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Mahler Forum emphasises women's health
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delays to European Bioethics Convention
Three days of drafting work on the European Bioethics Convention in Strasbourg on Nov 20-22 failed to clinch a final text, so negotiators agreed to reconvene for a 5-day session starting Feb 26, 1996. Final endorsement is unlikely before the
:
Drug prevents SIV infection
called for 20 amendments to a previous Zidovudine, the most commonly preLancet 1995; 345: 311 and scribed post-exposure prophylactic treat: ment against HIV infection, has not been Last week it was decided to drop the proven effective for this purpose. But now researchers in Seattle, Washington, report term "incapacitated" from the Convention, in favour of "persons unable to give that an experimental nucleoside analogue, their consent", which had caused anxiety (R)-9-(21-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)in Germany, where it was feared that the adenine (PMPA), seems to provide macaques with post-exposure protection Convention would undermine prohibitions introduced after the abuses of the against simian immunodeficiency virus Nazi era. : (SIV) infection even when given as late as 24 h after exposure (Science 1995; 270:
: draft (see :: 377). : ::
autumn.
Last week’s gathering of 70 specialists : from thirty countries agreed that the reworked draft should, after all, be resubmitted to the Council of Europe’s Parlia- : mentary Assembly for fresh political scrutiny. In February, the assembly had
Arthur
1197-99).
Rogers
:
the
experiment 35 long-tailed (Macaca fascularis) were given subcutaneous injections daily for 4 weeks. In
macaques
Mahler Forum emphasises women’s health
action, particularly in Africa:"There is still a distant goal in the developing world with more than 50 million unwanted pregnancies and tens of millions of unwanted chil-
Women must be ensured a right to control their own body, their fertility, and their lives. This was the key message of the first Mahler Forum, held in Copenhagen last week. The forum, instituted by the Danish Family Planning Association and the aid organisation, Danida, is intended to be an annual event and is named after Halfdan Mahler, former WHO Secretary General and former Secretary General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. At the forum Mahler stated the need for
dren born in just one year. Indeed, millions of these unwanted pregnancies and motherhoods are nothing less than coercive from a woman’s perspective" : The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr Poul Nielson, emphasised the importance of swiftly followingup on the decisions taken at the UN Womens Conference in Beijing earlier this year. We need action, and we need it now, said Nielson. :
In two groups of macaques treatment was started 48 h before inoculation with either 20mg/kg or 30 mg/kg doses. Two other groups were started on 30mg/kg doses at either 4 h or 24 h after inoculation. The 10 controls received saline injections. The animals were followed for 56 weeks after inoculation. Virological studies of blood and lymph nodes showed that, irrespective of dose or timing of treatment, none of the treated animals showed signs of infection, whereas all controls developed persistent viraemia by the third week.
Kaare Skovmand
Michael
Chernobyl victims are
not
mere
"The
impression of human suffering is : indelible", said the director of the UN’s: Department of Humanitarian Affairs of: the aftermath of the nuclear reactor acci- : dent at Chernobyl, almost 10 years after : the mishap. He was giving an opening address at the Nov 20-23 WHO confer- : ence on The Health Consequences of the : Chernobyl and other Radiological Acci- : dents, held to mark the end, last year, of: the pilot phase of the International : Programme on the Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident and to prepare major : conclusions for the Joint WHO/IAEA/EU : Conference in Vienna next year. : The Chernobyl accident caused 134 : : cases of acute radiation sickness, of whom 28 died in the first 3 months and a further seven since. There have been 565 cases of thyroid carcinoma in children : aged 0-14 years, a 100-fold increase in incidence. However, excess leukaemia, which peaked in the A-bomb Japanese survivors at 6-7 years, is not yet evident.
