Sci-tech news (301)

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* UK Report: Y2K Bug Will Hit Early and Reverberate

LONDON (Reuters,20/4/99) — The millennium computer bug is more than just a
problem for midnight on December 31, 1999, a British report published
Tuesday said.

The report from Taskforce 2000, a privately funded organization seeking to
raise awareness of the millennium computer bug problem, said about 60
percent of computer errors and data disruption will occur during 1999.

Around 30 percent will happen after the revels greeting the new century have
died down, it added.

"The current focus on 1st January 2000, (which) although understandable, is
simplistic and unrealistic," Ian Hugo, assistant director of Taskforce 2000,
told a news conference.

"In particular, the media focus on the rollover from 1999 to 2000 is
mistaken, as we believe that this will be only five to 10 percent of the
problem."

Some computers programmed to understand year dates in two digits may not be
able to handle 2000 and may misread it as 1900. This could cause many
computers to crash or malfunction whenever they have to take account of the
four digits of 2000.

Robin Guenier, executive director of Taskforce 2000, said millennium bug
problems, often referred to by the shorthand Y2K, have already started and
will begin to escalate, probably peaking in a year's time.

Gartner Group, the U.S. technology researcher, agrees with the scenario
which reckons that millennium bug manifestations will not all occur within
minutes of clocks striking midnight at the end of this year.

In a report published last month it said that five percent of Y2K problems
happened before January 1, 1999, 25 percent would reveal themselves in 1999,
with 55 percent waiting until next year. Fifteen percent would not come to
light until 2001.

Eight to 10 percent of failures would bunch into the two weeks after January
1, 2000.

Hugo said the lack of news about computers failing did not mean that
problems had not occurred. "You only hear about the failures that can't be
covered up. Only real messes get heard about," he said.

Hugo reckoned that the riskiest area concerned large corporations that were
late to fix their computer systems.

"Large projects that are late; that's where the chance of failure is
greatest," Hugo said.

Hugo said in the report that what he called the "drag factor" could cause
problems to spread over days or weeks.

"The reason that problems will continue for longer than many think is due to
the "drag factor." This is the lag that occurs between technical errors
occurring and disruption becoming noticeable. A failure in one area may take
weeks to cause problems elsewhere," Hugo said.

* Alloy Could Speed Up PCs

LONDON (The Times, 20/4/99) — A university lecturer claims he can make
computers run a hundred times faster.

Tony Anson believes shape memory alloys — that go back to an original shape
when heat is applied to them — could transform home computers.

He is already applying the technology to medical instruments. Tiny folded
tools made from memory alloys can be inserted into a patient using keyhole
surgery and when they reach body temperature they spring up into the
intended shape to prop open an artery or hold an incision open.

Similarly, Anson is exploring how heat could be used to alter the structure
on an alloy surface so the structure of each crystal could be changed
between a square and a rhombus.

"The crystals are normally square but we can squidge them down a bit by
applying heat," he says.

"This means you can go along and change some of the crystals into rhombuses
and leave some unchanged. In an instant you have got a fast, hugely dense
material to store binary information, just as computer-memory devices do.

"When you look at the pits where information is stored on a CD-Rom you are
talking about getting down to the micrometer level. We can take that down
the next step to the manometer stage. We've done some calculations and we
reckon we could speed up computers 100 times and give them at least 100
times more memory capacity for the same amount of space. And those are
conservative estimates.

"We calculate that on something the size of CD-Rom that would normally hold
650Mb we could even hold as much as 1,000Gb. If a computer was using our
memory devices we reckon we could get a data-transfer rate of about 27Gb per
second, instead of the few Mb per second offered today.

"To apply the heat we have the idea of using an electron emitter similar,
yet more refined, to what you have in a television set. This would be used
to apply heat locally to any individual crystal on the alloy surface,
effectively changing its position so that it can either be on or off — just
like with a digital code.

"We're not just looking at the computer, though. If we can prove that the
technology works and it is adopted, then we could use it in the television
to put in a device that could, say, store the top 500 movies, so that you
have a complete entertainment console. Wherever there is a demand for high-
density memory, we are hoping that shape memory alloys could help."

Anson has set up a company, Dynamic Material Development (DMD), at Brunel
University in west London where he lectures. He won £43,000 funding in the
Department of Trade and Industry's Smart Awards last week and will use it to
test the technology for use in the real world.

"We have a mathematical model on the computer that shows that this works,"
he says. "As we all know, it's a different matter to make the thing work in
real life. This time next year we should have something that will
demonstrate that the technology actually works. It won't be a fully working
prototype but it should at least show that we have a viable, incredibly
powerful alternative to modern computer technology."

Anson has also set up a company to see how shape memory alloys could be used
generally in industry. He first came across the alloys when carrying out
research for the European Space Agency, which had given him funding to
exploit the technology outside of satellite engineering.

* 50,000-Year Time Capsule To Be Launched into Space

NEW YORK (Reuters,20/4/99) — A group headed by a French artist is putting
together a time capsule that will orbit Earth for 50,000 years before
returning with its cargo of messages and other treasures — and you can take
part.

The awe-inspiring project dubbed KEO offers an abundance of information on
its Web site and the chance to write one of the messages for future beings
that will be carried by the winged satellite.

Clicking on "Your Message" at the bottom of the page, which is available in
English and French versions, gives you a blank space in which you can write
up to 6,000 characters — about four pages — in any language and about
anything you want.

In 2001, if all goes according to plan, the messages now being collected
will be launched into orbit, stored on special, glass-tempered CD-ROMs
designed to protect them from the ravages of time and space.

"KEO is like an impressionist painting where each individual's message is
one small dot of paint that he or she leaves before standing back to
contemplate and find meaning in the rich canvas of human colors," its
creator, Paris artist Jean-Marc Philippe, said in a news release on the
project. "It challenges us to to probe the question of who we really are and
what we want of ourselves."

VISIBLE WITH A TELESCOPE

The satellite's wings, made of so-called shape memory alloys, are designed
to beat as the sun's rays and Earth's shadow cause temperature changes. It
will be visible in the sky with a simple optic telescope.

When it returns to Earth, its specially designed thermal shield will react
with the atmosphere, signaling the orbiter's landing with a Northern Lights-
like phenomenon.

The orbiter will also carry a contemporary "Library of Alexandria," named
for the legendary library of ancient times, with content selected by a
"multicultural, multidisciplinary and multidenominational 'think tank,"' the
Web site says.

Also aboard will be an image of present-day Earth; a diamond containing
samples of seawater, air, soil and a drop of human blood; and pictures of
men, women and children.

The satellite will have information to help those who discover it 50,000
years hence: a "user manual" on how to read the messages on the CD-ROMs —
the technology presumably will be obsolete by then — and an "astronomical
clock" showing the current position and rotational speed of radio pulsars,
which will enable the orbiter's discoverers to determine its age.

Why 50,000 years? "50,000 years is the mirror date to a fantastic moment in
the evolution of mankind: the appearance of Art, which outwardly revealed
our capacity for abstract thought," the site says.

"It is also a distance in time that is so vertiginous and mind-boggling that
it compels us to abandon our normal points of reference and puts us all on
equal footing, forcing us to reach down into our imaginations or deep
convictions. And it is a time span that will give our treasures a true
archeological value, because most, if not all, traces of our existence today
will have disappeared by then."

KEO's name comes from the most frequently used phonemes, or phonetically
similar sounds, in the most widely spoken languages. The project is backed
mainly by French companies and institutions including government-owned
Aerospatiale aerospace and defense company; the Ecole des Mines de Paris;
Radio France Internationale; the Strasbourg-based International Space
University, and Europe's Arianespace launch company.

The help is coming solely through voluntary contributions in kind, be it
time, skills, materials or services, according to project member Veronica
Quinn.

'FREE OF COMMERCIAL OR POLITICAL INFLUENCE'

"This policy was deliberately adopted so that KEO could remain free of any
commercial or political influence, and to avoid diverting funds
unintentionally from more urgent, humanitarian causes," Quinn said in an e-
mail response to questions.

The site gives those who want to help a chance to offer their services. Four
people work on the KEO project team and there are more than 100 voluntary
contributors, Quinn said.

A link on the site labeled "KEO extras" gives you a chance to send KEO-
themed e-mail "postcards" or download a KEO screen background for your
personal computer, among other things. If you have your own Web site you can
download an animated link to KEO's site.

Not wired? No problem. You can send your KEO message via regular mail to
KEO, 65bis, Boulevard Brune, 75014 Paris, France. The project is also
looking into ways to collect messages from people who cannot read or write.

"We have received thousands of messages so far representing around 53
countries," from people ranging in age from 7 to 86, Quinn said.

"Nice surprises in the last week or so were a bunch of messages from a high
school class in Illinois (via Internet) and 30 individual envelopes from a
school in Reunion in the Indian Ocean," she said. "I got a message from a
father two weeks ago in Colombia who wanted answers to questions for his
son's homework."

* Skeleton Shows Early Man, Neanderthals Interbred

ST. LOUIS (Reuters, 20/4/99) — A 24,500-year-old skeleton found in Portugal
with characteristics of both early modern humans and Neanderthals shows the
two groups interbred and may be ancestors of modern man, a U.S. scientist
said Monday.

