Memphis city council says no to tasers

Memphis turns down Tasers

City council says no to use of stun guns, looks to dispose of the three it owns

Voice News | Aug 26, 2009

By JEANNE KNIAZ

A request by the Memphis Police Department to implement the use of Taser electronic stun guns as a method of subduing suspected criminals has been turned down by the city council.

Deployment of electronic control devices has been a subject of debate since Memphis Police Chief Elena Danishevskaya acquired three units for her department through a grant program many months ago.

At their most recent meeting the council revisited the controversial topic and, after airing opposing opinions, once again shunned the electroshock weapons – capable of immobilizing subjects via a 50,000-volt discharge – as an option for the city’s officers.

“My feeling, still, is that Tasers for this department is not for us,” Mayor Charles Garber said.

Often touted as a safe alternative to containment versus firearms, Taser use by law enforcement officials has escalated in correlation to mounting opposition as questions arise with respect to the risks associated with this method of restraint.

Tasers temporarily debilitate individuals via the projection of probes connected to the unit by wire. An electrical pulse transmitted through the wires to the point where the probes come in contact with the body effectively eliminates neuromuscular control and coordinated movement for the duration of the surge.

Alternative methods to Taser deployment include utilizing pepper spray, mace, batons, bodily force or bullets.

Proponents argue that Taser technology incapacitates confrontational or high-risk subjects who endanger peace-keeping officials, the public or themselves and that overall the devices are safe with a low incidence of injury.

A study funded by the National Institute of Justice in 2007 determined that, of roughly 1,000 incidents involving Taser use, 99.7 percent of the cases involved no injuries or only mild consequences such as scrapes and bruises. In 0.3 percent of the cases a hospital admission was required.

Taser-associated deaths and injuries during the last decade have propelled this issue to the forefront of public debate with respect benefits versus risks.

According to Amnesty International the total number of deaths in America following Taser gun usage has risen to 351 since June 2001.

A report issued by the human rights organization last December cited concerns suggesting that Taser use can aggravate conditions previously compromised by drugs, exertion or illness and has even resulted in the deaths of seemingly healthy individuals.

The city of Warren is currently a defendant in two separate lawsuits concerning Taser usage by police officers – one claiming that the excessive force ultimately led to the death of an unarmed 16-year-old, and another wherein the defendant claims that during a diabetic emergency he was victimized by a Taser incident and a false arrest.

These issues weighed on the minds of Memphis City Council members as they discussed the possible use of three Taser devices their police chief had obtained through a grant program in 2006.

“I know it’s been controversial in the past and I was wondering if the council would entertain a special meeting where we could have an expert come in and answer our questions?” Councilman Eric Schneider asked after reiterating that their police chief would like to implement usage.

“I just think that it is too risky. How many times have you had, in the last two years, any kind of problem?” Mayor Garber inquired of Danishevskaya who answered that on two occasions Tasers could have been effective – the first involving a suspect who reportedly had a gun, and the second a suicidal subject who was brandishing a knife.

“That was a good opportunity to use something like a Taser because, obviously, you don’t want to shoot somebody like that but you do want to contain them. It is a good tool when properly used,” the chief said.

Further discussion did little to influence action in favor of stun guns.

Councilwoman Kim Gunst commented that she would like the police chief to be able to carry a Taser, while Councilman Terry Treend remarked on the low number of instances in the community that require restraint.

Referring to the Warren lawsuits, Memphis Mayor Charles Garber said city couldn’t afford the risks associated with Taser usage.

“There are two suits right now … where in fact somebody has died after being tasered. It is not necessarily the Taser itself but the medical problems that they had prior to being tasered. I don’t think we can afford the lawsuits and that is my personal opinion,” he said.

“I’ll try to keep an open mind but I agree with the mayor. I don’t think we should have Tasers in the city of Memphis. I really have a problem with it. Things have come out in the paper. I know that doesn’t happen very often but, for me, once is too much,” Councilman Larry Wilson said, alluding to Taser-related deaths.

“I really couldn’t support it.”

Council members them moved to support a suggestion that the city police committee investigate options for disposing of the department’s current Taser devices and report as to their findings at the next city council meeting.