[
Likewise, with their
excesses
of other,
solid,
cancers,
will be identified
longer latency, only by long-term follow-up, as may benign tumours, autoimmune hypothyroidism, and cardiovascular disease. These are now being associated with radiation exposure in A-bomb survivors, although causality is unclear except for parathyroid adenomata, and an indirect
effect in the weak but consistent link with
1482
objects
of research
McCarthy
(to 10 mSv) but that the benefits of pro-
phylaxis for adults might be less than for cardiovascular disease is not unlikely. children. In pre-accident planning the The main session on thyroid diseases logistic implication of such revision would debated the issue of childhood cancer and require careful consideration. the precise nature of its causation. 131I was : Countermeasures taken after the accireleased principally in the earlier phase of dent reduced radiation exposure but the accident. Mapping of the areas where imposed their own cost in psychological the iodine was deposited then rather stress. Paradoxically, in these populations of than the final contamination highly screened for radiation effects, levels (of all longer-lived isotopes) will tuberculosis mortality may have risen, show the dose response according to the perhaps sixfold, partly because fluorogeographical incidence of cancer. Even scopic screening was halted to minimise further radiation exposure. so, there was some reluctance to accept that radioiodine was wholly responsible, The scientific studies are set to continue the of the for the foreseeable future and beyond, but for, although sensitivity young to well docuexternal radiation is there are bigger problems born of Cherthyroid mented, and there is some animal experinobyl, not least what is being said about mental evidence for radioiodine-induced its effects. Unless supported by cancer, there have been no reports of thy- ’, rigorous science, it may perpetuate the roid cancer following the diagnostic and problems of misinformation or disinfortherapeutic use of "’I in man. The sharp mation that contributed to the immense drop in the cancer in children born more morbidity-psychosocial and organicthan 6 months after the accident does that was not directly related to the biological effects of radiation. As the director of support the contention that early inhalation and perhaps ingestion of this and the DHA said, "To ignore this growing other short-lived isotopes of iodine were tragedy would be to reduce these people instrumental in the thyroid cancer excess and the areas most affected to mere seen. The marked susceptibility of chilobjects of scientific research". dren to radiation-induced thyroid cancer, The conference included several papers which is highly aggressive, may warrant on other radiation exposures. Yet to be reassessment of the least predicted dose fulfilled is the hope that the sum of the to the thyroid that would justify adminisknowledge gained would advance compretration of stable iodine to avert attaining hension. that dose. One speaker argued that the threshold might be reduced for children David C B Holt
delays to European Bioethics Convention
Three days of drafting work on the European Bioethics Convention in Strasbourg on Nov 20-22 failed to clinch a final text, so negotiators agreed to reconvene for a 5-day session starting Feb 26, 1996. Final endorsement is unlikely before the
:
Drug prevents SIV infection
called for 20 amendments to a previous Zidovudine, the most commonly preLancet 1995; 345: 311 and scribed post-exposure prophylactic treat: ment against HIV infection, has not been Last week it was decided to drop the proven effective for this purpose. But now researchers in Seattle, Washington, report term "incapacitated" from the Convention, in favour of "persons unable to give that an experimental nucleoside analogue, their consent", which had caused anxiety (R)-9-(21-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)in Germany, where it was feared that the adenine (PMPA), seems to provide macaques with post-exposure protection Convention would undermine prohibitions introduced after the abuses of the against simian immunodeficiency virus Nazi era. : (SIV) infection even when given as late as 24 h after exposure (Science 1995; 270:
: draft (see :: 377). : ::
autumn.
Last week’s gathering of 70 specialists : from thirty countries agreed that the reworked draft should, after all, be resubmitted to the Council of Europe’s Parlia- : mentary Assembly for fresh political scrutiny. In February, the assembly had
Arthur
1197-99).
Rogers
:
the
experiment 35 long-tailed (Macaca fascularis) were given subcutaneous injections daily for 4 weeks. In
macaques
Mahler Forum emphasises women’s health
action, particularly in Africa:"There is still a distant goal in the developing world with more than 50 million unwanted pregnancies and tens of millions of unwanted chil-
Women must be ensured a right to control their own body, their fertility, and their lives. This was the key message of the first Mahler Forum, held in Copenhagen last week. The forum, instituted by the Danish Family Planning Association and the aid organisation, Danida, is intended to be an annual event and is named after Halfdan Mahler, former WHO Secretary General and former Secretary General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. At the forum Mahler stated the need for
dren born in just one year. Indeed, millions of these unwanted pregnancies and motherhoods are nothing less than coercive from a woman’s perspective" : The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr Poul Nielson, emphasised the importance of swiftly followingup on the decisions taken at the UN Womens Conference in Beijing earlier this year. We need action, and we need it now, said Nielson. :
In two groups of macaques treatment was started 48 h before inoculation with either 20mg/kg or 30 mg/kg doses. Two other groups were started on 30mg/kg doses at either 4 h or 24 h after inoculation. The 10 controls received saline injections. The animals were followed for 56 weeks after inoculation. Virological studies of blood and lymph nodes showed that, irrespective of dose or timing of treatment, none of the treated animals showed signs of infection, whereas all controls developed persistent viraemia by the third week.