The hybrid skeleton of what was likely a 4-year-old boy refuted the widely
held theory that early humans emigrated from Africa and displaced the
Neanderthal population without interbreeding, Washington University
anthropologist Erik Trinkaus said.

The hybrid skeleton was the first evidence ever found that populations of
early modern humans and Neanderthals interacted and interbred, Trinkaus
said.

"This skeleton shows a mixture of features that are features of modern man,"
he said in a telephone interview.

Many anthropologists support the so-called "Out of Africa" theory of human
origins that says modern humans evolved in Africa and spread across the
world about 100,000 years ago.

There is considerable evidence that Cro-Magnon people, who became modern
humans, lived side-by-side with and interacted with Neanderthals, which died
out about 30,000 years ago.

"This find refutes strict replacement models of modern human origins — that
early modern humans all emerged from Africa and wiped out the Neanderthal
population," Trinkaus said.

Radiocarbon dating of the skeleton excavated in December showed it lived
about 24,500 years ago, or 4,000 years after the time that early modern
humans migrated across the Pyrenees and into the Iberian Peninsula where
Neanderthals were already living, he said.

"This skeleton, which has some characteristics of Neanderthals and others of
early modern humans, demonstrates that early modern humans and Neanderthals
are not all that different. They intermixed, interbred and produced
offspring," Trinkaus said.

He said the skeleton could not be dismissed as just a product of some
unlikely, rare affair between members of the two groups.

"This is not a love child," he continued. "The results of admixture were
there in the population 4,000 years after Neanderthals and early modern
humans first met on the Iberian Peninsula."

A study published in 1997 of DNA taken from the Neanderthal skeleton
discovered in Germany's Neander valley in 1856 indicated it was too distant
genetically to have been an ancestor of modern humans.

But Trinkaus said that merely proved that Neanderthals were not modern man,
which was already known.

Though the skeleton's skull was crushed when a farmer bulldozed the then-
undiscovered site six years ago, Portuguese archaeologists led by Portugal's
director of antiquities, Joao Zilhao, subsequently found the well-preserved
body and the intact lower jaw preserved in red ochre a few inches (cm) below
the surface.

The prominent chin was characteristic of early modern humans while the
stocky trunk and short limbs reflected its Neanderthal origins, Trinkaus
said. Other arm bones pointed to early modern human parentage.

The skeleton was found when an archaeologist stuck his hand down a rabbit
hole and pulled out the well-preserved skeleton's left forearm. The body was
buried in red ochre, with a pierced shell, indicating a ritual burial,
Trinkaus said.

The site is on a hillside near Leiria, Portugal, in the Lapedo Valley 80
miles (130 km) north of Lisbon and 19 miles (30 km) off the Atlantic Coast.

* Russian missiles start new life - Many Soviet ICBMs were placed in silos

BBC, 21/4/99 - Russia has launched an experimental satellite into orbit
using a converted intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The SS-18 Satan rocket was once armed with nuclear warheads and targeted at
the United States. But the under the provisions of Start (Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty), it had to be either decommissioned or adapted for
civilian use.

The rocket, now known as the Dnepr-1, launched from from a silo at the
Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It performed its new duties perfectly.

It placed an Earth observation satellite into a low, 650km orbit. The
satellite was built by the UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

Proving technology

The UoSat-12 satellite contains a colour Earth observation camera with a
resolution of 40m, and a black and white camera which can pick out objects
as small as nine metres.

The research and development satellite will be used to demonstrate low-cost
technology for studying meteorology, vegetation cover, rivers and
coastlines, as well as monitoring floods, deforestation and natural
disasters.

"As far as the launch is concerned, it's been a perfect success," said
Audrey Nice from the company, which is a commercial arm of the University of
Surrey.

"The satellite separated from the rocket, as it should have done, 877
seconds into the flight. We've already had telemetry back to confirm that it
is now successfully orbiting on its own."

Destructive power

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd paid a "substantial amount" to the Russian
launch provider ISC Kosmotras to use the converted SS-18 missile.

The SS-18 Satan is Russia's most powerful intercontinental ballistic
missile. It has a range of about 9,500km (6,000 miles), and can be armed
with 10 independent, 750 kiloton nuclear warheads, each having more than 35
times the destructive power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The Start treaty specifies that all of the former Soviet Union's SS-18
nuclear missiles have to be withdrawn by the year 2007. Because they are
already designed to fly into space, converting them into launchers for
satellites is relatively straightforward.

Used as a booster rocket, the SS-18 can put satellites weighing up to four
tonnes into orbit.

* Space Tourism ready for take-off

BBC, 21/4/99 - The time when ordinary people can go into space as tourists
is fast approaching believes space visionary Sir Arthur C Clarke. He told
BBC News Online that it is about time we built a hotel in space.

Consider the attractions and appeal, he said. "Where else could you get to
see a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes."

His call for a renewed effort to get tourists into space comes on the day of
the first of two conferences this year devoted to space tourism.

The conferences, in Germany and in the United States, are tapping into the
feeling that advances in technology are at last bringing the space tourist
concept within reach.

Thriving industry

Even the head of Nasa, Dan Goldin, has said it will happen. "In a few
decades there will be a thriving tourist industry on the Moon," he recently
told American politicians.

Testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on science, technology and space,
Goldin said that "space tourism will soon become affordable."

It is very difficult to estimate the cost of a trip into space but sums of
£50,000 for a one-hour flight have been mentioned.

Sir Arthur points out that the market for space tourism could be enormous.
"In many countries, more than half the people who were asked responded that
they would go into space as a tourist."

A handful of US companies have advanced plans to build the prototype of a
space passenger vehicle.

Testing is planned for later this year and analysts expect that at least one
of the spacecraft will prove viable.

Sub-orbital spaceplanes

In the UK, too, expectations are high. "Passenger flights to space will
start within a decade," said David Ashford of Bristol Spaceplanes, a small
company with big plans.

He believes that the key factor that has prevented many companies from
developing plans to build their own spacecraft will soon be overcome: "The
cost of sending people into space will be reduced by a factor of a thousand
within the next 15 years," he said.

This will happen when rocket technology merges with aeroplane technology.
"Aeroplanes are reusable and cheaper and they bring the concept of a sub-
orbital spaceplanes within the range of a small company."

One concept that Bristol Spaceplanes are working on is "Ascender", a small
three-person craft designed to go into space but not into orbit.

In a 30-minute flight, it would reach an altitude of 100km (62 miles) and
spend two minutes there. This is above the altitude of 80km (50 miles) that
the United States Air Force regards as qualifying for astronaut wings.

Private space stations are also possible. Earlier this year, BBC News Online
reported that a concept based on reusing the space shuttle's fuel tanks was
receiving serious backing.

* Astronomers moonstruck by Hubble pictures

BBC, 21/4/99 - The Hubble Space Telescope has captured these fabulous images
of the volatile moon Io sweeping across the giant face of Jupiter.

The pictures were taken to try to see volcanic plumes on one of Jupiter's
major moons.

Only a few weeks before these images were taken, the orbiting telescope
snapped a portrait of one of Io's volcanoes spewing sulphur dioxide "snow".

These stunning images of Io and Jupiter have been released to commemorate
the ninth anniversary of the Hubble telescope's launch on April 24, 1990.
All of these images were taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera Two.

The snapshots show the Io passing above Jupiter's turbulent clouds. The
close-up image of Io reveals a 200km (125 miles) plume of sulphur dioxide
snow emanating from Pillan, one of the moon's active volcanoes.

"Other observations have inferred the presence of sulphur dioxide snow in
Io's plumes, but this image offers direct observational evidence for it,"
explains John R Spencer of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

A trip around Jupiter

The three snapshots of the volcanic moon rounding Jupiter were taken over a
1.8-hour time span. Io is roughly the size of Earth's moon.

In two of the images, Io appears to be skimming Jupiter's cloud tops, but it
is actually 500,000km (310,000 miles) away.

The black spot on Jupiter is Io's shadow and is about 3,700 km (2,300 miles)
across. The shadow sails across the face of Jupiter at 17km per second
(38,000mph). The smallest details visible on Io and Jupiter measure 150km
(94 miles) across.

The images were further sharpened through image reconstruction techniques.
The view is so crisp that one would have to actually be standing on Io to
see this much detail on Jupiter with the naked eye.

The bright patches on Io are regions of sulphur dioxide frost. On Jupiter,
the white and brown regions distinguish areas of high-altitude haze and
clouds; the blue regions depict relatively clear skies at high altitudes.

A volcanic moon

In the close-up picture of Io, the mound rising from the surface is an
eruption from Pillan, a volcano that had previously been dormant.

Pillan's plume is very hot and its ejecta are moving extremely fast. Based
on information from the Galileo spacecraft currently in orbit around the
planet, Pillan's outburst is at least 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,240
Fahrenheit). The volcano is spewing material at speeds of 2,880km/h
(1,800mph).

The hot sulphur dioxide gas expelled from the volcano cools rapidly as it
expands into space, freezing into snow.

Io is well known for its active volcanoes. It has hundreds of active
volcanoes, but only a few, typically eight or nine, have visible plumes at
any given time.

