OzAccess

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'

Call for ban on TV junk food advertising to children

A new survey, commissioned by the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children, has found 86 per cent of parents with children under 14 want the Federal Government to place a ban on television advertising of junk foods to children.

Read More

Medical crisis in Iraq as doctors and nurses flee

Saturday, August 18, 2007 By Kim Sengupta

The humanitarian disaster in Iraq is being compounded by a mass exodus of their medical staff fleeing chronic violence and lawlessness. A report by Oxfam International shows the lack of doctors and nurses is fracturing a health system on the brink of collapse.

The research revealed that many hospitals, and medical teaching facilities in Baghdad have lost up to 80 per cent of their teaching staff. The dossier says Iraq is suffering from an appalling and largely hidden humanitarian crisis, away from the daily bombings, with millions of people in desperate need of help.

Read More

Indian ruling against pharmaceutical giant Novartis a victory for public health

Indian ruling against pharmaceutical giant Novartis a victory for public health, say leading aid and advocacy agencies

Today’s verdict by an Indian court against the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is an important victory for global public health, according to aid agencies CARE International and Oxfam International, and the church-based advocacy network, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.

Read More

Coke with Yet Another New Twist: Toxic Cola

The Indian parliament has banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi products in its cafeteria. Indian parliamentarians should take the logical next step, and ban the sale of Coke and Pepsi products in the entire country. The ban came as the result of tests, including those by the Indian government, which found high concentrations of pesticides and insecticides, including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos, in the colas, making them unfit for consumption. Some samples tested showed the presence of these toxins to be more than 30 times the standard allowed by the European Union. Tests of samples taken from the US of the same drinks were found to be safe.

Read More

Future doctors 'asked views on gay marriage'

The president of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists says part of the selection process for recruiting the nation's future doctors is discriminatory. Dr Greg Deacon has raised concerns about some universities, including the University of New South Wales, asking candidates about their parents' occupations as well as the candidates' views on the Iraq war and gay marriages.

Read More

Thought for the day.

TIME GETS BETTER WITH AGE

I learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing "Silent Night". Age 5

I learned that our dog doesn't want to eat my broccoli either. Age 7

I learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back. Age 9

I learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again. Age 12

I learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up. Age 14

Iraqi civilian deaths put at 100,000

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led invasion last year, according to public health experts who estimate there were 100,000 "excess deaths" in 18 months.

The US-based researchers found that the risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher than before the war.

The rise in the death rate was mainly due to violence and much of it was caused by US air strikes on towns and cities, they said.

White House flummoxed on Iraq explosives

The Bush administration is in defensive mode over how 380 tons of explosives went missing in Iraq, suggesting the cache might have been removed before the war.

At issue is an ammunition plant called al-Qaqaa, where international inspectors knew of the explosives before the war began in 2003. The New York Times and CBS reported the site is now barren, with everything taken by looters.

Four Britons sue US officials over Guantanamo 'torture'

Four British former detainees held at the US Guantanamo Bay detention camp for suspected terrorists have filed a lawsuit seeking damages from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top officials for alleged torture and abuse, their lawyers announced.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many detainees at the US naval base in south-eastern Cuba, filed suit on Wednesday along with a Washington-based law firm on behalf of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith, the lawyers said.

"It is time that Donald Rumsfeld and the chain of command responsible for this debacle are held accountable for their actions," said Barbara Olshansky of the CCR, claiming this was the first suit of its kind brought by former detainees from Guantanamo.