Kaare Skovmand
Michael
Chernobyl victims are
not
mere
"The
impression of human suffering is : indelible", said the director of the UN’s: Department of Humanitarian Affairs of: the aftermath of the nuclear reactor acci- : dent at Chernobyl, almost 10 years after : the mishap. He was giving an opening address at the Nov 20-23 WHO confer- : ence on The Health Consequences of the : Chernobyl and other Radiological Acci- : dents, held to mark the end, last year, of: the pilot phase of the International : Programme on the Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident and to prepare major : conclusions for the Joint WHO/IAEA/EU : Conference in Vienna next year. : The Chernobyl accident caused 134 : : cases of acute radiation sickness, of whom 28 died in the first 3 months and a further seven since. There have been 565 cases of thyroid carcinoma in children : aged 0-14 years, a 100-fold increase in incidence. However, excess leukaemia, which peaked in the A-bomb Japanese survivors at 6-7 years, is not yet evident.
[
Likewise, with their
excesses
of other,
solid,
cancers,
will be identified
longer latency, only by long-term follow-up, as may benign tumours, autoimmune hypothyroidism, and cardiovascular disease. These are now being associated with radiation exposure in A-bomb survivors, although causality is unclear except for parathyroid adenomata, and an indirect
effect in the weak but consistent link with
1482
objects
of research
McCarthy
(to 10 mSv) but that the benefits of pro-
phylaxis for adults might be less than for cardiovascular disease is not unlikely. children. In pre-accident planning the The main session on thyroid diseases logistic implication of such revision would debated the issue of childhood cancer and require careful consideration. the precise nature of its causation. 131I was : Countermeasures taken after the accireleased principally in the earlier phase of dent reduced radiation exposure but the accident. Mapping of the areas where imposed their own cost in psychological the iodine was deposited then rather stress. Paradoxically, in these populations of than the final contamination highly screened for radiation effects, levels (of all longer-lived isotopes) will tuberculosis mortality may have risen, show the dose response according to the perhaps sixfold, partly because fluorogeographical incidence of cancer. Even scopic screening was halted to minimise further radiation exposure. so, there was some reluctance to accept that radioiodine was wholly responsible, The scientific studies are set to continue the of the for the foreseeable future and beyond, but for, although sensitivity young to well docuexternal radiation is there are bigger problems born of Cherthyroid mented, and there is some animal experinobyl, not least what is being said about mental evidence for radioiodine-induced its effects. Unless supported by cancer, there have been no reports of thy- ’, rigorous science, it may perpetuate the roid cancer following the diagnostic and problems of misinformation or disinfortherapeutic use of "’I in man. The sharp mation that contributed to the immense drop in the cancer in children born more morbidity-psychosocial and organicthan 6 months after the accident does that was not directly related to the biological effects of radiation. As the director of support the contention that early inhalation and perhaps ingestion of this and the DHA said, "To ignore this growing other short-lived isotopes of iodine were tragedy would be to reduce these people instrumental in the thyroid cancer excess and the areas most affected to mere seen. The marked susceptibility of chilobjects of scientific research". dren to radiation-induced thyroid cancer, The conference included several papers which is highly aggressive, may warrant on other radiation exposures. Yet to be reassessment of the least predicted dose fulfilled is the hope that the sum of the to the thyroid that would justify adminisknowledge gained would advance compretration of stable iodine to avert attaining hension. that dose. One speaker argued that the threshold might be reduced for children David C B Holt