* Of Planets and Blind Men

Fox News, 21/4/99 - The story goes that Fats Waller, father of blues music,
was once accosted by an old lady questioning his talent. His music, she
claimed, didn't make much sense. The melody was choppy, the rhythm shocking
and when people danced to it, they seemed to be undergoing an epileptic fit.
"What in the world are you playing, Mr. Waller?" she asked, to which the
great musician is alleged to have responded, "Lady, if you can't feel it,
don't mess with it!"

It may now be taken for granted that our Sun has nine small predictable
companions, but in 1845 it had seven of them, and one followed a nonsensical
path. Astronomers tried to put together this gravitational puzzle: Seven
bodies dancing around the star like kids around a camp fire, is there any
order to their jumping and hopping? Surely, the Universal Law of Gravitation
could explain it all. Yet contravening physical etiquette, Uranus remained
significantly distant from the orbit predicted by Isaac Newton's famous law.

Armed with a formula and a table of positions, Englishman John Couch Adams
theorized the only possible solution: the Solar System had an eighth child
beyond Uranus which affected the system's gravitational ballet. The
astronomer had not five but six senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste
(the usual five) plus the sense of gravitation. He could feel the sky. Adams
immediately communicated his calculations to the royal astronomer of the
prestigious Cambridge Observatory, but the man decided not to look ...

Lady, if you can't feel it, don't mess with it!

At the Berlin Observatory, however, the story was quite different. There, on
the same night that French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier communicated his own
calculations about Uranus, the telescope was swerved into position and a Dr.
Galle identified the disturbing body as a planet, which he called Neptune.
French poet Arago would say that Le Verrier had seen Neptune with the tip of
his pen!

Doctor Galle knew that he was looking at a planet and not a star because the
little twinkle he had found did not look like a luminous pinhead but rather
like a small disk of light. Indeed, pictures from large telescopes and the
interplanetary probe Voyager-2 have shown the twinkle is a planet without
the shadow of a doubt. Neptune looks blue and has a gaseous atmosphere which
exhibits large meteorological phenomena, like on Earth.

Within the confines of the Solar System, planets can be identified visually
as small disks, whereas a nearby star would illuminate our entire sky. But
at greater distances, a planet orbiting another sun turns into a faint dot
too close to its bright neighbor to stand out on its own. It's like the
defective headlights of a car, one very bright (the star) the other rather
faint (the planet). At close range the two can be distinguished as two
bright disks but far away they appear to be one single point of light.
Likewise, far away planets are not visible when orbiting a star. So
astronomers have to appeal to Adams' and Le Verrier's sixth sense —
gravitation — to look for other worlds. They seek motion, wobbles, jitters
in the single headlights dotting the firmament.

An alien astronomer investigating our solar system for the presence of
planets would see a dot of light and might go on with a sigh. But if the
alien's smart, and if the alien governing body gave its astronomers adequate
resources (and they used it well), then the alien might notice a minute
wobble, a slight but periodic change in the position of the luminous pinhead
we call Sun due to the gravitational influence of nine minuscule companions.

Such changes are so small, however, they cannot be measured directly.
Rather, astronomers dissect starlight for changes in frequency. If the
changes occur at regular intervals it may signify that the star is moving
alternatively toward then away from us, like in a gravitational merry-go-
round, or that one or more companions are regularly obstructing the line of
sight (i.e. in orbit).

Although a single star wobbling for no apparent reason would imply it has an
invisible companion, it does not necessarily imply the companion is a
planet; it could also be a faint star, a Brown Dwarf (a failed sun) or a
Black Hole (an overachieving sun). The nature of the companion is determined
by its mass. If the object's mass is below 84 Jupiters, it is most probably
not a star.

This limit corresponds to the minimum amount of matter required to keep
fusion going inside a star — a bit like the number of logs needed to start a
campfire and keep it ablaze. Between 84 and 10 Jupiters the companion is
probably an innocuous ball of gas, a Brown Dwarf. But below 10 Jupiters, the
object might be a planet! So the astronomer's sixth sense has to be very
refined: one mistake in the mass estimate and a Brown Dwarf turns into a
planet or a planet into the thinnest of air — vacuum.

Like Fats Waller said: "Lady, if you can't feel it, don't mess with it!"

* GM crop code 'ridiculous'

BBC, 21/4/99 - Environmentalists have dismissed leaked proposals for a code
of conduct to regulate the cultivation of genetically-modified crops.

They branded the government's plan to control GM farming in the UK as a
worthless publicity stunt.

The code contains a list of "dos and don'ts" for farmers and food processors
who intend to grow GM crops.

But campaigners say it fails to address concerns about the safety of GM
crops.

The code would only be voluntary and has been drawn up by SCIMAC, a group of
organisations which represents farmers, the seed trade and biotechnology
companies.

Friends of the Earth campaigns director Robin Maynard said the proposals
were "ridiculous".

Food Minister Jeff Rooker defended the move, saying the government had had
to opt for voluntary measures.

Ministers wanted regulations in place before UK farms started growing GM
crops and that there would not be enough time to pass legislation to do
this, he said.

The code appears likely to be approved by a Cabinet committee on Wednesday
and would come into effect immediately.

Penalty points

Under the proposals, penalty points, similar to those used for drivers,
would be given to anyone breaking the rules.

Those who collected 12 points over three years would be disqualified from
growing GM crops for a fixed period.

The code also contains rules about what information seed developers should
pass on to farmers and that farmers should give to food companies who buy
their crops.

It sets down how farms should keep records of what crops they have grown and
also standards of best practice for cultivation.

'A PR paper exercise'

Mr Maynard said: "This isn't regulation. This is a voluntary code of conduct
put forward by industry and the only reason they have done this is the
public in Britain is so opposed to GM cropping.

"Over two thirds of people don't want GM crops grown at all.

"This document was leaked to Friends of the Earth and others so it suggests
that people within government don't think it's satisfactory and it's pretty
much a PR paper exercise."

He added that the code failed to deal with concerns about the effect on the
countryside of use of weedkillers which could be used with GM crops.

Its only advice on the subject was to name conservation groups which farmers
could contact if they were concerned.

The provisions dealing with the risk of organic farms being contaminated by
GM crops in neighbouring fields were also inadequate, he said.

There was scant guidance on how GM farmers should deal with their neighbours
and the rights of non-GM farms.

"The SCIMAC code doesn't really say what farmers are supposed to do except
tell their neighbours then it's left to the courts," he said.

Critics of the code also say a pro-industry bias is obvious in the penalty
points proposals.

They say it is bizarre that more points would be awarded for hoarding GM
seeds - which could potentially hit the profits of seed companies - than for
spilling seeds and allowing GM material to grow.

Laws would 'take too long'

But Mr Rooker defended the code, which he said would be enforced by
independent spot checks on farms.

He said a government consultation, which ended in 1997 demonstrated a
widespread desire for special regulations to cover GM crops.

This had not left enough time to get regulations passed in UK and European
law before the current trials of GM crops got underway, he said

"We didn't want there to be the position so there would be the consents for
the crops, so legally they could be grown, without there being special
rules."

This argument was rejected by Mr Maynard. He said the UK could have ordered
a temporary ban on GM crops, as other EU countries have done, until it had
laws in place.

* Sundial bound for Mars Designed to tell the time on Mars

BBC, 21/4/99 - For the first time in history, humanity will send a sundial
to another planet. Inscribed with the motto "Two Worlds, One Sun," the
sundial will travel to Mars aboard Nasa's Mars Surveyor 2001 lander.

Images of the sundial, taken by the lander's panoramic camera after its
landing on Mars in January 2002, will reveal the passage of the hours and
seasons as the sun moves across the peach-coloured Martian sky.

In addition, the sundial's central black, grey, and white rings and corner
colour tiles will act as a calibration target to adjust the brightness and
tint of pictures taken by the camera.

Gold post

"Our ancestors made astonishing discoveries about the nature of the heavens
and our place in it by closely watching the motion of shadows," said US TV
science show host Bill Nye, as he unveiled the sundial design at a press
conference.

"Now, at the dawn of the next century, we can make observations of new
shadows, this time on another planet."

The sundial will be 3 inches (about 8 cm) square, and will weigh just over 2
ounces (60 g). Made of aluminium to minimise its weight, its metal surfaces
will be black and gold.

The sundial's central black, grey and white calibration rings are arranged
to represent the orbits of Mars and Earth, and red and blue dots show the
positions of the planets at the time of the landing in 2002. Portions of the
central shadow post are gold to represent the sun.

Earth message

"The sundial carries a message for future Martian explorers who may seek it
out, or who may find it by good fortune. The four gold side panels around
the sundial's base are engraved with the words:

People launched this spacecraft from Earth in our year 2001. It arrived on
Mars in 2002. We built its instruments to study the Martian environment and
to look for signs of life. We used this post and these patterns to adjust
our cameras and as a sundial to reckon the passage of time. The drawings and
words represent the people of Earth. We sent this craft in peace to learn
about Mars' past and about our future. To those who visit here, we wish a
safe journey and the joy of discovery."

The sundial was designed in conjunction with the US National Science
Teachers Association. Over 160 design concepts were submitted from children
across the country.

Martian time

One idea suggested by children was that the sundial bear writing in many
languages, representing the diverse cultures of Earth.

Once the spacecraft lands on Mars and the exact orientation of the sundial
can be determined, viewers will be able to tell local Martian time from
sundial images and a computer-generated overlay posted on the World Wide
Web.