Doctors admit “wild euthanasia” being applied in Czech hospitals

ceskenoviny.cz | Aug 28, 2008

Prague – Some doctors admit that euthanasia is being applied in the Czech Republic not to prolong patients’ sufferings in hopeless cases, though it is officially illegal, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reports today.

It is called “wild euthanasia” and it means that doctors intentionally provide the treatment that leads to the patient’s death with the aim to terminate his/her suffering, doctor Zdenek Kalvacha told MfD.

A doctor, for instance, administers higher morphine doses to a patient dying of cancer, the daily adds.

MfD writes that some other doctors, too, admit a similar practice in Czech hospitals.

Being asked at a recent meeting of the Czech Doctors’ Academy whether someone is convinced that euthanasia is not applied in the Czech Republic, no doctor raised his hand, MfD says.

Many doctors say the rules should be specified for the cases of patients whose further medical treatment is pointless and whose death is inevitable, the daily adds.

Political parties, too, are considering drafting such rules, the paper adds.

According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) in May, Czechs have a more tolerant stance on abortion than on euthanasia and the tolerance in both cases has been rising in Czech society.

Over three-fifths of the respondents said Czech law should enable euthanasia, while 27 percent disagreed with it and one in ten was undecided.

The Senate, upper house of Czech parliament rejected the legalisation of euthanasia last September.

Senator Vaclava Domsova (Independents’ Association-European Democrats/SNS-ED) submitted a bill on “dignified death” but the upper house turned it down. Its critics, mainly doctors, warned that the bill would legalise intentional killing and could be abused.

WHO warns of severe form of swine flu

An assistant teacher checks a student’s temperature before a class begins to prevent possible contagion of the H1N1 flu virus at Sangmyung University in Seoul August 28, 2009. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

Reuters | Aug 28, 2009

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients infected with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need hospital care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said in an update on the pandemic.

“During the winter season in the southern hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services,” it said.

“Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases.”

Earlier, WHO reported that H1N1 had reached epidemic levels in Japan, signaling an early start to what may be a long influenza season this year, and that it was also worsening in tropical regions.

“Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections,” WHO said.

“In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”

MINORITIES AT RISK

Minority groups and indigenous populations may also have a higher risk of being severely ill with H1N1.

“In some studies, the risk in these groups is four to five times higher than in the general population,” WHO said.

“Although the reasons are not fully understood, possible explanations include lower standards of living and poor overall health status, including a high prevalence of conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension.”

WHO said it was advising countries in the Northern Hemisphere to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread. “Countries with tropical climates, where the pandemic virus arrived later than elsewhere, also need to prepare for an increasing number of cases,” it said.

Every year, seasonal flu infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of a given population and kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people globally. Because hardly anyone has immunity to the new H1N1 virus, experts believe it will infect far more people than usual, as much as a third of the population.

It also disproportionately affects younger people, unlike seasonal flu which mainly burdens the elderly, and thus may cause more severe illness and deaths among young adults and children than seasonal flu does.

“Data continue to show that certain medical conditions increase the risk of severe and fatal illness. These include respiratory disease, notably asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunosuppression,” WHO said.

“When anticipating the impact of the pandemic as more people become infected, health officials need to be aware that many of these predisposing conditions have become much more widespread in recent decades, thus increasing the pool of vulnerable people.”

WHO estimates that more than 230 million people globally have asthma, and more than 220 million have diabetes. Obesity may also worsen the risk of severe infection, WHO said.

The good news — people infected with AIDS virus do not seem to be at special risk from H1N1, WHO said.

Swine flu call center staff spending most of their time playing games

The swine flu call centres where staff have nothing to do but play cards and Trivial Pursuit

Daily Mail | Aug 28, 2009

By Tom Kelly

Two swine flu call centres are to close just weeks after opening because staff have been spending most of their time playing cards and board games.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been ‘squandered’ after around 1,200 workers were employed to deal with the expected deluge of anxious calls.

But staff said far fewer calls were made than predicted and supervisors allowed them to play cards and games such as Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly to help pass the long hours between calls.

One said that for most of the four weeks he was working at the NHS centre in Farnborough, Hampshire, each staff member took on average just two five-minute calls per eight-hour shift.

