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| Children dead in US building fire Nine people are killed, including six children, in a fire at a two-storey apartment block in the US state of Mississippi, officials say. news.bbc.co.uk |
French end mice test for oyster safety 'Mouse bioassay', in which rodents injected with digestive fluids from oysters, long condemned by industry as unscientificThe French government today announced that it was scrapping a controversial method for safety testing oysters on mice which has long been condemned as old-fashioned and unscientific.For years, freshly-harvested oysters have been checked for harmful toxins by means of the "mouse bioassay", in which rodents are injected with digestive fluids from oysters.The test, in which three mice are injected with concentrated oyster fluids, decrees that, if two of the mice have died within 24 hours, a temporary ban on local sales must be implemented.For five successive years, negative mice test results have resulted in sales bans in key oyster-producing locations, shutting down business during periods of high demand and forcing many farmers into bankruptcy.But in a move that prompted widespread relief among farmers in Europe's biggest oyster-producing country, the Ministry of Agriculture said safety would from now on be established through more advanced chemical tests."It is huge news. I am delighted because the political promises have finally been kept," Olivier Laban, the president of the Arcachon oyster farmers' association, said."The entire profession has been waiting for this for a long time."Although the risk of harmful micro-algae has risen in recent years, farmers have long argued that the "test de la souris" is an unreliable indicator of the real dangers.Goulven Brest, the president of the national shellfish farming council (CNC), said: "The disadvantage of the biological test was that it gave positive results even when there were no toxins, leading to unjustified closures."Although the change in method has received an enthusiastic response from farmers and local politicians of all parties, some were angry that the government had not acted sooner."These repeated closures have brought the industry to its knees and several, including me, will not be able to recover," Marc Druart, an oyster farmer who has recently retired, said.Like his colleagues in the production hotspots of the Normandy and south-western coasts, Druart's family business suffered a sharp drop after increasing concerns about toxic micro-algae in French waters first emerged in 2005.The arrival of a devastating herpes virus, which killed a huge proportion of "juvenile" oysters, has prompted a crisis declared to be the industry's worst since disease ravaged European oysters in the 1970s."For 100 years we ... were harvesting and delivering 350 tonnes of oysters per year," he told French radio. "In the space of six years, that figure has fallen to 50 tonnes."Referring to the ongoing virus crisis, one local politician said she hoped the change in testing methods would free up oyster farmers to think about other issues."The industry will at last be able to devote itself to its real problems, like the death rate among juveniles," Marie-Hélène des Esgaulx, the rightwing mayor of Gujan Mestras, said.The first chemical tests will be carried out on harvests from the Bay of Arcachon on 18 January, with the results expected four days later.A statement from the Ministry of Agriculture said mice tests would continue to be used as back-up.FranceFood & drinkLizzy Daviesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Chernobyl nuclear accident: figures for deaths and cancers still in dispute • Suspected infant mortality rise difficult to prove • Predicted deaths range from 4,000 to half a millionAt the children's cancer hospital in Minsk, Belarus, and at the Vilne hospital for radiological protection in the east of Ukraine, specialist doctors are in no doubt they are seeing highly unusual rates of cancers, mutations and blood diseases linked to the Chernobyl nuclear accident 24 years ago.But proving that infant mortality hundreds of miles from the stricken nuclear plant has increased 20-30% in 20 years, or that the many young people suffering from genetic disorders, internal organ deformities and thyroid cancers are the victims of the world's greatest release of radioactivity, is impossible.The UN's World Health Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Agency claim that only 56 people have died as a direct result of the radiation released at Chernobyl and that about 4,000 will die from it eventually.They also say that only a few children have died of cancers since the accident and, that most of the illnesses usually linked to Chernobyl are due to psychological distress, radiophobia or poverty and unhealthy living.But other reputable scientists researching the most radiation-contaminated areas of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are not convinced. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, another UN agency, predicts 16,000 deaths from Chernobyl; an assessment by the Russian academy of sciences says there have been 60,000 deaths so far in Russia and an estimated 140,000 in Ukraine and Belarus.Meanwhile, the Belarus national academy of sciences estimates 93,000 deaths so far and 270,000 cancers, and the Ukrainian national commission for radiation protection calculates 500,000 deaths so far.The mismatches in figures arise because there have been no comprehensive, co-ordinated studies of the health consequences of the accident. This is in contrast to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where official research showed that the main rise in most types of cancer and non-cancer diseases only became apparent years after the atomic bombs fell.With Chernobyl there have been difficulties in gathering reliable data from areas left in administrative chaos after the accident. Hundreds of thousands of people were moved away from the affected areas, and the break-up of the Soviet Union led to records being lost.Controversy rages over the agendas of the IAEA, which has promoted civil nuclear power over the past 30 years, and the WHO. The UN accepts only peer-reviewed scientific studies written in certain journals in English, a rule said to exclude dozens of other studies.Four years ago, an IAEA spokesman said he was confident the WHO figures were correct. And Michael Repacholi, director of the UN Chernobyl forum until 2006, has claimed that even 4,000 eventual deaths could be too high. The main negative health impacts of ÂChernobyl were not caused by the Âradiation but by the fear of it, he claimed.But today Linda Walker, of the UK Chernobyl Children's Project, which funds Belarus and Ukraine orphanages and holidays for affected children, called for a determined effort to learn about the effects of the disaster. "Parents are giving birth to babies with disabilities or genetic disorders … but, as far as we know, no research is being conducted."Nuclear powerRussiaUkraineBelarusPollutionCancerJohn Vidalguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Talk show wars Viewers fascinated by the battle of the late night TV hosts news.bbc.co.uk |
Haiti's mass graves swell; doctors fear more death PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Workers are carving out mass graves on a hillside north of Haiti's capital, using earth-movers to bury 10,000 people in a single day even as relief workers warn that Haitians are still dying of injuries from the Jan. 12 quake for lack of medical care.... hosted.ap.org |