Over the course of a day, viewers on Earth will thus see the passage of time
on Mars recorded in the sweep of the shadow of the sundial's central post.
The shadow will also reveal the changing Martian seasons over the full
duration of the mission.

* Why El Niño and La Niña Make You Sneeze

NEW YORK (Fox News, 21/4/99) — When she stepped out to her car last Monday
morning, Linda Atkins knew she faced another busy week at her job as a nurse
at an allergy clinic in Rome, Ga.

"There was yellow stuff everywhere," she said, describing the film of pine
pollen that has coated southern states this spring and that is indicative of
the high levels of the less-visible but more troublesome oak pollen. "It
gets on your driveway, all over your house. If you don't clean it up, it
turns your car yellow."

Pollen counts, particularly in the South, have reached record levels this
spring and have prompted hoards of sniffling patients to flood the doors of
allergy clinics.

On Friday, counts in Savannah, Ga., were recorded at more than 12,000 grains
per cubic meter. That reading is absurdly steep considering that pollen
readings over 120 are considered high and counts over 1,500 are rated very
high. Atlanta also topped its record this season with counts above 6,000;
other cities like San Jose, Calif., and Tulsa, Okla., are experiencing
thicker-than-normal spring air.

What's behind this respiratory menace?

What else but that devious pair of weather systems, El Niño and La Niña.

"It's like a teenager during a growth spurt," said Dr. Donald Pulver, M.D.,
a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and an
allergy doctor in Rochester, N.Y. "That's what has happened to these trees."

The main effect of both El Niño and La Niña is to lock weather systems over
a particular geographic region for an entire season. Last winter, that meant
the South saw unusually wet winters as the biggest El Niño ever caused
storms to settle over the region.

"Last year's winter was the wettest on record for the southeast," reported
Ken Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

That may have meant dreary weather for people living in the South, but for
the trees, particularly the southern oak, the wet weather was pure
nourishment.

"If you keep adding water, a tree will grow taller and add more branches and
buds," said Pulver. "And the more branches and buds a tree has, the more
pollen potential it carries."

After last year's growth spurt, trees loaded up on pollen — the reproductive
seed of plants — and waited for warm weather to release their arsenal.
That's where La Niña came in.

La Niña, a swathe of cold Pacific water at the equator, nudged storm tracks
in the United States further north this spring, causing the South to see
warmer, drier temperatures. The early warm weather caused trees to release
their pollen early — and all at once. And the lack of rain has allowed
pollen to hover longer than usual in the air.

"Normally, there would be a succession of trees releasing pollen, one after
another," said Pulver. "But this year, they came out all at once. It was
like it was in a giant popcorn maker."

In the northwest, pollen counts are high, but not off the charts. Next year
could be a different story, however, since states like Washington and
Northern California recently experienced unusually wet winters under La
Niña. That may have caused trees to grow more buds for next season.

For those living in the northeast, a rather cool spring has tempered the
amount of pollen in the air. Pulver said he saw a flood of allergy patients
at his upstate New York office in early spring when a spate of warm weather
caused local maple trees to release their seeds. But a mid-spring snowstorm
caused the trees to then turn off their buds.

"Now we're waiting to see what warm, dry conditions do," said Pulver. "It
could burst out any day now."

Meanwhile, meteorologists are worried that La Niña may cause problems much
more worrisome than runny noses and tearing eyes. If La Niña holds, it is
likely to keep major storm systems restricted to the north. That means
southern and even central states may be in for a long, hot, dry summer. Hot,
dry weather, in turn, means draught and, as people in Florida are already
experiencing, wildfires.

In fact, one of the last major draughts in the nation occurred in 1988 when
the world was also under the grips of a La Niña system.

"The prospects for the South are not very good," said Trenberth. "And,
unfortunately, pollen is only the first problem."

* The Ah-Choo Blues: How to Treat Spring Allergies

NEW YORK (Fox News, 21/4/99) — Birds are twittering, trees are budding,
grass is growing ... people are sneezing.

And thanks to the warm, wet El Nino weather pattern last year, when trees
and grasses got plenty of water and time to grow, this spring is an
especially wheezy season.

Check out the related STORY from the Fox News SciTech Section.

"This year is bad, and in certain parts of the country it appears to be very
bad," said Thomas Platts-Mills, M.D., the Director of the Asthma and
Allergic Diseases Center at the University of Virginia-Charlottesville.
"There are reports from Atlanta of pollen counts in the thousands."

A tree pollen count between 15 and 90 is considered moderate, according to
the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. As of April 14,
Atlanta's tree pollen count was 4,371.

Fortunately, allergy treatment options are also more abundant than ever, and
information about allergy conditions in your area is easily accessible.
There is even a Web site where you can look up the pollen counts around the
country.

The Claritin ads are hard to miss. But two other new antihistamine drugs,
Allegra and Zertec, can also clear up a runny nose and watery eyes without
knocking you out. And a number of newer nasal sprays can reduce nose
inflammation without harming you over the long-term.

What's more, with the increasing popularity of alternative medicine, the
array of herbal and homeopathic treatment options is more widely available
than ever before. See related story.

What Are Allergies?

Everyone has the capacity to become allergic, according to Dr. Karl M.
Altenburger, M.D., an allergist in Okala, Fla. Allergies to a particular
substance are inherited, Altenburger explained, although actual allergies
can develop or disappear at any point during a person’s lifetime.

Doctors don’t yet know why allergic tendencies are expressed at certain
times, but they believe a complex interaction of genetic and environmental
factors may be at play.

When the body is exposed to an allergen, it produces an antibody called IgE
immunoglobulin. This antibody then attaches to mast cells, cells located in
the tissue beneath the body surfaces such as skin, eyes and the respiratory
tract.

When a mast cell is surrounded by IgE antibodies, it breaks apart, releasing
chemicals called histamines that cause swelling, itching and tearing — the
allergic reaction so many of us know all too well.

Why Spring?

Spring allergies, the most common forms of seasonal allergies, are allergies
to the pollen that becomes airborne in the springtime when trees and grasses
reproduce. Fall allergies are allergies to the ragweed that pollinates in
the autumn.

Contrary to popular belief, the type of pollen that causes spring allergies
is not the sticky green and yellow stuff that covers sidewalks and windows.

"Everyone thinks they’re allergic to that pollen," Platts-Mills said. "But
it’s actually too big to float, so it isn’t an important allergen."
(Similarly, the waxy pollen in table flowers is also pretty harmless because
it’s designed to stick to insects’ legs, not to float through the air.)

The real spring allergies come from the airborne pollens produced by
deciduous trees such as oaks, maples, ash and sycamores, and from grasses,
which can produce an invisible cloud of pollen that goes up to altitudes of
2,000 feet. When a person walks into this cloud of pollen, the lungs, eyes
and skin are exposed to it.

There is less pollen in the air on rainy, cloudy or windless days because
the pollen does not travel well through humid air and cannot be as easily
blown around.

Conventional Relief: Common Sense and Claritin

"It’s important to remember that there are simple, sensible things you can
do to decrease your exposure to pollen," said Platts-Mills. "Just today, I
saw a girl who was developing [allergic] asthma because of pollen in the
air. But in the warm weather, she had put a fan in her bedroom window that
was blowing [the pollen] into her room."

It's also key to know that pollen counts are highest in the early mornings,
so that time of day is to be avoided. Take off your shoes and shower after
being outside, avoid mowing and raking your lawn and don't hang laundry
outside where it can accumulate pollen.

Prescription medications also provide relief, and an allergist with at least
two years of specialty training can help you decide which one is best for
you. "If you feel that your allergies are controlling you and you’re not
controlling them, it’s time to see a person who is a board-certified
[allergy] specialist," Altenburger said.

Over-the-counter nasal sprays such as Afrin may actually make things worse
over the long-term, Platts-Mills said. Because they constrict blood vessels
in the nose, those blood vessels may rebound and become more swollen than
before, leading to repeat usages.

There is some evidence that steroid nasal sprays and inhalers retard growth
in children when given at doses of over 800 mcg daily. Usually, it’s
asthmatics rather than seasonal allergy sufferers who are at risk since
steroid nasal sprays are about 30 or 40 mcg per puff, Platts-Mills said.

Millennial Miracle Drug?

A new type of allergy drug which would actually attack the source of
allergies — the IgE immunoglobulins — is currently in development.

Biotech companies Genentech, Novartis A.G. and Tanox Biosystems, Inc. are
currently conducting advanced-stage (Phase III) clinical trials of this drug
on 2,000 allergy and asthma sufferers in the United States and Europe.

The drug, which is taken by injection every two to four weeks, is made up of
an antibody to IgE and is thought to block IgE from attaching to mast cells,
thus stopping an allergic reaction before it even begins.

The results of earlier trials, which were presented last November, showed
that the drug was promising and seemed to be safe, with no serious adverse
reactions. The first results of this next stage of research, which are being
conducted as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, will be
presented this May in Sweden.

If trials continue to show success and the drug gets FDA approval, it could
be on the market by the year 2001.

"If it works very well, it would make allergies go away," said Platts-Mills.
"It certainly has significant effects, but whether it's going to be good
enough to justify having regular injections remains to be demonstrated."

