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Marijuana Shipments to the U.S.
'Nightline' Granted
Exclusive Access to U.S.
Drug Enforcement Officials,
Learns Mexican Drug
Cartels Trying to Expand
Marijuana Shipments to the
U.S. Exclusive
Access to
DEA Agents
Uncovers
Massive
MexicanDrug
Cartel
Shipments
A "Nightline" investigation has discovered
that Mexican cartels have recently been
trying to expand marijuana shipments into
the United States by the tens of thousands.
"Nightline" was granted exclusive and
unprecedented access to U.S. DEA agents
and Customs and Border Protection officers
who interdict, store and destroy tons of
marijuana.
Our investigation takes a look at the scale
and reach of the Mexican cartels who are
fueled by 25.8 million American marijuana
users.
Government investigators estimate that the
cartels have boosted their production by a
whopping 59 percent since 2003, leading
them to conclude that the Mexican
organizations "represent the single greatest
drug trafficking threat to the United States,"
an official said. Officials estimate that the
drug cartels' profits are between $18 and
$39 billion annually.
According to Mexican and U.S. officials
(who requested that their names and ranks
not be used), marijuana smuggling has
contributed to 35,000 deaths along the
border in the past five years.
These discoveries come on the heels of a
bill being introduced in the House by Reps.
Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-
Texas) to remove the federal roadblock to
state marijuana reform.
"Nightline" was present in the midst of a
two-week stretch of U.S. officials'
destroying more than $100 million worth of
marijuana at two top-secret facilities in an
undisclosed location in the American
Southwest.
Watch the full report on "Nightline"
tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET
Our cameras rolled as Customs and Border
patrol agents stopped an 18-wheeler
carrying furniture. But an X-ray of the
pottery and wooden furniture inside the
cargo hold showed something else.
"We pried open the ottoman and we found
nine cylinder-shaped packages containing
marijuana," said Supervising Officer Alberto
Flores of Customs and Border protection.
Officers went to work slicing open more
than 100 ottomans that were packed with
900 containers of marijuana. There was
about 2,300 pounds of marijuana in this
one shipment -- more than a ton.
"Marijuana is the No. 1 cash crop for the
cartels in Mexico," said assistant special
DEA agent Mel Rodriguez. "The moneys,
the proceeds from the sale of the marijuana
ultimately go to finance other illegal
activities for the cartel, such as [the]
purchase of weapons and additional
resources."
"Additional resources" include funding
armies of criminals who have fought the
U.S. and Mexican governments.
U.S. officials use a variety of tools to find
contraband, including an army of agents,
Border Patrol's drug-sniffing dogs, mobile
X-ray machines, even special cameras to
slide down gas tanks to hunt for drugs.
"We find sometimes narcotics inside
batteries, inside carburetors, manifolds,
underneath dashes, inside air conditioning
compressors, inside tires, in the roof. I just
can't think of all the places we have found
them," said Port of Laredo acting director
Jose Uribe.
Drug lords use every tactic to transport
drugs, cash and guns: submarines, tunnels,
ultra-light planes. They also still use men
on foot -- so-called "mules."
After U.S. agents seize the drugs, they are
moved into a secret facility -- one of the
most restricted government rooms in the
nation that, until now, no television
journalist had ever been allowed in before.
We had to sign papers just to walk from
room to room, and no employee working
there could be identified in our report.
U.S. Officials Burn Several Tons of
Marijuana Siezed From Mexican Drug
Cartels
About $59 million worth of marijuana and
every other drug you can imagine being
captured coming in from Mexico is stored
in this secret vault: cocaine, crystal
methamphetamine, heroin. An agent
pointed to a pack of 31 pounds of black tar
heroin. "Estimated street value about $1
million," he said.
We were granted a ride-along with a DEA
caravan transporting confiscated drugs,
with armed guards behind the wheel.
Assistant special DEA agent Mel Rodriguez
explained that the particular load we were
traveling with was 320 pounds of drugs that
was passed off to the DEA by Border
patrol.
"They encountered six individuals who had
just crossed over with duffel bags," he
explained. "As soon as Border patrol
approached them, they wound up dropping
the duffel bags and jumping back into the
river and swimming back to Mexico."
At some point the U.S. government has to
destroy the drugs. DEA officers took
"Nightline" inside another top-secret
location where the agency was in the
process of destroying 50,000 pounds, or 25
tons, of marijuana. Just like with the other
vault, we were not allowed to disclose its
location nor identify who worked there.
The vault is well protected with cement and
steel. Surveillance cameras are everywhere,
not to mention the throngs of armed DEA
agents all over the place. Each cache of
marijuana must be accounted for and is
given a number as it is brought inside.
There is so much marijuana in the facility
that the drugs have to be moved by a
forklift.
When it is time to destroy a haul, the
marijuana is carried by forklift, then
dumped into a large shredder before being
fed into two huge incinerators and burned
at more than 1,800 degrees. Some of the
agents have even nicknamed the
incinerators Dorothy and Bong 1.
After the marijuana is burned to ash, it is
placed into barrels. Only steam from the
heat of the incinerators is released into the
atmosphere as millions and millions of
drugs go up in smoke. 'Nightline' Granted
Exclusive Access to U.S.
Drug Enforcement Officials,
Learns Mexican Drug
Cartels Trying to Expand
Marijuana Shipments to the
U.S.
Midwest Floods: Waters Breach Berm at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station in Nebraska
Midwest Floods: Waters
Breach Berm at Fort
Calhoun Nuclear Station in
Nebraska Waters in
Minot, ND,
Nearly 13
feet Above
Flood Stage
andExpected
to Stay Near
That Level
for Days
A berm at a nuclear power plant in Fort
Calhoun, Neb., collapsed early this
morning, allowing Missouri River flood
waters to reach containment buildings and
transformers and forcing the shutdown of
electrical power.
Tonight, backup generators are cooling the
nuclear material at the Fort Calhoun
Nuclear Station.
The plant has not operated since April, and
officials say there is no danger to the
public.
A spokesman for the Omaha Public Power
District, Jeff Hanson, told The Associated
Press that the breached berm wasn't
critical to protecting the plant, though a
crew will look at whether it can be patched.
"That was an additional layer of protection
we put in," Hanson said.
