Medicine and Health
UN report on AIDS paints a picture of devastation—Part 1
By Paul Scherrer, July 17, 2000
The United Nations and World Health Organization report on AIDS paints a picture of devastation in Africa and warns of catastrophe in many other regions of the world, yet offers no solution to this ra...
Renewed fears that BSE/Mad Cow Disease can pass from one generation to another
By Barry Mason, July 12, 2000
Britain's Agricultural Minister confirmed in parliament last month that a calf had been born with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease. The animal was born after August 1, 1996, w...
CIA says Africa's AIDS epidemic is a "national security" issue
By Barry Mason, June 21, 2000
A recent speech by US President Bill Clinton indicates that the major powers are increasingly approaching the AIDS crisis in Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union as a security issue, rather than a...
Drug-resistant tuberculosis threatens millions
By Debra Watson, May 16, 2000
The super-deadly strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis that killed 500 people in New York City in the early 1990s are now turning up in alarming numbers in the underdeveloped countries.
Obesity: a curable epidemic
By Leanne Josling, April 29, 2000
Obesity has become a global pandemic affecting the lives and health of millions of people, according to the World Health Organisation. It is an accelerating social problem in industrialised countries ...
British doctors fear mother has passed human BSE disease to baby
By Keith Lee, March 17, 2000
Doctors in Britain are concerned that a 24-year-old mother has passed on the fatal human form of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or “mad cow disease”) to her baby, now four months ol...
Gene therapy trials shut down at University of Pennsylvania following patient death
By Tom Bishop, March 13, 2000
The promising field of gene therapy was rocked by the September 17, 1999 death of 18-year-old patient Jesse Gelsinger. Gelsinger had volunteered to participate in a gene therapy trial for the rare gen...
Promising new insights into early cancer growth
By Perla Astudillo, March 3, 2000
In a significant advance in cancer research, US scientists have pioneered a new technique to record the earliest stages of a tumour's development. Using microscopic pictures, Duke University scientist...
Risk of Mad Cow Disease growing throughout Europe
By Paul Mitchell, January 15, 2000
A single cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, could expose up to 400,000 people to the risk of infection according to the European Union's Scientific Steering ...
Study finds "indisputable" link between BSE/"Mad Cow Disease" and CJD in humans
By Barbara Slaughter and Harvey Thompson, December 29, 1999
A team of scientists working on the link between Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or “Mad Cow Disease”) and the degenerative brain condition found in humans, (new) variant Creutzfeldt...
Despite new treatments, world AIDS deaths continue to rise
Wide disparity seen between rich and poor nations
By Paul Scherrer, December 10, 1999
Despite declining death rates in the United States and Western Europe, 2.6 million people worldwide will die this year from AIDS, more than in any previous year. Since the epidemic began in the late 1...
Mad Cow Disease inquiry reveals how British government protected pharmaceutical companies at expense of public health
By Paul Mitchell, December 9, 1999
Most attention during the crisis surrounding Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, has focused on the risk of eating beef. However evidence to the ongoing British ...
