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South Africa takes steps to restrict smoking and alcohol consumption
POLICY AND PEOPLE
South Africa takes steps to restrict smoking and alcohol consumption There has been mixed reaction to Zuma’s Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which would also ban the sale of cigarettes to children under 16 years old. Tobacco companies can continue to give money to sports organisations and individuals as long as they do not advertise their products. Antismoking and health groups have hailed the draft law, which imposes heavy fines for offenders, as a “breakthrough” but they have also questioned how the legislation will be policed. Smokers say the bill infringes on their rights. Zuma said that the aim of the law was to protect non-smokers. It would be a bonus, she said, if the law helped people kick the habit.
ealth Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s controversial legislation to severely restrict smoking in public places and to ban tobacco advertising was approved by the South African Cabinet on July 29. The legislation is still to be tabled before parliament, but Zuma is already focusing on the next item on her hit list—control of alcohol consumption. Alcohol is South Africa’s most abused drug, and, according to the South African National Council For Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(SANCA), the number of people affected is steadily increasing. SANCA estimates that there are 1 025 198 alcoholics in South Africa—5·8% of citizens over age 15 years. Compulsory health warnings on bottles and restricted advertising and sponsorship will be part of Zuma’s antialcohol crusade. The government is also planning a comprehensive education campaign to alert pregnant mothers to the dangers of drinking during pregnancy (see Lancet July 25, p 295).
US pressure group seeks troglitazone ban
Japan proposes ban on human cloning
H
n July 27, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group (HRG) asked the US FDA to ban the diabetes drug troglitazone, citing 26 deaths and three cases of liver failure that it says are directly linked to use of the drug. Troglitazone was banned in the UK in December, 1997. The FDA disagrees with the number of deaths cited, as does the drug’s maker, Warner-Lambert. The FDA says there have been 14 deaths in the USA and three patients who have needed liver transplantation since the drug’s launch in March, 1997. The agency still says the benefits of troglitazone outweigh the risks. Troglitazone’s labelling has been modified twice, each time calling for more liver function monitoring. Warner-Lambert is doing so again, advising against using the drug in patients with moderately elevated alanine aminotransferase activities.
O
Alicia Ault
uring July 27–Aug 1, the Science Council of the Japanese Education Ministry drafted the government’s official guidelines that ban research into human cloning. This move followed a report that called human cloning socially impermissible for moral, ethical, and safety reasons. Japan staked a claim to be one of the leading nations in cloning research after the birth of twin calves cloned from an adult cow in Kanazawa in early July. The rapid progress made by such research has left a regulatory void that the new guidelines will partly fill, although they will not be enacted into law. Under the new code, no cloning research that involves the transplantation of fertilised human oocytes or embryos will be allowed. This goes further than previous proposals on the subject, which include one by a Council for Science and Technology subcommittee that recommended a ban on implantation of embryos cloned using human cells into a
D
Adele Baleta
woman’s body. The guidelines do not stipulate any penalty for violations, but they envisage the establishment of an arbitration committee, comprising biologists and experts in bioethics, to vet experiments that might infringe the rules. After assessing the study group’s recommendations, Mitsuru Tanaka of the Ministry’s Science and International Affairs Bureau told reporters that “researchers felt that they had to demonstrate to the public their sense of responsibility in dealing with cloning studies”. He also noted that researchers were opposed to legal regulations on experimentation. The birth of the twin calves in Kanazawa sparked a heated debate which took a new twist at the end of July, when another cloned calf died 16 hours after birth. Together with the death of the surrogate mother of the Kanazawa calves, this has raised safety fears about cloning. Jonathan Watts
Sydney residents told to boil their water hree million Sydney residents woke on July 31 to instructions from the New South Wales Health Department to boil their water. Recently privatised Sydney Water, had identified high concentrations of giardia and cryptosporidium parasites in the city’s water supply. The Premier of New South Wales has ordered an urgent inquiry into
T
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • August 8, 1998
the outbreak and has threatened to sack those responsible. The cause of the unusually high concentration of these parasites and the adequacy of the current systems will be assessed. Compensation issues will be examined by a separate inquiry. Sydney Water will reimburse crèches, kindergartens, schools, and individual households for purchases
of bottled water. So far there has been no increase in rates of gastroenteritis, but rather than wait for evidence of human disease the health department made the difficult decision to give the warning on the basis of the concentration of parasites in the water supply. Bebe Loff, Christopher Fairley
465
South Africa takes steps to restrict smoking and alcohol consumption There has been mixed reaction to Zuma’s Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which would also ban the sale of cigarettes to children under 16 years old. Tobacco companies can continue to give money to sports organisations and individuals as long as they do not advertise their products. Antismoking and health groups have hailed the draft law, which imposes heavy fines for offenders, as a “breakthrough” but they have also questioned how the legislation will be policed. Smokers say the bill infringes on their rights. Zuma said that the aim of the law was to protect non-smokers. It would be a bonus, she said, if the law helped people kick the habit.