Nevertheless, federal inspectors are on the
scene, and the federal government is so
concerned the head of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission is headed to the
plant.
There was no protecting thousands of
homes in Minot, N.D., where massive
flooding of the Souris River hit its peak
today, flooding more than 4,000 homes,
including Leslie Dull's.
"When you actually see your house," Dull
said, "and you know it's not just your
basement, it's your whole house, it's--
"I'm sorry," she said, as she broke down
crying.
There is some good news: The river in
Minot, N.D., peaked two feet lower than
expected. However, it is nearly 13 feet
above flood stage and it is expected to stay
near that level for days.
"It could be two to four to six weeks, or
more, before the water actually goes back
into it's banks ... [and] before [residents]
get to come and see their houses," Brig.
Gen. Bill Seekins of the North Dakota
National Guard told ABC News during a
tour through the flooded areas.
Seekins described the scene as "almost
apocalyptic."
Sgt. Dave Dodds of the North Dakota
National Guard said heavy rains on
Saturday will keep the river at its historic
crest for longer than expected.
"Authorities were hoping for maybe a day
or two before it started to recede, but you
can add maybe an additional 24 hours
onto that," Dodds said.
Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman said the
devastation may be even greater than
expected.
"I think we're going to reach probably
4,500 [homes] before this is all done,
where we've got a lot of water on these
homes," Zimbelman said.
Randy Nelson and his wife just bought a
camper, knowing their house is flooded.
They currently are living in a shopping
center parking lot, powerless to do anything
but wait.
He said the hardest part is "patience ... not
knowing where you are going to live. It's
tough."
But there have been victories. ABC News
watched Koni Aho race to build a berm
around her restaurant down river from
Minot. Twenty-four hours later there was
still no water in the restaurant.
"I was bound and determined," she said. "I
don't care. I said, 'It's just dirt. We can
move it.'"
Forecasters said scattered storms were in
today's forecast, but the worst part of the
storm will likely to be south and east of the
Souris River Basin.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Officials were building and re-enforcing
levees in the towns of Sawyer and Velvenau
in fear that all the water that has been
coming through Minot will swamp the two
towns.
As residents and officials brace for the
worst, acts of generosity were seen
throughout the community.
Garages were turned into storage units for
flood victims and families and churches
opened their doors to other displaced
community members.
"For the rest of the country, that is kind of
mind-boggling. But ... that's how we are in
North Dakota," Sen. John Hoeven told the
Associated Press.
Evangelical Lutheran pastor Mike Johnson
said he was too preoccupied with helping
other people that he wasn't sure the
condition of his belongings after being
evacuated from the flood zone the previous
week.
But Lutherans in a neighboring town
stepped in and took care of his files and
equipment in his office.
"They just showed up on Tuesday and
carted stuff off for us," Johnson told the
Associated Press.
ABC News' Gerard McNiff and the
Associated Press contributed to this report. Midwest Floods: Waters
Breach Berm at Fort
Calhoun Nuclear Station in
Nebraska
Teacher Charged With Cyberstalking Roils North Carolina Town
Teacher Charged With
Cyberstalking Roils North
Carolina Town Mother Said
Teacher Sent
StudentOver
'Hundreds of
Texts'
A middle
school teacher
has been
charged with cyberstalking one of her 13-
year-old students, and the boy's mother
claims that her son isn't the only one
receiving inappropriate text messages from
the female teacher.
Megan Mantooth, 26, is a popular eighth
grade math teacher in Burgaw Middle
School, a tiny town of 4,000 people in
southern North Carolina where her husband
is a deputy sheriff. She is also the mother of
two, including a 4-month-old baby.
The allegations against her have roiled the
town with many people defending her and
lashing out at her accusers.
Mantooth has been charged with
cybertalking, allegedly sending "hundreds"
of text messages to her student, which
included "a lot of sexual innuendos,"
according to the boy's mother, Elizabeth
Graham.
According to Graham, Mantooth obtained
her son's cellphone number from a fellow
student and started texting the child on
June 8. Graham said that initially the math
teacher texted her son his final grades,
followed by general inquiries about his
summer plans.
"About two hours later, she was still
texting my child and my husband took away
his phone," Graham said.
The "hundreds" of texts that Graham said
Mantooth sent her child included one that
Graham read to ABCNews.com:
"I wish you were home by yourself right
now because I don't have the kids," and
"More how? As in see ME more or less
clothes more, or both."
Mantooth allegedly compared herself to the
middle school female students telling the
boy that she would "look better in a bikini,"
Graham said. She also allegedly made plans
to meet the student at his beach house,
texting him, "I cannot wait 8 more days to
see you."
The mother believes that the middle school
teacher was developing an emotional
relationship with her 13-year-old son.
"Because every word out of her mouth
wasn't sexual," Graham said. "She was
being nice, like you would if you were
boyfriend and girlfriend with a 13-year-
old."
For the next few days, Graham and her
husband continued to respond to
Mantooth's texts, pretending to be their
son.
According to Lt. Billy Sandars of the Pender
County Police Department, the incident
report was filed by Elizabeth Graham on
June 11, four days after initial contact was
allegedly made by Mantooth.
Graham said that she first approached
close friends for advice about how to
handle the situation before calling police
because, "I thought I might be
overacting...and I really wanted to think
about it if I wanted my name and my son's
name out there."
Graham told ABCNews.com that Mantooth
also contacted two other male students in
her class via text.
One of the students' mothers did not return
phone calls to ABCNews.com. The other,
who prefered to remain unnamed, said that
she could not confirm the nature of the
texts from the math teacher to her son
because he erased the messages. But the
woman said she thought that the teacher's
behavior was "off."
"I asked [my son], 'Why is she texting
you?' He said, 'It's okay she's not my
teacher anymore.' And I said, 'No it's not
ok."
That mother never reported Mantooth's
behavior to the authorities and questioned
the Grahams' actions.
"They [the Grahams] themselves texted her
for three days," she said. "She's been
getting a lot of bad publicity around here.
People are really downing her for going on
TV and doing the statement that she did."
"Her husband is the deputy sheriff here. All
of his family is here. All the students do
love her," the parent said.
According to Graham, all text messages
were initiated by Mantooth and continued
from June 8 to June 13, often coming as late
as midnight.
When the parents met with Sanders on June
14, they handed over their phone to him.