* Pill safety fear provokes anger

BBC, 20/4/99 - A cancer expert has re-opened the controversy over the
contraceptive pill by suggesting it is too early to say that there is no
long-term risk of developing breast cancer from taking it.

Professor Klim McPherson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine says concluding that there is no long-term cancer risk from the
pill may inhibit new studies.

But his comments have provoked a strong response from other experts in the
field who warn that it is wrong to worry women about the safety of an
effective form of contraception.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Professor
McPherson says pill scares are "regrettable" and have caused a huge surge in
conceptions.

But he believes doubts about the safety of oral contraceptives should not be
silenced.

Family planning and breast cancer experts have expressed concerns about his
comments, saying they will be used to create another scare.

They come days after the government did a U-turn over one form of the pill
over fears that it increases the risk of developing blood clots.

'Simplistic'

Professor McPherson says recent research suggesting only a slight risk from
the pill may be too simplistic.

He points out that many studies were undertaken before it became common for
the pill to be taken by young women several years before their first
pregnancy.

He believes there is evidence that the breast cancer risk may increase with
early use of the pill.

And he says breast cancer may take more than 20 years to develop.

This means that we may not know the long-term effects of the pill until
2010, he deduces.

He adds that breast cancer is now common among women in their late 40s, as
is long-term use of the pill before first pregnancy.

He concludes that the chance of developing breast cancer before age 50 is
one in 50 in Western countries.

But he says this could increase to one in 18 in women who go on the pill at
least four years before their first pregnancy.

Indirect link

Professor McPherson says that, although increasing female hormone levels are
not thought to be a direct cause of cancer, it is unclear whether they may
have a contributory effect.

For example, studies suggest that cell proliferation rates - which are
involved in cancer development - are significantly higher in women on the
pill who have not yet had a child.

Professor McPherson states: "Concluding no long-term detrimental effects may
be premature and may also inhibit new studies of an important possible
effect."

But Professor Valerie Beral of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund says a
recent major study has been conducted into the risks for women who begin
taking the pill years before their first pregnancy and who ceased use more
than 15 years ago.

It found the risk of breast cancer was actually lower for those who took the
pill at an early age than for those who never took it.

She added that cancer incidence among women under 50 was decreasing.

"We would know by now if there was a big increase in the incidence of breast
cancer," she said.

Dr Clifford Kay is a retired GP who worked on the four-year study which gave
the pill a clean bill of health.

He said: "This is pure speculation. I don't think there is any justification
for saying there is an increased risk.

"If a woman comes to a GP and is concerned about these claims she will
probably stop taking the pill, and that is sad because it is a very reliable
form of contraception."

Ongoing studies

Dr Lesley Walker, the Cancer Research Campaign's head of science
information, said studies were ongoing into the effect of the pill on breast
cancer and a full picture was not yet available.

She added that, from the data now available. it appeared there was a slight
increase in risk.

However, GPs now advised women to stop taking the pill after they reach the
age of 40 and a study showed that the risk disappeared 10 years after coming
off the contraceptive.

The pill also reduced the risk of developing ovarian cancer.

She added that the risk appears to be only very slight in comparison with
other "natural" risk factors, such as the overall hormonal history of a
woman including, for example, when she started her periods.

"The value of the pill to women cannot be underestimated," she stated.

A spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association said that it was
unfortunate that Professor McPherson had chosen the pill and breast cancer
as the subject of his study on why epidemiologists need to be careful about
the information they release.

"It is sad because he has created a great deal of media interest which is
exactly what he did not want to do."

* Depression Features Can Predict Family Risks

NEW YORK (Reuters, 19/4/99) — While depression has long been known to run in
families, less is known about the specific features that predict risk of
depression among family members.

But now a study of 1,765 twins found that four features of depression —
number of depressive episodes, length of the longest depression, recurrent
thoughts of suicide and degree of impairment — strongly predict the risk of
depression in the twin of a patient with major depression, Dr. Kenneth S.
Kendler of the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond reports in the April issue of the Archives of General
Psychiatry.

"A single episode of depression that is not impairing and does not last very
long is very different than multiple episodes of depression that last for
long periods of time and occur with suicidal thoughts," Kendler, the Banks'
distinguished professor of psychiatry and human genetics, told Reuters
Health. "If a family member has a history of the latter, there is a much
higher risk that depression can be (genetically) transmitted to you."

The team studied 1,765 pairs of twins where one twin had major depression.
They found that in 639 of these twin pairs, the second or "co-twin" was also
depressed. Depressed co-twins were more likely to have twin siblings who
reported an average of 6 bouts of depression with the longest episode
lasting for about 28 weeks, severe impairment to the point that they could
not go to work or do housework, and recurrent thoughts of death and suicide.

Recurrence was the strongest single predictor of risk for depression in
relatives, Kendler pointed out. In fact, the risk of depression among co-
twins rose steadily as number of lifetime episodes among their twins
increased from 1 to 9.

The new findings held in both male and female twins, but they predicted risk
of major depression more strongly in identical twins, compared with
fraternal twins. Unlike previous studies, age at onset of first depression
was not related to risk of familial depression.

"Most cases of depression are untreated," Kendler said. "Be aware of early
signs — difficulty sleeping and concentration, lowered mood and irritability
— so you can detect it early and seek treatment, especially if a history of
(major depression) runs in your family."

* Mother with HIV allowed to keep baby after vowing not to breast feed

EUGENE, Ore. (AP, 21/4/99) — An HIV-infected woman who wants to breast-feed
her baby agreed to use a bottle and has been allowed to keep the boy, though
he remains under state control.

Kathleen Tyson and her husband, David, have agreed to bottle feed their son
and will not defy the judge's decision, Mrs. Tyson's attorney said after
Tuesday's ruling.

"Both Kathleen and David have a lot of integrity,'' Hilary Billings said.
"They gave their word a long time ago.''

The Tysons lost legal custody of their 4-month-old son, Felix, when he was
days old because of their decision to nurse.

Much of their case to win him back focused on their unorthodox beliefs, part
of the national "Rethinking AIDS'' movement, that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and
that the deadly virus can't be spread by breast milk.

A string of medical experts testified for the state, however, that milk from
an HIV-infected mother carries the highest risk of transmitting the virus —
even higher than sexual intercourse.

"The parents may choose to run that risk with the child, but the court may
second-guess that decision,'' Juvenile Court Judge Maurice Merten said after
the three-day hearing.

The couple's case focused on clinical theories about how HIV doesn't really
cause AIDS, and how the risk of an HIV-infected mother's breast milk is
minimal.

"If a child was sitting on the hood of a car driving at 100 mph, everyone
would try to stop that car,'' Bernadette Healy, an attorney for the state,
told the judge in her closing arguments.

Added Robert Nagler, the state lawyer representing Felix: "The mother has
demonstrated ... that's she's not about to make the simple sacrifice of not
breast feeding. The threat to Felix is immense.''

Mrs. Tyson, who was diagnosed with HIV during prenatal screening, began
nursing Felix in the hospital and a doctor called in authorities. So far,
Felix has tested negative for HIV.

Testifying as the final witness, Mrs. Tyson told the judge her decision to
breast feed was "all about what I want for my child.''

"I love my son more than anything in the world and that I want the best for
him,'' she said. "There is a morass of information out there and I have
tried to make the best judgment that I can.''

After the decision, the Tysons quickly left court without talking to
reporters.

"We're disappointed,'' said Billings. "I just don't think that the judge was
willing to buck the tremendous tide of medical opinion.''

Although the state has legal custody of Felix, he is allowed to live with
his parents and 10-year-old sister. A caseworker from Oregon's Office for
Services to Children and Families visits about once a week to ensure he is
being bottle-fed.

* Australia testing new sterilisation method

ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters, 21/4/99) — A new sterilisation method for
women that would not require surgery or a general anaesthetic is being
tested in Australia, the United States and Belgium, a leading Australian
physician said on Wednesday.

"If the preliminary studies continue in the way they are going, it could
potentially revolutionise sterilisation globally,'' said Professor John
Kerin, an Australian pioneer of in vitro fertilisation.

The new method employs a metal coil device, known as STOP, which is inserted
into the natural opening of the fallopian tubes to prevent fertilisation,
Kerin told reporters in Adelaide, Australia.

The device could be sold in two or three years if the trials show that it
prevents pregnancy without side-effects, he said.

Kerin, clinical head of the University of Adelaide's reproductive medicine
unit, said the new method may offer millions of women easier and more
affordable sterilisation.

"This is sort of the holy grail of sterilisation,'' he said.

Women involved in the research were warned the sterilisation device was
permanent. If it were to be removed, there would be some narrowing and
scarring of the fallopian tube that could increase the risk of tubal or
ectopic pregnancy.

Kerin said the device was first developed by U.S. biomedical company
Conceptus Inc in 1993 and had been tested on 15 women over the past 17
months in Adelaide.

Conceptus has also begun trials that are expected to involve up to 100 women
in the United States and Belgium, he said.

Kirin Barry, 36, of Adelaide, who was first to trial the device, said: "It
was really a bit like a pap smear.''

Kerin said the screw-like device is inserted using a small telescope, or
hysteroscope, and passed through the cervix and uterus into the narrow
opening of the fallopian tubes.

