U.S. researchers have published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine that claims the drug trastuzmuzab can stop almost half of all breast cancers from reappearing. The drug is currently used to treat advanced cancers.
The treatment only works with women whom have high levels of the protein HER2, the protein makes the cancer more active. 1 in 5 women with breast cancer have the protein so this new treatment can benefit a lot of women with breast cancer.
Since the end of the Cold War armed conflicts around the globe have decreased, thanks mainly to the United Nations being able to launch peacekeeping operations. Altogether the planet has seen a decrease in conflicted-related deaths including a decrease in human rights abuses.
The report, financed by five governments, also states that major conflicts with 1,000 or more deaths have seen an 80% decrease since 1992. The average amount of deaths created by a single war has decreased dramatically as well.
Slashdot has a great short post about a good proposition for dealing with intellectual property from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce in Britain.
Essentially they feel that intellectually property is helping the few, opposed to helping the public good, and that this needs to be changed – in fast. Power to them!
Thanks, Ben Powers!
The Ontario Government funded the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) to review the impacts and benefits of adopting a Standard Offer Contract (SOC) system similar to many countries in the European Union. Germany, Denmark and Spain have phenomenal sucess with this system, as evident by these countries high percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources and growth in renewable energy investment.
Currently Ontario uses a very complex and very competative tender system that discourages any but the larger corporations, scaring away many potential investors. Furthermore, the government has to fairly weigh and analyze all submission, at significant cost.
The OSEA report demonstrates that SOC’s eliminate these difficulties by granting approval to any project from any investor (go farmers!) while gauranting a higher than market price for the energy from these renewable energy projects. The application process is significantly streamlined and there are not limits on the number of renewable energy projects, giving renewable energy technologies one advantage over their fossil fuel counterparts.
Yesturday was the 20th annual National Anti-McDonalds Day. Every year on October 16th people all over the World come together in peaceful protest against this corporate junk food giant to raise awareness about subjects such as McDonalds damaging the environment, exploiting workers, cruelty towards animals and for targeting youth in their ad campaigns. The date of protest was started by the London branch of Greenpeace in 1985 and was chosen because October 16th is also the United Nations World Food Day.
You can visit the official anti McDonalds site here for more information on the company and can also download a version of their “whats wrong with McDonalds” leaflet to learn more about why there is controversy behind the Mc Giant.