The lieutenant said he continued to
impersonate the boy through text messages
with Mantooth "for his own investigations."
Mantooth turned herself in on June 16 after
Pender County police called to inform her
that they had a warrant for her arrest.
Sanders said that the police department is
still waiting for records from the phone
company to confirm exactly how many text
messages were sent from Mantooth to the
child.
Mantooth's voicemail box was full and she
did not return calls to ABCNews.com
After the charges became public Elizabeth
Graham shut down her computer on Friday
afternoon to shield herself and their son
from "ugly" remarks.
Commenters on ABC News' local affiliate
WWAY are angry at the Grahams.
"Leave Megan alone!!! my guess is, this is
an infatuated boy that wanted to act like the
pretty young teacher liked him , in an effort
to show off to his friends in order to feel
special," wrote one angry reader.
But the mother is defending her actions.
"I did give [Mantooth] the benefit of the
doubt. I did not have any venedettas
against her. My son made straight A's and
B's," Graham said.
Community Schools Director for Pender
County Schools, Joice Keith, told
ABCNews.com that Mantooth has been
suspended with pay pending results of the
investigation.
Mantooth is free on bond. A preliminary
court date has been set for July 21. Teacher Charged With
Cyberstalking Roils North
Carolina Town
Glen Campbell Reveals He Has Alzheimer's
Glen Campbell Reveals He
Has Alzheimer's Country
music icon
GlenCampbell
has been
diagnosed with
Alzheimer's
disease,the
singer and his
wife revealed Wednesday, prompting the
"Rhinestone Cowboy" to plan a farewell
tour.
"Glen is still an awesome guitar player and
singer," the musician's wife, Kim Campbell,
told People magazine. "But if he flubs a
lyric or gets confused onstage, I wouldn't
want people to think, 'What's the matter
with him? Is he drunk?'"
Campell goes on tour this fall to support
what his website touts as his final studio
album, called "Ghost on the Canvas".
Campbell, 75, was diagnosed six months
ago with the degenerative disease.
Alzheimer's symptoms typically surface
when a person is in their late 70s and early
80s. By age 85, 30 to 50 percent of adults
show signs of the disease.
Campbell's career spans five decades. He's
had 81 songs on the charts and has made
his mark on music history with such hits as
"Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Galveston."
Even though he said he's coming to terms
with his disease, Campbell said he wanted
to embark on one final tour for his fans, to
say thanks.
"I still love performing for my fans," he
said. "I'd like to thank them for sticking
with me through thick and thin."
Glen Campbell Reveals He
Has Alzheimer's
Trial resumes for Bahraini doctors
Trial resumes for Bahraini
doctors The trial resumed Monday of dozens of
Bahraini doctors and nurses accused of
working to undermine the Arab country's
government during mass protests earlier this
year, with seven additional witnesses taking
the stand.
Prosecutors claim the accused took over the
Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama,
stored and funneled weapons to protesters
and effectively kept people prisoner.
But the medical staff members, their lawyers
and international human rights activists have
said that the defendants were tortured to
extract confessions. According to reports from
Physicians for Human Rights, Human Rights
Watch and Doctors Without Borders, witnesses
said security forces stormed the capital city's
main hospital where they fired tear gas and
other chemical agents and beat doctors and
demonstrators. Bahraini officials have denied
such allegations.
The testimony Monday focused on what
happened in and around the hospital -- "both
on an administrative and security level" -- at
the height of the unrest, according to a report
from the state-run Bahrain News Agency, or
BNA. The judge also heard about the medical
complex's emergency procedures, as well as
information on the whereabouts between
February 14 and March 17 of some of those
charged.
According to the BNA report, one person
questioned claimed that a hospital staff
member gave out bags of blood to other staff
members, so they could be given to protesters
to splash on themselves.
One witness claimed that Dr. Ali Al Ekri
coordinated the distribution of knives to
protesters by ambulance, thus evading security
personnel. The witness testified five meetings
devoted to aiding demonstrators were held in
the surgeon's clinic, where prosecutors have
said that two automatic rifles, ammunition and
hospital knives were found.
Trial resumes for Bahraini
doctors
Eight Ways Jessica Simpson Can Make Her Third Reality Show The Charm
Eight Ways Jessica Simpson
Can Make Her Third Reality
Show The Charm How Can
Jessica
Simpson's
New Fashion
Reality Show
Succeed?
Jessica
Simpson has
decided to give reality TV another chance.
She's signed on to be the celebrity mentor
on NBC's new series, " Fashion Star," a
"Project Runway"-esque design show
hosted by Elle MacPherson.
This will be Jess' third attempt at a reality
series—"Newlyweds" ended in divorce and
"The Price of Beauty" ended in cancellation
—so we hope she's learned a thing or two.
Below, some suggestions for Jess to ensure
that "Fashion Star" is a hit.
1. Learn the difference between chicken
and tuna. We would love for Jessica to
show us how much she's evolved by eating
Chicken of the Sea and actually knowing
what it is.
2. Stick to the challenges. Talking too
much always gets Jessica in trouble. If she
can show us she's all business, we'll take
her more seriously as a "fashion guru."
3. Keep the gas to a minimum. Jess has
been known to be fond of burping and
farting in public. We suggest she keeps her
gas to herself.
4. Watch the bottoms. In the past,
Jessica's choice of pants has been
disastrous for her reputation. The mom
jeans were too unflattering, the daisy dukes
too revealing. To be a television success,
choose bottoms wisely.
5. No drama with Eric Johnson. We all
know what happens to Jess when she's
single and it's not cute. If possible, we
suggest she keep everything copacetic with
Eric until the series is a hit. No shotgun
wedding, no dramatic breakup, no TMI
about their sex life.
6. Keep Papa Joe off the set. Controlling
stage dad, Joe Simpson, usually makes a
mess of everything.
7. Get a catchphrase.Wanna make it
work, Jess? Come up with a catchphrase
like Tim Gunn's.
Eight Ways Jessica Simpson
Can Make Her Third Reality
Show The Charm
Court Docs Detail Arrest of Ex-IMF Leader in NYC
Court Docs Detail Arrest of
Ex-IMF Leader in NYC Court
documents
detail events
leadingup to
arrest of ex-
IMF leader in
NYC sex
assault case
Dominique Strauss-Kahn declared he had
diplomatic immunity and complained that
his handcuffs were too tight after he was
taken into custody on allegations he tried
to rape a Manhattan hotel maid, court
documents filed Thursday show.
