RIGHTS: Objects of “Charity and Pity” No More

Mithre J. Sandrasagra

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 29 2007 (IPS) – A new treaty designed to promote and protect the rights of the world s 650 million persons with disabilities opens for signature at the United Nations on Friday.
At its core, the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ensures that persons with disabilities enjoy the same human rights as everyone else, and are able to lead their lives as fully-fledged citizens who can make valuable contributions to society.

Once the convention is ratified, We will no longer be objects of charity and pity, Thomas Schindlmayr, a U.N. disability expert, told reporters here Thursday.

Just two days ago, because of my impairment, I would have had severe limitations here there was no ramp to the podium, Schindlm…

ENVIRONMENT: Oxy Faces Lawsuit Threat Over Amazon Toxins

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, May 4 2007 (IPS) – Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are warning the U.S. oil giant Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) that it could soon face a lawsuit in the United States if it fails to clean up toxic waste in their tropical rainforest.
A new report charges that Oxy #39s operations for three decades on the border between Peru and Ecuador have caused indigenous Achuar children to suffer from high concentrations of lead and cadmium in their blood, believed to cause serious developmental problems.

Previous studies by the Peruvian government have made similar findings.

We have told Oxy this week that they must talk with us in good faith about how they are going to clean up the toxic waste they left in our rainforest, said spiritual e…

AFRICA: G8 Has Yet to Deliver on Aid Promises – World Bank

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Jun 8 2007 (IPS) – The industrialised nations of the Group of Eight are failing on the promises made in their previous summits to help Africa s economic development and to push for poverty alleviation for those struggling to survive on less than a dollar per day, say World Bank experts and development activists.
It s obvious to the whole world that G8 member countries are not fully delivering on their promises to Africa and nobody holds them accountable for those lapses, Eric Kilongi Mgendi, regional spokesperson for the development campaign group ActionAid, told IPS in an interview from Nairobi, Kenya.

African countries badly need technology and investment capital to help them adapt to all kinds of environmental hazards, including the c…

FINANCE: Development Banks Lag on Sexual Health – Report

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Jul 6 2007 (IPS) – Despite strong verbal commitments to reproductive and sexual health, the so-called multilateral development banks (MDBs) that lend to poor nations have spent relatively little money on such projects and, in some cases, have followed policies on the ground that in fact impeded women s empowerment and improved public health, a new study charges.
The study by Gender Action, a Washington-based group that monitors the banks policies towards women and gender equality, examines both the quantity and quality of funding for reproductive health during a four-year period from 2003 to 2006 by MDBs that include the World Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the restrictive fiscal an…

HEALTH-INDIA: Novartis Patents Case Far From Dead

Praful Bidwai

NEW DELHI, Aug 9 2007 (IPS) – Cancer patients in India have reason to be relieved at a high court ruling this week which dismissed a petition by Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational corporation (MNC) Novartis challenging an Indian law which denies patents for minor or trivial improvements to known drugs.
At immediate stake is the cost of a leukaemia drug, imatinib mesylate. Novartis prices its brand of the medicine, Gleevec/Glivec, at Rs 120,000 (3,000 US dollars) per dose. Indian generic drug manufacturers sell it at Rs 8,000 (200 dollars).

India s average per capita annual income is equivalent to only a fifth of the price of a single dose of Gleevec/Glivec. Had Novartis been granted a patent on its version of the drug, tens of thousands of Indians would…

GREECE: Mobile Operators Break the Law

Apostolis Fotiadis

ATHENS, Sep 7 2007 (IPS) – The small black device that Panagiotis Vovos holds in his hands can measure the voltage produced by mobile phone network transmission antennas. It can detect voltages up to 7(Volt/metre).
This would be many times above the legally allowed limit in most European countries (between 0.2 and 6 V/m), China 6(V/m) or Russia 1(V/m); still it is much below the limit in Greece, which reaches up to 33(V/m). If the indicator is constantly on red it means that an antenna is installed in one of the buildings around, which also means that some people are probably bombarded with radiation for many hours per day, Vovos told IPS.

In many cases the appearance of an antenna is usually followed by complaints by inhabitants of headaches, diffi…

ENVIRONMENT-US: A Budding Market for Food Less Travelled

Enrique Gili* – IPS/IFEJ

SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 4 2007 (IPS) – The scent of portobello mushrooms wafts through the air as two of the three co-owners of Roots prep for their morning customers.
A customer waits for her food at the organic Roots restaurant. Credit: Enrique Gili

A customer waits for her food at the organic Roots restaurant. Credit: Enrique Gili

Heather Weightman and Jaime Reed recently set up shop in the hippie neighbourhood of Ocean Beach, San Diego. The community serves as a test laboratory for progressive culture in California. And the latest concept to emerge is …

HEALTH-ASIA: Dengue No Longer Paediatric Says WHO

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Oct 30 2007 (IPS) – As public health experts in South-east Asia come to grips with one of the worst outbreaks of dengue fever in years, they discern a disturbing pattern about the profile of patients who have died from the virus vectored by the aedes aegypti mosquito.
Aedes Aegypti mosquito in action Credit: Wikipedia

Aedes Aegypti mosquito in action Credit: Wikipedia

Indonesia, the region s largest country and one that had a particularly bad year, offers a stark reminder of what the medical community is grappling with. Nearly 20 percent of the fatalities in Indonesia this year were adults, says …

HEALTH-CUBA: Venomous Hope

Patricia Grogg* – IPS/IFEJ

HAVANA, Nov 29 2007 (IPS) – With equal doses of caution and hope, Cuban researchers are moving forward with studies to test the cancer-fighting properties of the toxin produced by the blue scorpion (Rhopalurus junceus), a species endemic to this Caribbean island.
Extraction of venom from blue scorpion. Credit: Randy Rodríguez

Extraction of venom from blue scorpion. Credit: Randy Rodríguez

We are concluding the studies of pre-clinical research in order to obtain registration and approval from Cuba s regulatory entities to begin clinical trials on humans, said m…

HEALTH: World Bank, India Confront Corruption

Abid Aslam

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 2008 (IPS) – Indian health projects are under the microscope following revelations of fraud and corruption in five ventures backed and overseen by the World Bank.
Under scrutiny in the unfolding scandal, which broke in 2005, are bank and government staff, private companies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Evidence of financial and procurement mischief has been uncovered by a detailed implementation review, or DIR, launched by the multilateral lender in 2006 with Indian government support. The bank released the review s findings late Friday.

The probe has revealed unacceptable indicators of fraud and corruption, said Robert Zoellick, the bank s president. The government of India and the World Bank are committed to getti…