in both the House and Senate version of a bill is not altered. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, District of Columbia) said: “A measure that had overwhelming support was just won by the losers.”
Lancet 175th anniversary celebrated
Julie Rovner
Spain brings forward mifepristone approval
O
n Oct 6, Spain’s House of Commons approved a motion to allow immediate use of the abortifacient mifepristone to all public and private hospitals. The conservative Partido Popular, currently in power, was the only party that voted against the motion. The new law brings forward the release date from summer 1999. Although use of mifepristone for procuring abortions was approved by the House of Commons Health Commission in November, 1997, bureaucratic proceedings meant that the launch of the drug has been delayed. The approved motion also specificies that all hospital pharmacies be supplied with sufficient stocks of the drug. The drug will be used to terminate pregnancies of up to only 7 weeks. It has been estimated that, between now and next summer, 12 000 surgical terminations will have been avoided due to availability of mifepristone.
Xavier Bosch
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • October 17, 1998
Susan Gordon-Brown
I
On the evening of Oct 9, a celebratory dinner was held at the Royal Society of Arts, London, UK, to mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of The Lancet. Before dining, editors and
invited guests enjoyed a lecture by Prof Jan Vandenbrouke of Leiden University, the Netherlands, on “Medical Journals and the Shaping of Medical Knowledge”. M
World Bank to support clean waste disposal he World Bank is to promote ecologically friendly technologies for biomedical waste management in its health projects in India, and not finance incinerators, according to Salim Habayeb, principal public health specialist of the World Bank for South Asia. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the health effects of incinerators. Several Indian states have initiated large health projects funded by the Bank, which had included installation of incinerators. “This [programme] has not been and will not be implemented”, says Habayeb. The Bank’s funding will be in tune with the new regulations. On July 27, the Indian Ministry of Environment notified the Biomedical Waste (management and Handling) Rules. The government was forced to recognise the deteriorating medical-waste situation in Delhi following a publicinterest writ filed by the noted legal activist B L Wadhera against the union government in 1994, which focused primarily on solid waste. The
T
court gave orders to the government in the ongoing case to formulate guidelines to deal with biomedical waste nationwide. The new guidelines put the onus for safe handling, treatment, and disposal of biomedical waste on the generating institution and also define categories of waste and methods and standards of disposal and treatment. Hospitals and nursing homes in towns with more than 3 million inhabitants have to install treatment facilities by Dec 31, 1999, or earlier. “The guidelines are in tune with the current environmental concerns” says environmentalist Bharati Chaturvedi, “but now procedures and systems of implementation will have to be put in place so that informed decisions are made to deal with biomedical wastes”. And Wadhera adds: “The courts are monitoring the progress of the case and the Central Pollution Control Board will have to report to it periodically”. Sanjay Kumar
1293