The documents filed by prosecutors
provide a chronology of statements leading
to the arrest of the former leader of the
International Monetary Fund, who was
taken into custody by Port Authority police
at John F. Kennedy International Airport on
May 14 as he tried to leave on a Paris-
bound flight.
One of his attorneys, Benjamin Brafman,
said Thursday he had no comment.
Strauss-Kahn, who is free on $1 million bail
under house arrest at a luxury townhouse,
maintains he did not attack the maid at
Sofitel hotel.
The new court documents describe Strauss-
Kahn seemingly confused as he is taken into
custody.
"What is this about?" Strauss-Kahn
repeatedly asked detectives, according to
the documents.
He asked detectives whether he needs an
attorney, responded to questions about
whether he is hungry (at one point saying
he would "like some eggs") and
complained about his handcuffs, the
documents say.
"Manhattan detectives need to speak with
you about an incident in a hotel room,"
responded one detective as they go from
the airport to the Manhattan Special Victims
Squad on May 14 at about 5:15 p.m., the
documents say.
"Then I need to make a call and let them
know I won't be at my meeting tomorrow,"
Strauss-Kahn told the detective. Then he
added, "These handcuffs are tight."
French politicians and citizens were upset
about images of a handcuffed Strauss-Kahn
as police walked him in front of a crowd of
cameras on May 15 as he was taken from a
police precinct to court to face charges of
attempted rape and sexual abuse. Such
images would be illegal in his French
homeland.
The account begins with Strauss-Kahn
calling May 14 — apparently at or on his
way to the airport — to employees at the
hotel to tell them he had left his phone in
his luxury room after checking out.
About 9 p.m. that evening, after previously
declaring he had diplomatic immunity,
Strauss-Kahn tells a detective that he would
like to call his lawyer and asks for his cell
phone.
"We're going to have to wait for the
detectives to come back," the detective
says. "I don't have access to your phone."
"Do I need a lawyer?" Strauss-Kahn asks.
"It is your right to have one in this country
if you want," the detective replied. "I don't
know if you have some kind of diplomatic
status."
"No, no, no, I'm not trying to use that. I
just want to know if I need a lawyer,"
Strauss-Kahn said.
"That is up to you," the detective says.
Strauss-Kahn was formally placed under
arrest about 2:45 a.m. on May 15,
according to the documents.
Court Docs Detail Arrest of
Ex-IMF Leader in NYC
Aide: Time Nearing for Giffords' Hospital Release
Aide: Time Nearing for
Giffords' Hospital Release congresswoman could be released from
hospital as early as end of June
An aide to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said
Saturday that she could be released from a
rehabilitation hospital in Houston as early
as this month, offering the latest indication
that the Arizona congresswoman is making
progress in recovering from a gunshot
wound to the head.
Chief of Staff Pia Carusone told The
Associated Press that doctors and family
are considering "many factors" while
making the critical next-step decision to
release Giffords from TIRR Memorial
Hermann, the hospital where she has been
undergoing intensive daily rehabilitation
since late January.
"We're looking at before the end of the
month. We're looking at early July,"
Carusone said. "We don't have a date."
Giffords arrived in Houston just weeks after
being shot on Jan. 8 while she was at a
meet-and-greet with constituents in her
home district of Tucson, Ariz. Six people
were killed and a dozen others wounded in
the attack outside a supermarket.
While Giffords' release from the hospital
after five months of intensive inpatient
therapy is an important step in her
recovery, she still will have to undergo
months of outpatient rehabilitation, which
will include speech, occupational and
physical therapy. Her husband, astronaut
Mark Kelly, has indicated she will begin her
outpatient therapy in Houston.
Giffords has made remarkable progress
that has been described by neurosurgeon
Dr. Dong Kim as "almost miraculous."
Doctors were initially amazed that the
congresswoman survived the shooting —
only 10 percent of people shot in the head
live and many who do remain in a
vegetative state. Within days, she was able
to move both arms and respond to family
and friends.
Since coming to Houston, Giffords has
regained some ability to walk and talk. The
only image of her since the shooting was
seen in late April, when television cameras
shot blurry footage of her ascending a flight
of steps to a NASA jet that was taking her
to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch her
husband rocket into space.
That mission was delayed until May, and
after Giffords returned from a second trip
to Florida — where she watched the launch
while sitting in a wheelchair — she
underwent surgery to replace a portion of
her skull that was removed immediately
after the shooting to give her brain room to
swell.
After the surgery, doctors told the media
Giffords was walking better than was seen
in the flurry footage from late April and that
her speech was continuously improving.
But Carusone made clear in a recent
interview with The Arizona Republic that
her boss still had difficulty stringing
together sentences and it remained unclear
if — or when — she would be able to
resume her Congressional duties.
Aide: Time Nearing for
Giffords' Hospital Release
UN and US launch campaign to eliminate inherited HIV
UN and US launch campaign to eliminate
inherited HIV The UN and the US government have launched an initiative to
eliminate HIV among babies by 2015.
The UN says a baby is born with HIV nearly every minute, almost all
of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
The new campaign will aim to treat HIV-positive pregnant women,
cutting infection among their babies to less than 5%.
It will cost an estimated $2.5bn (£1.5bn) to care for 15 million
women, double those currently being treated.
The plan, called Countdown to Zero, was developed by a team led by
UNAids and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
A key element of the campaign is to ensure that all women, especially
pregnant ones, have access to quality life-saving HIV prevention and
treatment services - for themselves and their children.
In 2009, an estimated 370,000 children were infected at birth with
HIV, almost all in low- and middle-income countries, and chiefly in
sub-Saharan Africa.
"We are here today to ensure that all children are born healthy and
free of disease. We are here to ensure that their mothers live to see
them grow," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of
the plan.
"We believe that by 2015 children everywhere can be born free of HIV
and that their mothers can remain healthy," said Michel Sidibe,
executive director of UNAids.
"This new global plan is realistic, it is achievable and it is driven by
the most affected countries."
Achieving the goal could be "the beginning of the end of the story,
because that opens the prospect for an Aids-free generation," said
Michel Kazatchkine, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria.