ealth Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s controversial legislation to severely restrict smoking in public places and to ban tobacco advertising was approved by the South African Cabinet on July 29. The legislation is still to be tabled before parliament, but Zuma is already focusing on the next item on her hit list—control of alcohol consumption. Alcohol is South Africa’s most abused drug, and, according to the South African National Council For Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(SANCA), the number of people affected is steadily increasing. SANCA estimates that there are 1 025 198 alcoholics in South Africa—5·8% of citizens over age 15 years. Compulsory health warnings on bottles and restricted advertising and sponsorship will be part of Zuma’s antialcohol crusade. The government is also planning a comprehensive education campaign to alert pregnant mothers to the dangers of drinking during pregnancy (see Lancet July 25, p 295).
US pressure group seeks troglitazone ban
Japan proposes ban on human cloning
H
n July 27, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group (HRG) asked the US FDA to ban the diabetes drug troglitazone, citing 26 deaths and three cases of liver failure that it says are directly linked to use of the drug. Troglitazone was banned in the UK in December, 1997. The FDA disagrees with the number of deaths cited, as does the drug’s maker, Warner-Lambert. The FDA says there have been 14 deaths in the USA and three patients who have needed liver transplantation since the drug’s launch in March, 1997. The agency still says the benefits of troglitazone outweigh the risks. Troglitazone’s labelling has been modified twice, each time calling for more liver function monitoring. Warner-Lambert is doing so again, advising against using the drug in patients with moderately elevated alanine aminotransferase activities.
O
Alicia Ault
uring July 27–Aug 1, the Science Council of the Japanese Education Ministry drafted the government’s official guidelines that ban research into human cloning. This move followed a report that called human cloning socially impermissible for moral, ethical, and safety reasons. Japan staked a claim to be one of the leading nations in cloning research after the birth of twin calves cloned from an adult cow in Kanazawa in early July. The rapid progress made by such research has left a regulatory void that the new guidelines will partly fill, although they will not be enacted into law. Under the new code, no cloning research that involves the transplantation of fertilised human oocytes or embryos will be allowed. This goes further than previous proposals on the subject, which include one by a Council for Science and Technology subcommittee that recommended a ban on implantation of embryos cloned using human cells into a
D
Adele Baleta
woman’s body. The guidelines do not stipulate any penalty for violations, but they envisage the establishment of an arbitration committee, comprising biologists and experts in bioethics, to vet experiments that might infringe the rules. After assessing the study group’s recommendations, Mitsuru Tanaka of the Ministry’s Science and International Affairs Bureau told reporters that “researchers felt that they had to demonstrate to the public their sense of responsibility in dealing with cloning studies”. He also noted that researchers were opposed to legal regulations on experimentation. The birth of the twin calves in Kanazawa sparked a heated debate which took a new twist at the end of July, when another cloned calf died 16 hours after birth. Together with the death of the surrogate mother of the Kanazawa calves, this has raised safety fears about cloning. Jonathan Watts
Sydney residents told to boil their water hree million Sydney residents woke on July 31 to instructions from the New South Wales Health Department to boil their water. Recently privatised Sydney Water, had identified high concentrations of giardia and cryptosporidium parasites in the city’s water supply. The Premier of New South Wales has ordered an urgent inquiry into
T
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • August 8, 1998
the outbreak and has threatened to sack those responsible. The cause of the unusually high concentration of these parasites and the adequacy of the current systems will be assessed. Compensation issues will be examined by a separate inquiry. Sydney Water will reimburse crèches, kindergartens, schools, and individual households for purchases
of bottled water. So far there has been no increase in rates of gastroenteritis, but rather than wait for evidence of human disease the health department made the difficult decision to give the warning on the basis of the concentration of parasites in the water supply. Bebe Loff, Christopher Fairley
465