21 December 2002 ]
Woman is first patient to die from rare superbug
Article about the first death in the UK attributed to a staph infection
that proved resistant to vancomycin, currently medical science's antibiotic
of last resort
( Guardian )
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See also this Scotsman article from last week, this VOA article from last
week, blog entry from earlier this month, and this blog entry from July
Hospitals struggle with shortages of key drugs
Article about medicine shortages at hospitals across the US, caused
primarily by the business practices of the pharmaceutical industry -
'drugmakers trying to wring the most profit from each production plant
sometimes scrap drugs that bring little profit because of generic
competition' ( AP via Kansas City Star )
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See also this blog entry from last month
US wrecks cheap drugs deal
'Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, last night blocked a global deal to
provide cheap drugs to poor countries, following intense lobbying of the
White House by America's pharmaceutical giants. Faced with furious
opposition from all the other 140 members of the World Trade Organisation,
the US refused to relax global patent laws which keep the price of drugs
beyond reach of most developing countries' ( Guardian )
�
See also this BBC coverage, this text of the Doha declaration from last
year, this letter from Ralph Nader to the US Trade Representative and
Department of Commerce from Wednesday, the Consumer Project on Technology
website, and the PhRMA website
Annual Report on Surveillance for Veterinary Residues in 2001 (PDF)
Report on findings that a wide range of luxury foods sold in the UK
contains illegally high levels of veterinary medicines, including
antibiotics, that are potentially harmful to human health ( VRC )
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See also these detailed test results (PDF), this Independent coverage, and
the Food Standards Agency website
Biosecurity: Responsible Stewardship of Bioscience in an Age of
Catastrophic Terrorism (PDF)
Paper that warns biological research could be subverted in a multitude of
ways, far beyond the dangerous pathogens typically thought of as potential
terrorist weapons, but rejects the traditional 'command and control' model
of regulation in favour of a bottom-up 'scientific self-governance' approach
( Gigi Kwik et al via Biosecurity and Bioterrorism )
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See also this press release, this green paper (PDF) on biological weapons,
released by a UK Parliament select committee earlier this month, and the
Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies website
LINKS?
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