UN and US launch campaign to eliminate
inherited HIV
Health Care Survey: Employers May Cut Plans After 2014
Health Care Survey: Employers May Cut
Plans After 2014 some Employers Plan to Nix
Company-Provided Health Care
plans
Employees can kiss goodbye
employer-provided health coverage,
at least as it exists today. That's the
message of a survey of 1,300
employers just released by McKinsey
& Co. Overall, 30 percent of employers said that after 2014, when
most of the provisions of the Obama administration's health
reforms kick in, they would definitely or probably stop offering
company-sponsored health coverage.
The findings dramatically differ from those of previous surveys and
analysis. The Congressional Budget Office, for example, has
estimated that only about 7 percent of employees currently
covered by corporate health plans will have to find alternatives.
McKinsey's findings, if correct, contradict the White House's view
of how health reform will play out. They would constitute, in the
eyes of the administration, a highly inconvenient truth. A White
House spokesman yesterday addressed them in an interview with
ABC News's Jake Tapper, noting that McKinsey's survey was "pretty
starkly at odds" not just with the CBO's analysis but with those of
the RAND Corporation and "with history."
By "history" he said he meant the experience of Massachusetts,
after that state passed its own version of health care reform. Said
the spokesman: "History has shown that reforms motivate more
businesses to offer insurance." The number of employees with
employer-sponsored health coverage in Massachusetts, he said,
has increased, not decreased. Addressing the McKinsey findings he
said, "We simply just disagree with those conclusions."
How could McKinsey's findings differ so dramatically from
prevailing wisdom? Easily, say its authors.
Unlike other surveys, they say McKinsey's first "educated
respondents" about the implications of health care reform (for
their companies and employees) before it asked them about their
post 2014 strategies. "The propensity of employers to make big
changes [to company-provided health coverage] increases with
awareness, largely because shifting away will be economically
rational, not only for many of them but also for their lower-income
employees, given the law's incentives."
Further, the McKinsey survey, unlike some others, presented
employers with a range of alternatives to their continuing to offer
presently existing coverage--not just keeping it as-is or dropping it
outright. Not surprisingly, respondents showed "a level of interest
higher than that generated by surveys asking only about plans to
keep or drop" insurance.
Other findings of the survey include:
-Though 30 percent of employers say they will stop offering health
coverage after 2014, the percentage rises to 50 percent among
employers with "a high awareness of reform."
-At least 30 percent of employers would gain economically by
dropping coverage, even if, to retain employees, they had to offer
some other form of compensation (higher salaries, say, more
vacation or greater flex-time).
-Contrary to what some employers assume, most employees
(85%) say they would stay at their present jobs if their employer
stopped offering health coverage. A majority, however, would
expect to get some some kind of increased compensation in
exchange.
-Up to half of all employers (45-50 percent) say they will definitely
or probably pursue alternatives to company-supplied health
coverage after 2014. "Those alternatives," write McKinsey's
authors, "include dropping coverage, offering it through a defined-
contribution model, or in effect offering it only to certain
employees"--for example, those whose skills they need to retain.
The government has a special web page that explains the health
care law.
Nintendo unveils new Wii console
Nintendo unveils new Wii
console Gaming giant Nintendo has been showing
off its next-generation Wii game console,
at the E3 games show in Los Angeles.
The much-anticipated console, dubbed Wii
U, comes with a controller that features a
touchscreen and camera.
The original Wii console was hugely popular
but Nintendo has faced pressure from rivals
with similar devices.
Nintendo hopes the new console will create
a new genre of gaming.
Wii U will feature a set-top box similar to
the first generation console.
But the 6.2-inch touchscreen controller
comes with a front-facing camera as well as
the more traditional buttons of a Wii remote
and a motion detector.
It will broadcast high-definition video and
can be used to make video calls and browse
the web.
Privacy
In demos, the Japanese gaming giant
showed off some of the things the controller
will allow - including offering users a private
screen to view gameplay information that is
not shared on the big screen.
It will also allow users of games such as Wii
Fit to weigh themselves and get a read-out
via the controller rather than the TV.
Users can also swap game play between the
big screen and the controller, for instance if
someone else wants to watch TV.
Wii U is "an interesting new concept" thinks
Dan Pearson, a staff writer at
Gamesindustry.biz.
"It is a hybrid between a handheld with
elements of tablet design but also has all
the traditional controller elements," he said.
"Initially people may be confused by the
controller but so were they when the first
Wii was unveiled," he said.
Nintendo was also keen to show off the
processing power of the new console.
"Nintendo has been under fire for chasing
casual gamers and it is good to see them
trying to win back core gamers," said Mr
Pearson.
Wii U will work with older games and
controllers and will be available from spring
2012.
There was no indication of the price of the
new console. Nintendo unveils new Wii
console
Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study
Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study TUESDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) --
Increasing out-of-pocket expenses forces
many cancer patients in the United States to
forgo drugs and doctor appointments and
to cut back on food and other necessities, a
new study reveals.
The researchers looked at 216 cancer
patients who sought help from the national
nonprofit HealthWell Foundation, which
helps underinsured patients afford
expensive medications. All but one patient
had insurance, two-thirds were covered by
Medicare and 83 percent had prescription
drug coverage. Most of the patients were
women (88 percent) with breast cancer (76
percent).
The patients' out-of-pocket expenses
averaged $712 a month for things such as
prescription drugs, doctor visit copays, lost
wages and travel to medical appointments.
These expenses were a significant problem
for 30 percent of the patients and a
catastrophic problem for 11 percent,
according to the researchers at Duke
University Medical Center and the Dana-
Farber Cancer Institute.
The study didn't examine whether patients
suffered worse outcomes because of
treatment choices they were forced to make
due to financial problems. However, the
researchers did find that patients took fewer
medications due to costs and were less
satisfied with their care when out-of-pocket
expenses caused hardship.
The data and conclusions of this study,
which was scheduled for presentation
Monday at the annual meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology in
Chicago, should be viewed as preliminary
until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
"Overall, this study provides a patient-
centered view of a reality of modern day
cancer care -- something that we call
'financial toxicity,'" senior author Dr. Amy
Abernethy, an associate professor in Duke's
medical oncology division, said in a Duke
news release.