He said: ‘The whole thing has been a fiasco. It seems to have been a complete knee-jerk reaction, set up with no real thought.

‘I can understand the Government had to prepare for the worst, but this was just ludicrous.

‘They could have put these two centres into one about a quarter of the size, and still had scores of spare lines in case things got really bad. They’ve squandered a vast amount of public money needlessly.’

The National Pandemic Flu Service  -  which comprises phone lines and a website  -  was launched last month.

The new staff were given four hours of training in how to read a prepared script of questions to discover whether a caller  -  or a member of their family  -  was showing swine flu symptoms.

But an email circulated last Sunday by Tim Abrahams, who ran the Farnborough call centre, suggested that staff actually spent most of their time playing games.

It read: ‘Hello All, We appreciate that it’s very quiet and that you like to play cards while waiting for calls. Please can you make sure that you only play cards with the person next to you and not in large groups.

‘All card games must be played quietly as people around you might be on the phone.

‘You can also play patience at your desk on your own.’

The call centre in Farnborough and another in Watford, which are both due to close tomorrow, are run by NHS Professionals, a not-for-profit company which supplies temporary-workers to the health service.

There are another 17 smaller swine flu call centres run by other providers, although staff at some of these have also said that things are so quiet that supervisors have encouraged them to bring in games.

Earlier this month the Daily Mail revealed that some phone lines were being manned by 16-year-olds with as little as three hours training.

The Department of Health said it was up to individual call centres how they managed staff.

‘As the chief medical officer announced recently, we are scaling back the National Pandemic Flu Service to reflect demand,’ said a spokesman. ‘This is a flexible service so we can scale it back up when necessary.’

International Paper Treads Monsanto’s Path to ‘Frankenforests’

Opponents are concerned that alien genes may contaminate natural forests, echoing objections to modified crops that Monsanto still faces.

Bloomberg | Aug 28, 2009

By Jack Kaskey

International Paper Co., the world’s largest pulp and paper maker, plans to remake commercial forests in the same way Monsanto Co. revolutionized farms with genetically modified crops.

International Paper’s ArborGen joint venture with MeadWestvaco Corp. and New Zealand’s Rubicon Ltd. is seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell the first genetically engineered forest trees outside China. The Australian eucalyptus trees are designed to survive freezes in the U.S. South.

Plantations of engineered trees would give International Paper a competitive advantage by providing a reliable supply of lower cost wood at a time when timberlands are dwindling because of development, said David Liebetreu, the Memphis, Tennessee- based company’s vice president of global sourcing. Opponents are concerned that alien genes may contaminate natural forests, echoing objections to modified crops that Monsanto still faces.

“There is a potential to explode once they get these trees approved,” said David Knott, who manages $1.3 billion as chief executive officer of Dorset Management in Syosett, New York. He said he increased his stake in Rubicon to 70.5 million shares this year to bet on ArborGen because it has a customer base of large landowners and little competition. “This could take off faster than Monsanto.”

Monsanto’s genetics, which were first sold in herbicide- tolerant soybeans in 1996 and insect-resistant corn the following year, were used in 88 percent of the world’s 309 million acres of biotech plantings last year. Monsanto’s sales of seeds and genetics quadrupled since 2002 to $6.4 billion last year.

ArborGen Sales

ArborGen may boost yearly sales to $500 million in 2017 from $25 million by following Monsanto’s blueprint for commercializing engineered plants, said Stephen Walker, head of asset management at New Zealand-based Goldman Sachs JBWere Ltd., which owns Rubicon shares and holds no stock in International Paper or MeadWestvaco. The partners eventually might sell shares of ArborGen to the public, International Paper’s Liebetreu said.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service may approve sales of freeze-tolerant eucalyptus trees by late 2010, ArborGen Chief Executive Officer Barbara Wells said. The company also is developing trees that are easier to pulp and that grow twice as fast, said Wells, a former Monsanto executive who has a doctorate in agronomy.

ArborGen’s eucalyptus would become the first engineered forest tree sold in the U.S., where disease-resistant plum and papaya trees already are permitted, according to a USDA database. China has planted about 1.4 million biotech black poplars since commercialization in 2002.