"When you release it, it springs open and softly accommodates itself to the
individual contours of a woman's fallopian tube,'' he said.

"The recovery time (from the procedure) is very quick, a woman literally can
get up off the table, be observed for about an hour and then she can go
home,'' he said, comparing it to conventional methods involving surgery or
laparoscopy.

* Obese women risk inflammation that may cause heart disease

WASHINGTON (AP, 21/4/99) — Scientists may have found another reason to lose
weight: A study suggests obese women are six times more likely than thin
women to have a silent inflammation inside their arteries that increases the
risk of heart disease.

If the findings are verified, they would suggest scientists should study
whether the aspirin some heart patients already take might also help
overweight people reduce their risk of heart attack.

Scientists recently discovered that otherwise seemingly healthy people may
have a low-grade inflammation inside their arteries that can lurk for years
and significantly increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

No one knows what causes this subtle inflammation. One theory is bacteria,
and indeed, some research suggests that antibiotics may help fight heart
disease. On the other hand, doctors already frequently prescribe aspirin to
certain people at high risk of heart attack because it thins the blood — and
aspirin also decreases inflammation.

But it was not known whether being overweight — already a big risk for heart
disease because of high cholesterol and other problems — played any role in
inflammation.

Tuesday, Dutch scientist Marjolein Visser unveiled research suggesting it
might.

Visser knew that fat cells themselves can produce a substance called
interleukin-6 that causes inflammation when it seeps into the bloodstream.
So she used a U.S. database of 16,000 Americans to study the question.

The only way to measure this "micro-inflammation'' is using a blood test
that detects C-reactive protein, or CRP. CRP levels skyrocket when people
are sick, with colds, inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, even
heart disease. But lower levels, between 0.2 milligrams and 1 mg per
deciliter of blood, are the ones that signal the simmering inflammation that
has scientists concerned.

Visser discovered that obese women are six times more likely to have this
low-grade inflammation than normal-weight people.

Obese men were twice as likely to have it, a gender difference Visser
couldn't explain, except to say that women in the study were much more
overweight than men studied.

"We were surprised'' the risk was so high, Visser said Tuesday, before
presenting her findings at a biology meeting here. If verified, "it could
have quite an impact.''

Visser, a weight specialist at Amsterdam's Vrije University, statistically
controlled for other diseases that might have caused the study participants'
CRP levels to rise.

She found equal risk when examining only healthy people under age 40. Even
"at a young age, when you're obese there's this inflammation, and we know
it's bad for you,'' she said.

The study isn't proof that obesity inflames arteries, cautioned Dr. Richard
J. Havlik of the National Institute on Aging, which funded the research. But
the federal agency is intrigued enough that it is funding more research into
the link — and probing whether obesity-caused inflammation might have
ramifications for other diseases, too.

First, Visser is preparing to see whether losing weight causes CRP levels to
drop immediately.

Her findings, however, raise the question of whether aspirin or any of the
dozens of other anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen, could help obese
people ward off heart disease, and she cautions that nobody has tested that
yet.

"The best thing to do if you're obese is lose weight instead of hitting the
aspirin bottle,'' she said.

* Cancer rates inch down, mostly for men

WASHINGTON (AP, 21/4/99) — Cancer rates are continuing to inch down, thanks
largely to drops in smoking — but men are benefiting most from the progress,
says the nation's annual report on cancer.

Although they still suffer more cancer than women do, the rate of new cancer
cases is dropping eight times faster for men than for women, says the study
unveiled Tuesday by the American Cancer Society and government scientists.

Overall, cancer incidence has dropped 2.2 percent a year since 1992, says
the report, published in this week's Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, which analyzed cancer trends through 1996.

Scientists warned Tuesday that tobacco use could reverse the progress: Lung
cancer remains the nation's top cancer killer, and recent declines in lung
cancer among men who quit smoking in the 1970s and '80s helped fuel the
overall declines in cancer incidence and mortality. But high teen smoking
and new popularity for cigars have experts fearing a rebound.

"Unless we invest now in anti-tobacco efforts aimed at our youngest
citizens, we will waste the progress we have achieved so far,'' said Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

Indeed, cigarette smoking by high school students rose a disturbing 32
percent during the 1990s, the report said. And cigar smoking — which a
second study concluded is as cancer-causing as cigarettes — has reversed a
20-year decline, rising by 50 percent in the last four years.

"We need to turn that around or we'll have another lung cancer epidemic,''
said Phyllis Wingo of the American Cancer Society, lead author of Tuesday's
study.

Wingo used death certificates and huge government health databases to
determine the rates of new cancer cases and cancer deaths through 1996, the
latest data available.

Cancer incidence increased slowly from the 1970s through 1992 — but since
then has steadily dropped, about 2.2 percent a year through 1996, the report
said. It's falling faster for men, 4.1 percent a year, compared with less
than half a percent drop each year for women.

Cancer death rates also are dropping more for men, 1 percent a year,
compared with 0.4 percent a year for women.

Why the gender gap? It's partly due to lung cancer.

Scientists have known for several years that lung cancer incidence was
slowly decreasing among men, by about 2.6 percent a year. At the same time,
however, lung cancer was becoming a steadily bigger problem for women, who
began to quit smoking later than men did. During the 1990s, lung cancer
deaths rose 1.4 percent a year among women.

But the new report shows a glimmer of hope that women might be about to turn
that tide: When scientists looked just at women ages 40 to 59 — the age
group that first began kicking the habit — they found a slight decrease in
lung cancer. That's the same age group in which the male lung cancer decline
first appeared. So a similar finding in women is a clue that maybe women's
fate is about to improve, too, Wingo explained.

Lung cancer aside, the study found improvement in fighting most forms of
cancer.

But two forms of cancer are increasing: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and melanoma.
New cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are rising by a little over half a
percent per year and deaths are rising by 1.8 percent a year. No one knows
why.

The incidence rate of melanoma, caused by too much time in the sun,
increased 2.7 percent a year during the 1990s, although death rates have
remained unchanged.

Other findings:

—Although the death rate from breast cancer is dropping 2 percent a year,
there has been little change in breast cancer incidence, which strikes about
180,000 women a year.

—Uterine cancer levels stayed steady.

—When the report analyzed lung cancer by state, Kentucky had the highest
male death rate — 103.4 lung cancer deaths per 100,000 men — and also the
most teen smokers and adult male smokers. The most adult women smoked in
Nevada, and most died of lung cancer there: 45.8 per 100,000.

Utah had the lowest rates of smoking, and lung cancer death rates of just
31.5 for men and 13.9 for women.

* Researchers: RDA for vitamin C should be raised

CHICAGO (AP, 21/4/99) — Government researchers say the recommended daily
allowance for vitamin C should be doubled or tripled because of increasing
evidence over the past two decades of its cancer-fighting ability.

The current recommended daily allowances were established by the National
Academy of Sciences in 1980.

In a paper in today's Journal of the American Medical Association,
researchers from the National Institutes of Health said the RDA for vitamin
C should be raised from 60 milligrams to between 100 mg and 200 mg.

Dr. Mark Levine, an NIH researcher, said the recommendation reflects a
growing body of research showing that five servings of fruit and vegetables
a day can help prevent cancer. By raising the recommended amount of vitamin
C, people are encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables, he said.

Hower, the NIH researchers cautioned that there's such a thing as too much
vitamin C. They said 200 mg is the maximum the body can absorb before it
starts expelling the vitamin. Larger amounts can inrease the risk of kidney
stones, Levine said.

Levine said the recommendations are based on an "explosion'' of research
conducted since 1980. Levine said the current recommendation is based on
decades-old studies.

Vitamin C, which is not produced naturally in the body, is one of 13
vitamins and minerals people need to stay healthy.

The National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board is reviewing the
recommended dietary allowance of several vitamins, including vitamin C. The
board is expected to release its findings later this year.

The board will review the NIH paper and other research in making its
decision, said board member Sandy Schlicker.

An expert on vitamin C and other antioxidants agreed it is time to raise the
recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C.

"The old recommendation was based on very primitive data,'' said Dr. Kenny
Jialal of the University of Texas's Southwestern Medical Center, who did not
participate in the study. "The data we have today is more plausible and more
biologically relevant.''

* Burps to beat ulcers - Fizzy drinks are used to make burps "on demand"

BBC, 21/4/99 - A £250,000 study of what is in a burp is about to start. But
the scientists' aim is a serious one - detecting the bacteria which cause
stomach ulcers.

The researchers are developing a new sensor which will analyse the stomach
gas released in a belch cheaply and instantaneously. If successful, it would
allow diagnosis in a local doctor's surgery and early treatment with
antibiotics.

This would save patients discomfort and the health service money.

Dr David Cowell, from the University of the West of England, is leading the
team and explained to BBC News Online the key aims of the 18-month pilot
study.

"We are looking at the stability of the sensor device, so that it can be
stored on a shelf without any problems, designing the instrumentation that
will hold the sensor itself and looking at how to get people to belch on
demand," he says.

At the moment, the scientists get their volunteers to burp by giving them
cold, fizzy drinks. "Drinking a can of cold coke invariably makes everybody
belch," says Dr Cowell.

The key to the test is a single sensor. This detects a volatile chemical
that the bacterium Heliobacter pylori produces to protect it from the
stomach's acidic environment. Whether the fizzy drink will interfere with
this is being studied.