"We used to think about chemotherapy
toxicity in terms of bad side effects like
vomiting, nerve pain, confusion and risk of
fatal infection. Now we are starting to think
in terms of how treatment choices impact
real aspects of daily living such as the ability
to buy groceries or not," she added.
Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study
Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals
Legalize Marijuana, Says
Inventor of 'Spice'
Chemicals John W.
Huffman
Says Real Pot
Is Less
Dangerous
Than Fake
Pot
When John W.
Huffman invented a whole class of
chemicals that mimic the effect of
marijuana on the human brain, he never
intended for them to launch a whole "legal
marijuana" industry.
But now that "Spice" and other forms of
imitation pot are sending users to
emergency rooms across America, the
retired professor has an idea of how to
stem the epidemic. If the federal
government would legalize the real thing,
says Huffman, maybe consumers wouldn't
turn to the far more dangerous fake stuff.
Huffman, who developed more than 400
"cannabinoids" as an organic chemist at
Clemson University, says that marijuana has
the benefit of being a known quantity, and
not a very harmful one. We know the
biological effects of THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana, Huffman told ABC
News, because they have been thoroughly
studied. "The scientific evidence is that it's
not a particularly dangerous drug," said
Huffman.
WATCH an interview with John W. Huffman.
The "JWH" class of compounds that
Huffman invented to mimic marijuana's
effects, meanwhile, have not been tested
the same way. "The physiological
compounds effects of [JWH] compounds
have never been examined in humans,"
said Huffman. What we do know, he says, is
that "it doesn't hit the brain in the same
way as marijuana, and that's why it's
dangerous."
While they are known to elevate blood
pressure -- unlike marijuana -- and to cause
increased heart rate and anxiety, to date
most of the evidence of their effects is
anecdotal, and comes from things like visits
to emergency rooms. "There have been a
number of people who've committed
suicide after using them," said Huffman.
Huffman began working on the
cannabinoids in the early 1990s using a
grant from the National Institute for Drug
Abuse. He published academic papers that
gave information on the chemical steps to
make the compounds, including JWH-018,
one of the easiest of the class to make and
the one most often found in Spice products.
"JWH-018 can be made by a halfway
decent undergraduate chemistry major,"
said Huffman, "in three steps using
commercially available materials."
In 2008, says Huffman, someone sent him
an article from the German magazine Der
Spiegel about a young man using the JWH
chemicals to get high. He subsequently
learned that the "imitation marijuana"
drugs based on his chemicals had popped
up in Europe in 2006, not long after he'd
published a paper describing how to make
the compounds. The compounds were also
being used commercially in South Korea as
a plant growth product, and Huffman
speculates that they migrated from there to
China, where they are now being
manufactured for use in Spice.
"I figured that somewhere along the line,
some enterprising individual would try to
smoke it," said Huffman. He didn't figure
that it would become a global industry.
Anyone who ingests it recreationally,
Huffman stressed, is "foolish" and playing
"Russian Roulette," and the head shop
owners who are selling it know what they
are doing. "They can read the newspapers,
they can watch TV," said Huffman. "They
know what's in it. And I think they're
exploiting the young people who buy
them." A representative of a head shop
trade group told ABC News that the
products should be regulated but not
outlawed.
Prohibition Doesn't Work, Says Huffman
Huffman, who opposes prohibition in
general, doubts that a ban on the
substances will keep kids away from it. "We
declared marijuana illegal in 1937. The
federal government passed the law. Now,
that really did a lot of good to keep people
from smoking marijuana, didn't it?"
Huffman said that making all the JWH
compounds illegal would probably have
similar results, but emphasizes that any
decision to legalize JWH compounds should
hinge on a thorough study of how they
affect humans. The DEA currently bans five
cannabinoids, including JWH-018 and one
other JWH chemical, but Congress is
weighing a more sweeping ban.
Huffman does believes marijuana should be
legalized, since its effects are known. "It
should be sold only to people 21 and
older. It should be heavily, heavily taxed."
One of the benefits of decriminalizing
marijuana, he said, would be diminishing
the allure of its more dangerous
substitutes.
"I talked to a marijuana provider from
California, a doctor, a physician," explained
Huffman, "and he said that in California,
that these things are not near the problem
they are in the rest of the country simply
because they can get marijuana. And
marijuana, even for recreational use is
quite easy to get in California, and it's
essentially decriminalized. And marijuana is
not nearly as dangerous as these
compounds."
The trouble with trying to keep people from
using drugs like Spice, said Huffman, is that
"people are going to do what they're going
to do," even if some kid is spending "$25
bucks on a bag of green stuff, and he
doesn't know what's in it, and he doesn't
know what it does."
"You can't tell a 17-year-old anything,
because they consider that they're
immortal."
Legalize Marijuana, Says
Inventor of 'Spice'
Chemicals
Sony Unveils Next-Gen Portable Device 'Vita'
Sony unveils next-generation
portable gaming device
'PlayStation Vita' at E3 trade show ony Corp. on Monday took the wraps
off its next generation portable
gaming machine, PlayStation Vita, a
touch-interface and motion-sensitive
handheld that outdoes its workhorse
PlayStation Portable and will go on sale before the winter holidays.
Company executives have called the device Sony's biggest product
launch since the PlayStation 3 five years ago.
The device will allow gamers to be connected with one another
over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-
tracking technology. In the U.S., Sony is partnering exclusively with
AT&T Inc. for cellphone service.
The device, available for $249 for its Wi-Fi-only version, was
unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game
industry's annual convention known as E3. A version that will also
have cellphone service will retail for $299, and buyers will have to
subscribe to a cellular data plan.
The handheld has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a
touch pad on the back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable
gamers to play against people using PlayStation 3 consoles over
the Internet-based PlayStation Network, a system that was recently
restored after being shut down due to a massive hacking attack.
Sony apologized again for the outage and said since the network
was restored, activity is back to 90 percent of the pre-attack level.
The hardware comes with an accelerometer, which means it will
also react to being held at different angles and being moved
through the air.
"PlayStation Vita will revolutionize the portable entertainment
experience," Kazuo Hirai, group chief executive officer of Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc., told a crowd of 6,000 at the Los
Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. "The whole world is really in
play."
The Vita is slightly bigger than the PlayStation Portable, which has
sold more than 70 million units worldwide since its launch in 2004.
The PSP will continue to be sold along with new games.