Increasing Risk

Engineered eucalyptus trees could be an ecological disaster, bringing increased fire risk and extraordinary water consumption to a new environment, said Neil J. Carman, an Austin, Texas-based member of the Sierra Club’s genetic engineering committee. Easier-to-pulp trees will be weak, and hurricanes will spread their pollen and contaminate native forests, he said.

“These are Frankenforests,” Carman said. “You are tampering with Mother Nature in a big way by putting genetically engineered trees out there.”

The group won a court order in 2007 requiring Monsanto to pull modified alfalfa plants from the market while the USDA reviewed their environmental impact more thoroughly, and Carman said a similar strategy may be used against modified trees.

ArborGen says that genes won’t spread because its trees grow on plantations, not in forests, and are engineered to be infertile with impaired pollen production.

Tree Plantations

About 4 percent of the world’s 8.5 billion forest acres are plantations, and 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of new plantations are added annually, according to the United Nations.

“It’s through plantation forests and increased productivity that you protect native forests,” ArborGen’s Wells said. “We pursue products that we know are environmentally safe.”

ArborGen, based in Summerville, South Carolina, was created in 2000 when the three partners pooled their tree-research assets and intellectual property. The venture sells about 300 million conventional tree seedlings a year to 2,000 customers in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

Rubicon derives most of its value from ArborGen, one of two ventures it owns. International Paper and MeadWestvaco, a cardboard maker, are so large that their 33 percent stakes in ArborGen aren’t material to earnings, the companies said.

Sustainable Hardwood Source

The papermaker’s main interest in ArborGen is the potential of modified trees such as cold-tolerant eucalyptus to provide a sustainable source of hardwood for pulp, Liebetreu said. That becomes more important as the U.S. starts to make biofuels from timber, which may double harvest pressure in the U.S. South, International Paper said in a June 9 letter to USDA.

“If you could go back and buy Monsanto when it was just starting to develop genetically modified seeds, would you do it?” said Walker of Goldman Sachs JBWere. “I think so.”

Parallels with Monsanto aren’t a coincidence. Wells, 54, spent 18 years at that company, including four years introducing modified soybeans in Brazil. ArborGen Chief Science Officer Maud Hinchee and James Mann, vice president of business development, also worked at St. Louis-based Monsanto.

ArborGen Pricing

ArborGen may charge 20 times more for its engineered trees than its cheapest seedlings and two to three times more than its best conventional products as it claims a share of the revenue landowners gain from growing high-quality wood faster, according to Rubicon’s July update. Monsanto’s modified corn and soybean seeds are priced to grab as much as half the increased income farmers realize from higher yields and lower pest-control costs.

ArborGen became the world’s largest seedling producer when it bought assets from its parent companies in 2007, making it the only tree developer with its own market channel for genetic technology, Wells said. Others developing gene-modified trees, including FuturaGene Plc in the U.K. and SweTree Technologies in Sweden, lack seedling businesses and aren’t yet pursuing permission for commercial sales.

Monsanto’s research into genetically modified trees is limited to a Brazilian collaboration on eucalyptus and citrus trees at Alellyx SA, which Monsanto acquired in November after the project began, spokeswoman Kelli Powers said.

Faster-Growing Trees

ArborGen next plans to seek U.S. approval to sell loblolly pine, used for lumber and paper, engineered to mature in 18 years rather than 26. In Brazil, ArborGen plans to seek approval for eucalyptus that matures in four years, rather than seven, and eucalyptus with reduced lignin.

Extracting lignin, a brown polymer that hardens trees, is one of the most expensive and polluting parts of making pulp, said Graeme P. Berlyn, professor at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

“They definitely will find a market if they can do what they claim,” Berlyn said.

There is a small chance some modified trees will produce pollen and fertilize conventional relatives, Berlyn said. Populations contaminated with low-lignin traits could be weakened and vulnerable to breakage for thousands of years before evolution eliminates the inferior genetics, he said.

“All of this is a bit troubling,” said Berlyn, who edits the Journal of Sustainable Forestry.

Expanded Testing

While ArborGen awaits approval to sell cold-tolerant eucalyptus, it also is seeking USDA permission to expand a 57- acre test of the trees to 330 acres, mainly in Texas, Florida and Alabama.