Current methods of testing for H pylori can be slow, expensive or
uncomfortable. Biopsies are painful and blood samples have to be sent to a
laboratory. So do the "drink-and-breathe" tests which cost £30 each. Dr
Cowell hopes the new belch test will cost between £3 and £5.

Bad bug

H pylori is estimated to cause 95% of duodenal ulcers and the majority of
gastric ulcers. Around 30% of the population in the Western world and some
80% in developing countries carry the bug but in most people it produces no
symptoms whatsoever.

The initial project will run for 18 months and is funded by the UK Deparment
of Health and the medical diagnostic company, Hypoguard. Clinical trials are
expected to follow.

* Mobile phone transmitter health fears

BBC, 21/4/99 - After the health scares about mobile phones, there are now
growing fears about the safety of the transmitter masts that make them work.

In the increasingly competitive mobile phone market, operators are racing
against each other to build enough masts to complete their coverage of
Britain.

There could soon be as many as 14,500 transmitter masts across the country
to cope with the ever growing number of people who use mobile phones.

At present 13.5 million people use a mobile phone, and it is estimated that
within four years half the population will be using them.

Now local campaigns have been launched to try to get the masts removed from
school roofs and residential areas.

They want Britain to follow the example of the USA and New Zealand, where
permitted emission levels from transmitter masts have been reduced and
exclusion zones have been created around hospitals, schools and residential
areas.

School roof transmitter

Parents of children who attend St Margaret's Church of England Primary
School in Manchester are concerned about the mast that was erected on the
school roof during the last summer holiday.

Parent Rick Walker is considering withdrawing his five-year-old son Owen
from the school.

He said: "There have not been the long-term surveys into the health effects
of long-term chronic exposure to low level microwave radiation.

"We are concerned the growing body of scientific evidence suggests that
children are particularly at risk."

The school is tied into a long-term contract with the mobile phone company
Orange.

To take it down St Margaret's would have to forego the lucrative rental, and
also pay a heavy financial penalty.

Orange says the mast is operated according to strict guidelines laid down by
the National Radiological Protection Board.

But local councils have little power to control where masts are erected as
they do not require formal planning permission.

Bernard Stone, of Manchester City Council, said: "What we have agreed to do
is to have an independent report into the safety of the mast on St
Margaret's."

Base station transmitter masts mark the centre of each mobile phone network.
They allow radio signals to be passed seemlessly between one mobile phone
handset and another without interuption.

Industry rebuts fears

Tom Wills-Sandford, of the Federation of the Electronics Industry, said
research into the impact of radio waves had been going on for more than 50
years.

He said: "There is no scientific evidence that masts on or near schools can
affect health."

Mr Wills-Sandford said the mobile phone industry was dedicated to ensuring
that their products were safe.

But he said masts had to be built in the community, because they had to be
situated where mobile phone traffic was at its greatest.

"There will be more masts because mobile phones are growing in popularity,"
he said.

"But we seek to work with the communities we serve, and not against them."

* Mothers may cause disease

BBC, 21/4/99 - Mothers could be unwittingly responsible for their offspring
suffering some types of autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases are caused by the body attacking itself - immune cells
think the body's own tissue is foreign and seek to eradicate it.

Cells that cause autoimmune diseases could be transferred to unborn children
in the womb, researchers have found.

The scientists suspect they then linger in the baby's system and cause such
diseases later in life.

The researchers also found that foetuses may pass on cells that trigger such
diseases to the mother.

The research is being presented at the Experimental Biology '99 meeting in
Washington DC, and is reported in New Scientist magazine.

Immune system reaction

The process by which autoimmune diseases work is similar to the reaction a
host body when it rejects a transplanted organ.

They are also more common in women.

This has led researchers to speculate that a process called microchimerism
is involved in their development.

Microchimerism is when small numbers of another person's cells live in the
body.

A 1997 study in Boston found that cells from a foetus can survive in a woman
for up to 27 years after pregnancy.

Since then other studies have connected autoimmune diseases such as
scleroderma seem to have an unusually high incidence of microchimerism.

Scleroderma causes the skin to become thick and leathery and can damage
internal organs.

In one study, 32 out of 69 women with the condition had male cells in their
system. This compared to one woman in 25 who did not have it.

Men suffer too

However, the flaw in this theory is that - although it is rarer - men get
autoimmune diseases too.

The new research, led by J. Lee Nelson and colleagues at the University of
Washington in Seattle, could resolve the conundrum.

It found that cells from the mother can cross into the baby and remain there
for decades.

The researchers used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to gather
genetic evidence.

A PCR multiplies genetic material until there is enough of it for scientists
to examine.

The researchers studied a 47-year-old man with scleroderma.

They were searching for the gene for a molecule that was found on his
mother's cells but not his own - and found it.

Mother's cells were present

They also looked at blood from a 15-year-old boy suffering lupus.

Lupus is another autoimmune disease, that attacks the skin and internal
organs.

In the blood test they found female cells, and using a PCR they were able to
confirm it was from the boy's mother.

Dr Nelson told New Scientist she is still some way from proving that
maternal cells can trigger autoimmunity.

"But I think they're likely to be a significant piece of the puzzle," she
said.

* School taunts cause eating disorders

BBC, 21/4/99 - Children who are teased about their weight at school can
develop psychological hang-ups that lead to the development of eating
disorders, researchers say.

Psychologists quizzed 450 12-year-olds at a comprehensive school in the
north of England.

They found that 12% of girls and 16% of boys were teased for being fat.

In most cases the youngsters were not overweight, simply larger than their
classmates because they were growing at a faster rate.

However, the insults had a profound impact on the psychology of those who
were targeted. They developed problems with their self-esteem and became
unhappy about the way they looked.

Half the girls reacted by dieting. Boys were more likely to respond by
taking vigorous physical exercise.

Psychological baggage

Dr Andrew Hill, who conducted the research with fellow Leeds School of
Medicine psychologist Jennifer Murphy, said eating disorders such as
anorexia nervosa may be linked to "baggage" carried into adult life after
such teasing.

"For a small handful it may be the beginning of an eating disorder. It may
be one of those events in a pathway to an eating disorder that emerges later
in response to another crisis.

"The individual concerned carries around this baggage that was put there
during puberty.

"Appearance is very important at this age. It's the most important area that
predicts self-esteem. The experience of being victimised is unpleasant -
these kids had low self-esteem in almost every area that we measure.

"They think their appearance is poor, that they're no good at games, and
generally not doing well at school.

"Only a few of the children could be classified as medically obese. The
majority were in the normal weight range, but still teased about their
weight.

"At that age children are at different stages of physical growth, which is a
normal feature of puberty. This group were heavier than the other children,
but not fat."

Dr Hill and Ms Murphy presented their findings today at the International
Eating Disorders Conference in London.

Dr Hill said there were lessons to be learned for people looking after
children approaching adolescence.

"Those who have regular contact with kids, teachers and parents
particularly, need to be aware of how they relate to weight and talk about
weight with their children," he said.

"People involved in anti-bullying campaigns and who work in schools need to
recognise not only the frequent nature of this victimisation but the
different consequences for boys and girls."

* Surgeon hails snoring cure

BBC, 21/4/99 - An operation to cure snoring is to be made widely available
to the public in the UK for the first time.

The surgical procedure, known as a somnoplasty, has been clinically trialed
in the UK by the ear, nose and throat consultant Mr David Morgan.

The procedure, featured on Tomorrow's World on Wednesday, will offered as a
cure for snoring by the Birmingham Nuffield Hospital under its Snoring
Solutions programme.

Somnoplasty works by heating the tissues of the soft palate to around 80
degrees centigrade using radio energy.

There are four main factors which are thought to cause snoring:

A medical condition called sleep apnoea which causes disturbed breathing in
sufferers Being overweight Alcohol consumption Slack muscles at the back of
the throat

Somnoplasty is a cure for those who suffer from slack throat musculature.

It is only considered after a patient has been studied while asleep to
ascertain the cause of the snoring.

Somnoplasty takes up to 30 minutes under local or general anaesthesia and
delivers low power, low temperature radio frequency energy to the tissue
beneath the surface of the soft palate.

Over the next four to six weeks the treated tissue reduces in volume as the
heated cells die and are removed by the immune sysem.

As a result the soft palate retracts and stiffens, creating better
definition and thus inhibiting snoring.

Mr Morgan believes somnoplasty will prove a better alternative to the
traditional treatment, laser uvolopapalatoplasty.

This involves heating the palate to 200 degrees centigrade, with severe post
operative pain potentially lasting some weeks.

While uvolopapalatoplasty actually burns the skin of the soft palate,
somnoplasty heats only the surrounding tissue and causes only minor
discomfort.

However, Mr Morgan warned that surgery should only be considered as a last
resort.

He said: "There are several things you can do before that. The most
important thing being losing weight, the other factors that are important
are stopping smoking and also stopping drinking alcohol prior to going to
bed at night."

Quality of life impaired

The first patient to receive the treatment at the Nuffield Hospital will be
Glen Williams.

He said: "My quality of life is impaired by my snoring.

"My wife, Dawn, says that I am impossible to ignore in bed, but for the
wrong reasons.