But the Vita — code-named "NGP," or next generation portable,
until Monday — will enable gamers to do more.
A Sony staffer demonstrated a version of "Uncharted 3: Drake's
Deception," in which he used the familiar buttons and knobs but
also touched the screen to move the Drake avatar across ledges
and attack opponents in close combat.
Another game called "Reality Fighters" will allow users to take a
picture and have fighting characters battle each other using objects
from the real world.
Along with social games and email, Sony also unveiled a
communication service it called "Party" that will enable voice and
text chat during games or when using the Web browser.
Users will also be able to sense when other gamers are nearby,
what games they have played recently, and enable in-game gifting
of virtual items.
Sony was the latest technology company to make a big bet on
connected-everywhere services, following Apple Inc.'s presentation
Monday in San Francisco of its iCloud storage service, which will
allow consumers to access their photos, music and documents on
distant servers.
"Cloud is where everything is headed," said Ricardo Torres, editor-
in-chief of GameSpot.com. "This is certainly the attempt by Sony to
make sure they're not left behind."
Sony also introduced a range of new 3-D games such as
"Resistance 3," a traditional shooter game, in a big push to make it
a leader in the format. It is bundling the PS3 game with a pair of 3-
D glasses and a 24-inch 3-D monitor for $499, a price far lower
than most 3-D displays on the market.
Sony's array of new 3-D games and the Vita itself are directed at
so-called core gamers, who are focused on serious action and
effects.
But in a reflection of the growing popularity of games that make
use of iPad and iPhone touch screens and Apple's iOS operating
system, like the addictive "Angry Birds," Sony also said Monday it
would put PlayStation games onto smartphones that run on Google
Inc.'s competing Android operating system.
It called the service focused on such casual gamers "PlayStation
Suite" and said further details would be announced in the coming
months.
"Smartphones and tablets have really created a large market for
casual gaming," Hirai said in an interview after Sony's presentation.
"We want to make sure we're in both areas."
Sony unveils next-generation
portable gaming device
'PlayStation Vita' at E3 trade show
9 Allergy Myths Debunked
9 Allergy Myths Debunked Ragweeding
Through the
Top9 Allergy
Myths
Allergy season
is at its worst
in 10 years,
meaning lots of itchy eyes, runny noses and
wheezing lungs for the 93 million U.S.
allergy sufferers out there.
"We are seeing a mini-crisis in New York
City, among other U.S. cities, due to heavy
winter and early spring precipitation that
has caused more early, and sustained tree
and grass pollens in many areas," said Dr.
Clifford Bassett, clinical assistant professor
of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine
and medical director of Allergy and Asthma
Care of New York. "Secondary, we have
seen a steady rise in pollen levels in many
areas."
But with all the information available on
seasonal allergies, many people are still
confused by the myths and facts about
allergy suffering and relief.
"Patients frequently blame the cause of
their allergy symptoms on the wrong
thing," said Dr. Stanley Fineman, clinical
assistant professor in the division of allergy
at Emory University School of Medicine in
Atlanta. "It is important for patients
suffering from allergies to find out exactly
what is triggering their symptoms."
So, here are nine common allergy myths
that are often confused as facts.
1. Myth: Only take medication when
showing symptoms of an allergy attack.
Experts say most allergy medications work
best if they are already in the person's
system or immediately after exposure,
even if the person has shown no allergic
symptoms.
"For patients with asthma and allergic
rhinitis, allergic inflammation in the airways
can be present even if the person can't feel
it," said Dr. James Li, chair of the allergy
division at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
"It's there smoldering. But it's clear that,
for patients with asthma, daily treatment
can reduce the risk of asthma attacks."
Even though a person might suffer from low
levels of symptoms, as the season
progresses, Li said, a person can
experience complete obstruction of the
nasal passage if it goes untreated.
"By that time, it's almost too late to take a
medication," he said.
2. Myth: If you use one brand of allergy
medication, you build a tolerance and it
will stop working.
"This one comes up all the time," Li said.
"If someone has significant allergies, they
may take a medication and it seems to be
helping, but then the person develops more
allergy trouble and they conclude that they
developed a tolerance to the medication."
Li said allergic reactions wax and wane with
time. When symptoms are mild, many
people believe their allergy medication is
stronger and works better.
"Allergy symptoms progress, not because a
person has built tolerance to the
medication, but their allergies have gotten
worse or exposure to the allergen has
increased," Li said.
3. Myth: Allergy shots only work in
children.
Experts say allergy shots, or
immunotherapy, have nothing to do with
age and can offer relief at any time. The
shots contain just enough of an allergen to
stimulate the immune system, but not
enough to cause an allergic reaction.
With each session, doctors increase the
amount of allergen in the shot. The idea is
for a person to build up a tolerance to the
specific allergen over time.
Allergy Myths Debunked
"Although symptomatic medications may
help some patients with seasonal allergies,
allergen immunotherapy or allergy shots
are the only treatment that changes an
allergic patient's immune sensitivity to the
triggering allergen," Emory's Fineman said.
"Allergen immunotherapy can help patients
build a tolerance to the allergens and
provide long-term relief, even after the
injections are discontinued."
4. Myth: Flowers are a leading allergy
irritant.
Stop blaming the flowers. They're pretty to
look at and, experts say, it's probably not
your flowerbed that is causing your runny
nose and itchy eyes.
Allergies are primarily caused by wind-
pollinated plants; flowers are generally
reproduced by insects. Flower pollen is
much larger than pollen that comes from
trees. Tree pollen can be spread through
the air, which can then be breathed in by
humans and cause those miserable
reactions.
"This notion comes up because flowers
have pollen that is highly visible," said Li.
"But that pollen does not become airborne
and there are not high concentrations of it
in the air, like the pollens from trees,
grasses and ragweed."
5. Myth: Eat the local honey and you
won't get seasonal allergies.
The idea makes sense. Honey is made by
bees. Bees are carriers of pollen, so bits of
pollen may get into the honey. Eat the local
honey and you may build up a tolerance to
those allergens, as a whole. But experts say
this is wishful thinking.
"Honeybees pollinate larger flowers," said
Dr. Michael Daines, an allergist and
immunologist at the University of Arizona
School of Medicine in Tucson. "These
flowers produce large sticky grains of
pollen that adhere to the bee. Large sticky
grains of pollen don't get in the air we
breathe, so they don't cause allergies. So
even if local honey had enough pollen in it
to desensitize your allergies, it would be
the wrong kind of pollen."
