Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- Islanders want officer sung to death
- AFMC Pune setting up Asia’s biggest stem cell research centre
- Annan ‘Concerned’ on Libya AIDS Sentence
- In search of Seven Wonders
- Proposed trans fat ban based on a lot of junk science

Islanders want officer sung to death
NEWS.com.au - Dec 23, 2006
Being "sung" equates with "pointing the bone" - an Aboriginal custom where a powerful tribal medicine man is believed to have the power to call on spirits to do ill to another Aboriginal person alleged to have committed a crime or otherwise abused their culture. Palm Island spokesman Brad Foster said yesterday he had been approached by "a number of elders and others" who had suggested Sergeant Hurley should be "sung". Mr Foster, a former Brisbane Broncos and Canberra Raiders rugby league footballer, said any decision of that nature was up to the aggrieved family. "I told these people that I would not be doing anything about it or suggesting it to the Doomadgee sisters," Mr Foster said. "We are happy to see it go through the proper process. "However, Hurley has spent years on Aboriginal communities and he knows that this is not black magic mumbo-jumbo. "
Mr Foster said there were "strong Aboriginal medicine men" among tribes in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Northern Territory who were believed by their own people to have the power to "sing" others to death… Palm Island spokesman Brad Foster said yesterday he had been approached by "a number of elders and others" who had suggested Sergeant Hurley should be "sung". Mr Foster, a former Brisbane Broncos and Canberra Raiders rugby league footballer, said any decision of that nature was up to the aggrieved family. "I told these people that I would not be doing anything about it or suggesting it to the Doomadgee sisters," Mr Foster said. "We are happy to see it go through the proper process. "However, Hurley has spent years on Aboriginal communities and he knows that this is not black magic mumbo-jumbo. "
Mr Foster said there were "strong Aboriginal medicine men" among tribes in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Northern Territory who were believed by their own people to have the power to "sing" others to death. "These are the strong cultural men in our community who deal with these issues," he said.

AFMC Pune setting up Asia’s biggest stem cell research centre
Hindu - Dec 23, 2006
) and military and defence establishments will be engaged. A separate funding mechanism would be created for the centre and there will be no upper limit for the funds for research to be carried out at the institute which is marked to be made into Asia’s biggest, Singh added. “Stem cell therapy, which is a natural phenomenon, is on the verge of revolutionising medicine. It was set to replace drug therapy and surgery, the current practice of symptomatic treatment of various diseases. By going back to nature through stem cell therapy, cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, eye and muscle diseases can be cured. Besides The life span of a human being too could be increased”, Singh said after his keynote address at a two-day conference on Stem Cell.

Annan ‘Concerned’ on Libya AIDS Sentence
Washington Post - Dec 23, 2006
A French doctor testified at the first trial that strains of HIV were circulating at the hospital well before the nurses and doctor arrived in March 1998. 6, the journal Nature published an analysis of viral strains from some of the children, showing changes in the virus proved it was contracted at least three years before the defendants arrived at the hospital. The case has hurt Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s recent efforts to improve his country’s relationship with the West, but has not stopped the rapprochement entirely. This summer, the United States reopened its embassy in Tripoli, 16 years after it severed ties with the country. Annan, whose tenure ends on Dec. 31, praised the international community for providing treatment and medicine to the infected children… This summer, the United States reopened its embassy in Tripoli, 16 years after it severed ties with the country. Annan, whose tenure ends on Dec. 31, praised the international community for providing treatment and medicine to the infected children. Fifty children have died, and the rest have been treated in Europe. © 2006 The Associated Press.

In search of Seven Wonders
Pakistan Dawn - Dec 23, 2006
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In search of Seven Wonders
By Dr Sabiha Essa Khan. The world’s famous seven wonders have been catching the attention of the world with their remarkable architectural concepts and designs. Interestingly, there are many mysteries and myths attached to these ancient wonders, some of which have been answered by the research studies of archeology. However, there are still many unexplained architectural designs having unknown histories behind them. Nowadays there are many developments and amendments being worked out in the conventional list of Seven Wonders of the World.

Proposed trans fat ban based on a lot of junk science
Canada Free Press - Dec 23, 2006
The alarm is directly traceable to “research” by Harvard University’s Alberto Ascherio and Walter Willett, the promoters-in-chief of trans fat fear. You might consider the implications of the council dictating what you may eat based on the sort of “research” published by the team known as Ascherio-Willett. So let’s examine the potential consequences of relying on their other research that is similar in nature and quality to their trans fats work. Also on the hit list • Restaurants could be banned from serving potatoes, peas, peanuts, beans, lentils, orange juice and grapefruit juice. Ascherio-Willett once reported increased heart disease risk among consumers of these foods (Annals of Internal Medicine, June 2001). Although none of the reported correlations was statistically meaningful — indicating that they were probably just chance occurrences — similar shortcomings in Ascherio-Willett trans fat research don’t seem to matter to Burke. • Indian restaurants could be banned from cooking with sunflower oil… So let’s examine the potential consequences of relying on their other research that is similar in nature and quality to their trans fats work. Also on the hit list • Restaurants could be banned from serving potatoes, peas, peanuts, beans, lentils, orange juice and grapefruit juice. Ascherio-Willett once reported increased heart disease risk among consumers of these foods (Annals of Internal Medicine, June 2001). Although none of the reported correlations was statistically meaningful — indicating that they were probably just chance occurrences — similar shortcomings in Ascherio-Willett trans fat research don’t seem to matter to Burke. • Indian restaurants could be banned from cooking with sunflower oil. Ascherio-Willett once found that consumers of Indian food cooked in sunflower oil were three times more likely to suffer heart attacks than consumers of Indian food cooked in mustard oil (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2004). Sure, it was only one study, and Ascherio-Willet acknowledged the need for more research, but they nevertheless recommended a cooking oil switch.