ArborGen is working with different eucalyptus species than those that have become pests in California, and the biotech trees are “unlikely” to prove invasive in the U.S. South, according to the USDA. The draft environmental assessment on expanded field testing drew thousands of comments opposing the USDA’s conclusion that the research poses an insignificant risk.

The proposed field tests involve 260,000 experimental trees and are tantamount to commercial approval, the Sierra Club’s Carman said. If the field tests are approved, the Sierra Club may sue the USDA to compel a more thorough study, known as an environmental impact statement, he said.

In 2007, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ordered the USDA to conduct such an assessment of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa and blocked further sales after the Sierra Club and organic farmer groups challenged the plant’s approval. The USDA hasn’t yet released an assessment of ArborGen’s application to commercialize modified eucalyptus.

Approval would set ArborGen on a path to sell 275 million engineered seedlings a year by 2018, assuming its first five modified trees are permitted, contributing to after-tax cash flows of as much as $700 million, according to an April report commissioned by Rubicon.

Tenants fuming as flats turned into ‘Big Brother house’ with 112 CCTV cameras installed inside

Big Brother is watching: Tenants, including Phillip Mays, pictured, are furious after a housing trust fitted up to 112 security cameras in their flats in Torquay, Devon.

‘It’s like Big Brother on TV, watching us all day. It’s a breach of our civil rights and privacy’

The cameras have been put in place inside the building in stairwells and pointing at resident’s front doors

Daily Mail | Aug 28, 2009

Furious tenants say security cameras have turned their flats into a huge Big Brother house.

It comes after a housing trust installed up to 112 CCTV cameras in their eight three-storey blocks and pointing towards residents’ front doors.

People living there say the move is an invasion of their privacy and fear they will be spied on 24 hours a day.

Tenant Phillip Mays, 44, was one of the first to be affected after a camera was installed outside his flat.

He said: ‘They’ll be able to sit watching who comes and goes into each of our flats 24 hours a day.

‘If we were in prison we could expect security like that, but not in our own home.

‘It’s like Big Brother on TV, watching us all day. It’s a breach of our civil rights and privacy.’

Residents living in the flats in Torquay, Devon, first heard about the CCTV in July when the Riviera Housing Trust wrote to them.

The housing associated explained the cameras would be installed to monitor and manage anti-social behaviour and crime on the estate.

Most welcomed it, but now work has begun they have learned the extent of the cameras – up to 112 at a cost of more than £375,000. And they have also being told they will have to pay an extra £2 a week in rent to pay for it.

Mother Donna Brook, 32, was recently burgled and sees the need for cameras – but on the outside of the flats, rather than the inside.

She said: ‘They [the cameras] can see every person coming and going through everyone’s front door.

‘It is an invasion of our privacy.’  And another mother, Jenny Goldsworthy, 34, who has lived in Pendennis Road for 12 years, said: ‘I think it’s terrible. I can’t do anything any more. I feel like we have been invaded’.

Resident Kevin Gaskell, 52, said: ‘The people round here are trying to deal with problems in a civil way, without breaking any laws, and that doesn’t give Riviera Housing Trust the right to come and stuff cameras in here and charge us for the privilege’.

But not everyone is totally against the move. Steve Brinsley, 50, who has lived on the estate for 28 years, said: ‘I don’t like the way the government are recording everyone, but I am willing to accept a bit less freedom for a bit more safety and peace of mind.

‘In the 28 years I have been here there have been children lighting fires in the hallways and causing damage.

‘I have been burgled twice and if CCTV had been installed it would have caught them.’

The head of Riviera Trust’s neighbourhood services, Elizabeth Heatley, said the cameras were an ‘added safety measure’ and will be in communal areas only to help deter incidents of vandalism or anti-social behaviour which have been a problem for residents in the past.

She said that residents were consulted and the Trust took on board their feedback.

‘We are unable to provide exact locations and numbers of CCTV cameras as we believe it would compromise the security of the residents.

‘We do, however, want to reassure residents that Riviera staff members will only gain access to view the footage should there be an incident regarding criminal activity, anti-social behaviour or vandalism.

‘We are keen to gather feedback from our residents once works have been completed to see how they are getting on with the new security features’.

She said that work was including new doors, electrically operated door systems, fire alarms, and floor coverings, as well as the CCTV cameras.

