Julio Godoy
PARIS, Jan 3 2006 (IPS) – The French decision to send the asbestos-contaminated aircraft carrier Clemenceau to India for disposal constitutes a violation of national and international rules, according to several environmental and health groups.
The Clemenceau sailed from the southern French port Toulon for the Indian naval yard Alang Jan. 1. The Clemenceau left after a tribunal in Paris turned down a legal challenge by environmental and health groups, including Greenpeace and French associations of victims of asbestos poisoning.
Greenpeace, Andeva, an association representing some 7,000 victims of asbestos poisoning or their relatives, and the environment group Ban Asbestos-France say the Clemenceau still contains at least 105 tonnes of asbestos, and that …
Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO , Feb 14 2006 (IPS) – As a child, Yoshiharu Sawada, now 77 years old, would visit his mother at the local asbestos factory where she worked and wait till she finished her shift so they could walk home together.
But, today, says Sawada, a frail, soft-spoken man, those happy memories have turned into a terribly tragedy. Sawada was diagnosed with pleurisy ten years ago and suffers horribly from long bouts of coughing that leave him numbed with pain.
I never realised those happy days had actually laid the foundation for my disease because nobody told us that asbestos is deadly, he explained to IPS.
Sawada, whose mother died of a lung disease 17 years ago, can hardly breathe and was forced to give up his occupation as a shopkeeper. He reli…
Roberto Villar Belmonte
CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 16 2006 (IPS) – The pain and suffering of victims of toxic agrochemicals invaded the international negotiations on biosafety in Curitiba, Brazil this week with the accounts of a Paraguayan mother whose son died from herbicide poisoning and local residents of a neighbourhood in Córdoba, Argentina facing a severe health crisis caused by the fumigation of surrounding fields.
The pain and suffering of victims of toxic agrochemicals invaded the international negotiations on biosafety in Curitiba, Brazil this week with the accounts of a Paraguayan mother whose son died from herbicide poisoning and local residents of a neighbourhood in Córdoba, Argentina facing a severe health crisis caused by the fumigation of surrounding fields.
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Øystein Meland
OSLO, Apr 17 2006 (IPS) – Of the ten countries in the world that have the worst rates of child mortality, six* are in West Africa a region that has seen more than its share of repression and civil strife over recent years.
This conflict has undermined children s chances of survival both directly, causing many to be placed in the line of fire, and indirectly compromising the provision of basic services that are essential to good health in children.
As a result, West Africa faces a particular challenge when it comes to meeting the fourth United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG): reducing child mortality by two thirds, by 2015. (Mortality rates are typically measured according to the number of children who die in countries before the age of five.)…
Soma Basu
MADURAI, May 21 2006 (IPS) – Subhadra Santosham, a retired schoolteacher, was about to turn in for a siesta when she noticed a gang of school children entering her yard. Thinking they were probably trying to solicit money for a cause, she was all ready to shoo them off, when one of them asked: Isn t your granddaughter visiting from Chennai?
Every day, Santosham reads the newspaper and watches TV too. But she had entirely missed the daily ads and TV spots urging people to make sure that all children under five are immunised on May 21, she admitted. She would most likely have missed taking her four-year-old granddaughter to the polio booth between 9am to 4pm.
India s nation-wide 12-year-old Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) campaign has enlisted everyone from ic…
Sonny Inbaraj
MEDAN, North Sumatra, Jun 22 2006 (IPS) – I really feel strongly that the issue of health and safety of reporters covering avian flu must be addressed by the management of news organizations, said Daenk Haryono of the North Sumatra-based Harian Global daily.
Many times I ve seen my colleagues go out to the field, not aware that they should be at least wearing face masks and gloves, he added. It seems like the editors just want our stories and couldn t give a damn about our safety,
Haryono has every reason to worry. Two reporters have so far been admitted to hospital, suspected to be suffering from avian influenza or bird flu. The latest victim from the popular Tempo daily was rushed to hospital last week when he developed high fever after covering the …
Kim Paull
NEW YORK, Aug 7 2006 (IPS) – As the war between Israel and Lebanon approaches the one-month mark and the U.S. continues to pursue expansion of its nuclear arsenal, people around the world will stop to remember Aug. 7, 1945.
On that day, 61 years ago, more than 240,000 people were killed or injured when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, to force a Japanese surrender during World War II.
While an end to the war immediately followed the bombings, many have debated whether it was necessary, given that preparations for surrender were already underway in Tokyo, and the staggering long-term effects on civilians of radiation poisoning in the destroyed city.
Today, some experts warn that the nuclear clock…
Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Sep 9 2006 (IPS) – As the 21st century began, more women were dying during childbirth in Nepal than in almost any other country and it was estimated that half of maternal deaths in hospitals were caused by unsafe abortions.
Today, 59,000 Nepali women have had safe abortions, performed by 260 trained doctors at 133 approved centres, and if plans hold, trained nurses will soon be providing the service.
But for every positive number there are many more that reveal the challenges ahead for the Safe Abortion Programme.
Well over 50,000 women have received safe abortion services through this suction (MVA or manual vacuum aspiration) method, says Cherry Bird, director of the Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme. It s not scraping or cuttin…
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