"She used to wake me up and banish me to the spare room because my snoring
was too loud, but now I wake myself up with it and just go without being
asked."

Around 3.5 million people in the UK are estimated to snore, including more
than one million women.

Snorers who wake themselves up with the noise sleep only an average of four
hours a night.

Snorers can generate a noise of 90 decibels.

* Money is the root of .... depression

BBC, 21/4/99 - Whether money is the root of all evil is a moot point, but
research has found that it is often the cause of depression.

Slightly more people rated money as a likely cause of depression than a
death or illness in the family.

The survey, by the National Depression Campaign, found that financial
problems were cited by 88% of people as a trigger for depression.

Eighty-seven per cent agreed that a death or illness in the family could
cause problems.

Next on the list were:

Work worries - 83% Marriage problems - 81%

Biological factors such as hormonal or chemical imbalances were considered
less important, with only seven in 10 people agreeing they could trigger
depression.

The survey was based on interviews with 1,069 people selected to be
representative of the population in general.

A second study also published on Wednesday shows that GP consultations for
depression have more than doubled since 1994.

Experts said that they believed the rise was not because depression was
increasing but because more people were going to their GP and doctors were
becoming better at treating the condition.

Nine million consultations for depression were conducted in 1998, compared
with four million in 1994.

The survey of 600 GPs found regional variations in the levels of depression.

People in the Midlands and the south east are less likely to suffer than
those in the rest of the country, while the Welsh are most prone to
depression.

Doctors criticised

The studies were launched by the National Depression Campaign (NDC) as part
of National Depression Week, which aims to raise awareness of issues
surrounding the condition.

The NDC believes too many doctors do not prescribe correct doses of anti-
depressants, and stop medication too early.

GPs were also accused of reserving the better and more expensive drugs like
Prozac and SSRIs for younger people.

Elderly patients were more likely to be prescribed the older generation of
Tricyclic drugs which can have more adverse side effects.

Research has shown that patients should continue with anti-depressant
medication for six months after they feel their condition has improved.

But the survey of GPs revealed that half of patients had stopped taking
their medication by the third month of treatment.

Doctors also said that they prescribed an average dose of 64.8mg of
Tricyclic anti-depressants a day, despite the recommended dose being 125mg.

The low doses mean patients suffer from the side effects of the drug but did
not benefit from its anti-depressant features.

Dr Simon Chapman, chair of the National Depression Campaign, said:
"Treatment for depression has improved over the last few years but doctors
do need better training and education to make sure they are prescribing the
right doses for the right amount of time."

Expensive problem

One in four women and one in 10 men in the UK will suffer a period of
depression serious enough to require treatment, while up to 20% of children
may require support and help for depression-related problems, according to
recent research.

Depression costs the nation more than £8bn a year in medical care, lost
production and social security bills.

Only half of all depressed people consult their GP and the National
Depression Campaign wants to encourage more people to seek treatment.

It also wants to highlight the role of family and friends in caring for
sufferers.

Campaign chairman Rodney Elgie said: "Although extremely common, depression
is a much misunderstood illness.

"This is particularly true when a close friend or member of the family is
affected, sometimes for no apparent reason."

He added: "There is a real need to provide carers with reliable and
practical help, advice and support."

Dr David Baldwin, a lecturer in psychiatry at Southampton University, said
families could play a vital role in recognising when a relative was
depressed, encouraging them to seek professional help, and supporting them
while they were undergoing treatment.

He said: "For the more serious forms of depression there is strong evidence
that people who are treated do much better both in the short term and the
long term."

* Psychological risks for school shooting witnesses

BBC, 21/4/99 - Children recovering from a traumatic event such as the
shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado are at risk of severe
psychological harm.

The main risk is that they will suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, which
can lead to painful memories striking the victims at any time.

At the moment, officials at the Denver school are arranging crisis
counselling for teens struggling to cope with the massacre.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?

The syndrome is a disturbing psychological condition where people relive
painful memories against their will.

This leads to feelings of isolation and a sense of losing control - patients
sometimes turn to alcohol or other drugs as they attempt to get rid of the
memories.

It is also known as shell shock because it first came to prominence when
soldiers in the First World War were afflicted by memories of the horrors
they saw in the trenches.

Dr Matthew Freidman, of the US Department for Veteran Affairs, says the
experience is like living through the original event a second time.

"It is like a psychic time machine," he says.

Who gets it and what causes it?

Anyone who has witnessed acts of violence - either on themselves or others -
is particularly prone to the syndrome.

Severely disturbing event such as being raped or robbed, or exposure to a
highly stressful environment, such as a war zone, are known to trigger post-
traumatic stress disorder.

However, an individual's personality is also responsible for determining a
person's susceptibility to the syndrome.

The memories can be triggered by the slightest detail reminiscent of the
original traumatic event.

Dr Margaret Singer is a clinical psychologist who for more than ten years
has helped military personnel overcome the condition.

She says no-one fully understands the mind's workings but latest research
suggests memory works by connections rather than being stored in neat units.

This makes it easier for unpleasant memories to occur unsummoned.

She says: "The memory for an event is distributed among various sites and
the process of remembering involves the creation of a variety of
connections."

A memory can be called up by various means, she added. "It can be called up
by a particular sound, it can be called up by a particular sight, or a
particular smell."

Memories which have many of these sensory elements - as is often the case
with traumatic memories - can suddenly be called into a person's mind
unrequested.

How does the disorder affect children?

The Global Information Networks In Education project says children of
different ages will respond differently to traumatic events.

It says symptoms adults can spot include:

Depression Dissociation Emotional detachment Fear Feelings of guilt
Excessive vigilance Irritability

They can also have difficulties concentrating and sleeping, or may be
plagued by nightmares.

What is the treatment?

The psychiatric journal Harvard Mental Health Letter outlines a typical
treatment pattern for post-traumatic stress disorder.

It says: "Most psychotherapists who treat PTSD try to provide an opportunity
for the patient to feel safe in confronting the traumatic event and
understanding its connection with their symptoms.

"Patients are helped to think about the trauma without intrusive reliving
and exercise self-control without avoidance and emotional numbing."

It says seeking help as soon after the traumatic event as possible is
essential. Patients can then receive "emotional first aid" in the form of
group or individual counselling.

"They will be encouraged to review the experience, tell their stories, and
express their feelings.

"They will learn that their responses are normal and be advised to resume
everyday activities as soon as possible."

It says such early intervention can prevent short-term trauma having an
impact in the long term.

However, it also says that some patients will be reluctant to discuss their
experiences, and, because of the cause of the disorder, perhaps with good
reason.

The challenge for the therapist, it says, is to remain calm while listening
to horrifying stories.

"Therapists have to avoid both over-commitment and detachment. They should
not identify themselves with the patient or see themselves as saviours," it
says.

It notes that some patients find it easier to discuss their memories under
hypnosis.

Other therapists, it says, feel it is not so important to relive and deal
with the traumatic memory itself as to cope with present symptoms and
problems.

They use the same techniques that are used I helping people overcome phobias
to help people overcome fear of things that evoke the trauma.

In severe cases drugs such as Prozac can be used.

Is there help?

Dr Singer says the syndrome requires professional attention.

She advises: "If people are experiencing problems then a good route to try
and access help is via the NHS, via their GP and a referral to psychiatric
and psychological services.

"There are tremendous problems about resources in the NHS, but there are
also tremendous problems for people experiencing these kind of
difficulties."

* Chefs take GM food off the menu

BBC, 21/4/99 - Some of the UK's top chefs are backing a Greenpeace campaign
to promote menus which are free from genetically-modified (GM) foods.

The campaign comes amid growing concern at the environmental effects of
growing GM crops and fears that they could pollute ordinary crops nearby.

Eighteen of the UK's most respected restaurants, including London's Savoy
and the River Cafe, are involved.

Eminent chefs Antonio Carluccio, from the Neal Street Restaurant, and Philip
Howard, from The Square restaurant, will unveil a new "Avoiding GM Foods"
logo.

The logo is to assure that meals in their restaurants are free of GM foods.

'GM food is safe'

The government says GM foods already on the market, all of which are grown
abroad, are safe.

But it has ordered more research into the environmental effects before
allowing GM crops to be grown commercially in the UK.

The only GM crops being grown in the UK are a 25 acre field of genetically
modified oilseed rape in Wiltshire.

On Tuesday a High Court judge refused to impose a ban on protesters who
uprooted GM crops.

'Protesters tore up crops'

The application for a permanent ban was made by Monsanto after six members
of the environmental concern group GenetiX Snowball tore up experimental
crops at a farm in Oxfordshire last year.

But Mr Justice Klevan said he could not grant an injunction, because the
protesters could have a defence against it.

On Sunday a community picnic in London designed to promote organic food and
protest at GM food was cancelled after the organisers were overwhelmed with
people wanting to attend.

Organisers of the event on Primrose Hill, north London, said advance
publicity - which included mention of singer George Michael's plans to
attend - led to the picnic becoming "too big".

One of the organisers, Birgit Cunningham, 33, said: "The Royal Parks Agency
said there was no way in the time left that we could organise enough
security."

She said the picnic was originally planned for 800 but about 10 times that
many expressed interest.

The plan now is for the picnic to be rearranged at a larger park later this
year.

hyt...@my-dejanews.com

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