‘We see this as a positive step for residents and it is designed to make them feel more safe and secure in their homes. If they have any concerns or queries we are only too happy to talk to them and discuss them further’.

Resident Philip Mays admitted there had been problems on the estate but that 90 per cent of them were sorted out among residents themselves.

‘These cameras will stop people socialising together. When we associate, we will be watched’.

Anti-Obesity ‘Wonder Drug’ May Harm Liver

TechNewsWorld | Aug 28, 2009

By Lisa Hart

The so-called anti-obesity wonder drug that keeps some of the fat loaded into those tasty potato chips from being absorbed may cause problems far worse than the unpleasant gastric side effects commonly associated with its use. The FDA is investigating dozens of cases of liver damage linked to orlistat, marketed as the prescription drug Xenical and the OTC product Alli.

The Food and Drug Administration More about Food and Drug Administration is looking into reports that orlistat, a drug used to control obesity, might have played a role in 32 cases of liver injury that occurred between 1998 and 2008. The FDA is also investigating an undisclosed number of other cases of liver damage that might be related to the drug.

Orlistat works by inhibiting the absorption of up to 25 percent of fat calories consumed.

It is available by prescription as “Xenical” and over the counter as “Alli.”

There is “no obvious biological mechanism to suggest liver damage can occur,” said British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline, which markets both Xenical and Alli, earlier this week.

Swiss firm Roche manufactures Xenical.

‘Not a New Problem’

Possible side effects that are more common and generally acknowledged include gastrointestinal disruption — such as loose, oily stools and diarrhea.

However, reports of possible liver damage go back to at least 2006, when the American Journal of Medicine warned of a possible case.

“Our position is unchanged,” said Peter Lurie, deputy director of the health research group at the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen.

“We were opposed to the drug’s approval in the first place, in large part because the drug had not conferred a significant health benefit. There were questions regarding its effectiveness in controlling mortality and morbidity due to obesity,” Lurie told TechNewsWorld.

“This is not a new problem,” added Sidney Wolfe, M.D., also with Public Citizen.

“The FDA is belatedly getting concerned about it, but it should have been before,” Wolfe told TechNewsWorld.

Public Citizen has long had concerns about orlistat’s side effects.

“We had questions regarding a possible association with colon cancer, and we had questions about whether there was a problem with people not getting fat-soluble vitamins,” said Wolfe. “We also mentioned possible liver damage and referred to the AJM article.”
Beneficial for Liver?

So far, the FDA is advising the public that those taking orlistat who have not experienced side effects can continue to take it according to directions. However, users should consult with their healthcare More about healthcare provider if they have symptoms of liver injury including weakness, fatigue, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or the whites of eyes), or discolored urine.

About a third of those taking orlistat showed a 5 percent or greater decrease in weight, while about a sixth lost 10 percent or more of their body mass, according to studies submitted by GlaxoSmithKline.

Some researchers have argued that since decreasing obesity can improve liver health, it is possible that orlistat could be beneficial in curbing liver damage caused by complications related to obesity.

Obesity is widely believed to be approaching epidemic levels in the United States, making drugs like orlistat quite popular.

GlaxoSmithKline posted US$123 million in 2008 sales Download Free eBook – The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales for Alli, which contains about half the orlistat as prescription-based Xenical.

Roche reported 2008 revenue of $472 million for Xenical.

Climate change supercomputer has the carbon foot-print of 1000 homes

Weather supercomputer used to predict climate change is one of Britain’s worst polluters

The computer used 1.2 megawatts to run – enough to power 1,000 homes

Daily Mail | Aug 27, 2009

The Met Office has caused a storm of controversy after it was revealed their £30million supercomputer designed to predict climate change is one of Britain’s worst polluters.

The massive machine – the UK’s most powerful computer with a whopping 15 million megabytes of memory – was installed in the Met Office’s headquarters in Exeter, Devon.

It is capable of 1,000 billion calculations every second to feed data to 400 scientists and uses 1.2 megawatts of energy to run – enough to power more than 1,000 homes.

The machine was hailed as the ‘future of weather prediction’ with the ability to produce more accurate forecasts and produce climate change modelling.

However the Met Office’s HQ has now been named as one of the worst buildings in Britain for pollution – responsible for more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

It says 75 per cent of its carbon footprint is produced by the super computer meaning the machine is officially one of the country’s least green machines.

Green campaigners say it is ‘ironic’ that a computer designed to help stave-off climate change is responsible for such high levels of pollution.

But Met Office spokesman Barry Grommett said the computer was ‘vital’ to British meteorology and to help predict weather and environmental change.

He said: ‘We recognise that it is big but it is also necessary. We couldn’t do what we do without it.

‘We would be throwing ourselves back into the dark ages of weather forecasting if we withdrew our reliance on supercomputing, it’s as simple as that.’

The figures have been published by the Department of Communities and Local Government which calculated the ratings and emissions of every public building in the country.

Other buildings which appear in the list with a high carbon footprint include hospitals and large leisure centres.

The supercomputer – more powerful than 100,000 standard PCs – was installed in the Met Office’s new £80 million headquarters in May.

It processes information from satellite images and was hailed as capable of predicting disastrous weather events that were previously unforeseeable such as the infamous hurricane of 1987.

The IBM machine has a peak performance of 1 ‘Petaflop’ – 1,000 billion calculations per second – which it will not reach until 2011.

It is the second time the Met Office has been criticised this year – after the machine famously helped predict a “BBQ summer” which turned out to be another wash-out.

Despite its lack of green credentials Mr Grommett said the rating process was “fundamentally flawed” and claimed its carbon footprint was more than offset by the benefits it delivers.

These included saving lives through severe weather warnings while its forecasting for the global aviation industry saved an estimated 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

Friends of the Earth spokesman Maurice Spurway said: ‘Life is full of ironies and I think this is one of those situations.’

Baby bottles sold as “BPA-free” contain bisphenol A

Top News | Aug 28, 2009

by Carina Rose

Recent study by Health Canada gave shocking results. Researchers found bisphenol A leaching from the “BPA-free” bottles available in the market. Various earlier studies have shown harmful effects of bisphenol A on body. Some studies have also shown that this chemical, which is found in most plastic products, increases the risk of prostate and breast cancer in later age.

The study that showed bisphenol A leaching into liquid in baby bottles become a issue of concern. Within a short span, market was flooded with “BPA-free” bottles. The recent study tested the claims of these bottles being totally free from bisphenol A.

Researchers tested nine different brands of baby bottles using non-polycarbonate plastic. Research team was shocked to find leaching of the toxic chemical, bisphenol A, into liquid in these baby bottles labeled as BPA-free.

A famous “BPA-free” brand, Dr. Brown’s Natural Flow bottle showed trace amounts of 0.9 parts per billion in the water when it was kept for 238 hours at 60 C.

Other brands like Gerber, Medela, Whittlestone, Nuby and a house brand sold at a dollar store in Canada showed trace amounts ranging from 0.002 to 0.025 part per billion.

Over 24 million Russians live in poverty

RT News | Aug 28, 2009

The number of poor people in Russia has risen by 1.5 million people and now amounts to 24.5 million – which is more than 17 per cent of the country’s population, the Federal Service of State Statistics (Rosstat) says.

That is a 1.1 per cent rise year on year, and at year-end in 2008, 13.1 per cent of Russia’s population was living below minimum subsistence income – six million fewer people.

As for the minimum subsistence income itself, in the first quarter of 2009 in Russia, it officially amounted to $160 a month, with slight changes for different social groups – $174 for the working population, $128 for the retired and $154 for children.

According to Rosstat, in comparison with the last quarter of 2008, the minimum subsistence income has risen by 8.3 per cent, with the cost of the consumer goods basket rising by 4.6 per cent, of non-food goods by 5.3 per cent, and services by 14.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the average pension in Russia as of April 1, 2009 exceeded the minimum pensioner subsistence income by 37.5 per cent, in comparison with 24.7 per cent year-on-year.

At year-end in 2009 an average pension will be $200, with the minimum subsistence income amounting to $134, Rosstat says.

And starting from 2010, those retired whose pensions appear lower than the minimum subsistence income are going to get a federal or regional additional payment.

The average income in Russia in the first quarter of 2009 exceeded the minimum subsistence income by 2.7 times, amounting to $442.