"Most importantly, this has been studied in
clinical trials that show that there is no
effect of unpasteurized locally made honey
on allergies," Daines added.
6. Myth: If you didn't have allergies as a
child, you're in the clear as an adult.
Sorry folks, but even if you've lived an
allergy-free life so far, it is indeed possible
for you to develop allergic reactions in
adulthood.
9 Allergy Myths Debunked
New Cancer Drugs Raise Hope of Survival
New Cancer Drugs Raise
Hope of Survival After
melanoma had
spreadto his
organs and
fearsthat he
would be dead
in months
increased,
Corky Corcoran decided to try an
experimental drug called Vemurafenib.
Now, Corcoran said, the drug has changed
his life.
"This drug, if it continues to work as it has
been working ... is fantastic," he said.
Drugs like Vemurafenib, the one Corcoran
tried, are what had cancer researchers
applauding today at the American Society
of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in
Chicago and could have the estimated 1
million cancer patients buzzing throughout
the nation.
"Doctors were told they are on the edge of
a new era," and that several of the latest
breakthroughs could bring about the most
significant changes to cancer survival, Dr.
Lynn Schucter, a cancer researcher said.
The drug Vemurafenib, which is being
developed by Plexxikon and Roche/
Genentech, is receiving much of the
attention. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the
American Cancer Society, said the drug
targets genetic cell mutation, which affects
about half of those with melanoma.
Melanoma patients who were given the
drug were said to be alive and no longer
needing chemotherapy. Melanoma is the
most common form of cancer, affecting
approximately 70,000 new people each
year.
Latest estimates in the United States show
close to 9,000 deaths from melanoma each
year, but Dr. Paul Chapman with Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the
leader of the Vemurafenib study, said he
believed the new findings bring a renewed
sense of hope for one of the most deadly
forms of cancer.
The Vemurafenib study involved 675
patients around the world with inoperable,
advanced melanoma and the gene
mutation. Researchers compared
Vemurafenib with Dacarbazine, another
chemotherapy drug used to treat skin
cancer.
The study found that of the patients who
were given the Vermurafenib pills twice a
day, 84 percent were alive after six months.
"To have 84 percent of patients on
Vemurafenib still alive was astounding and
statistically, highly significant," Chapman
said.
Doctors said Vemurafenib could be
approved and on the market in six months.
Bristol-Myers Squib paid for the study and
many of the researchers consult or work for
the company.
Another success story announced today
was Bristol-Myers Squib's melanoma
fighting drug, Yervoy, which works by
stimulating the body's own immune system
to fight cancer.
Yevoy won Federal Drug Administration
approval in March and became the first
drug to show signs of success for treating
metastatic melanoma. The drug was shown
to increase survival rates for melanoma
patients by a third.
Yervoy would cost $120,000 for a complete
course of treatment, which consists of four
infusions given over a three-month period,
Bristol-Myers said in a statement back in
March.
A day after a parade of pink, including
nearly 4,000 breast cancer survivors,
swarmed the nation's capital for the 22nd
Komen Global Race for the Cure Saturday,
researchers also announced a drug called
Aromasin to aid in the prevention of breast
cancer.
Aromasin, researchers said, cuts the risk of
developing breast cancer by more than half
with fewer side effects than two other
approved drugs
"I think it provides another option for
post-menopausal women at high risk for
developing breast cancer," said Dr. Jennifer
Litton, of the Anderson Cancer Center.
Aromasin was the first test in healthy
women of a new generation of hormone
blocking pills called aromatase inhibitors,
which are currently used to prevent the
recurrence of breast cancer.
The National Cancer Institute explained that
aromatase inhibitors help to block the
production of estrogen, a chemical
produced by the ovaries and other tissues
that helps breast tumors to grow.
Studies on Vemurafenib and Aromasin will
be published online by the New England
Journal of Medicine.
New Cancer Drugs Raise
Hope of Survival
Arizona Forest Fire Triggers New Evacuation Orders
Arizona Forest Fire Triggers New Evacuation Orders Authorities
ordered
more
eastern
Arizona
residents to
evacuate
their homes Sunday as a 225-square-mile
blaze that has grown into the third-largest
in state history crept toward more
buildings.
The Apache County sheriff's office told an
unknown number of people east of the
town of Alpine along U.S. Highway 180 to
get out as the forest fire crept closer.
Alpine itself has been under mandatory
evacuation orders since Thursday night,
along with the community of Nutrioso and
several lodges and camps in the scenic high
country.
Subdivisions close to the New Mexico
border that were ordered emptied Sunday
included Escudilla Mountain Estates,
Bonita, Dog Patch, and the H-V Ranch east
of Highway 180, fire information officer Eric
Neitzel said.
People packed up their belongings as
smoke covered the mountain vacation
towns in a smoky fog, and wind blew smoke
from the burning pine forest well into
nearby New Mexico and Colorado.
Arizona Forest Fire Triggers New Evacuation Orders
Thirty years on, AIDS fight may shift to treatment focus
Thirty years on, AIDS fight may shift to
treatment focus fter 30 years of AIDS prevention
efforts, global leaders may now need to shift their focus to
spending more on drugs used to treat the disease as new
data show this may also be the best way to prevent the virus
from spreading.
The U.N. General Assembly will take up the issue next week
as it assesses progress in fighting the disease — first
reported on June 5, 1981 — that has infected more than 60
million people and claimed nearly 30 million lives.
Guiding the meeting is groundbreaking new data that shows
early treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV,
can cut its transmission to a sexual partner by 96 percent .
"There had been for a long time this artificial dichotomy or
artificial tension between treatment versus prevention. Now it
is very clear that treatment is prevention and treatment is an
important part of a multifaceted combination strategy," Dr.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), told Reuters.
Fauci, who has made AIDS research his life's work, has a big
role to play in the discussion of the NIH-funded study made
public on May 12.
Story: Controversial AIDS cure spurs hope
"A month ago, we didn't have that data. People were still
arguing. 'Well, we are not so sure if you treat people you are
really going to prevent infection,"' Fauci said. "The policy
makers need to sit down and say, 'Now that we know this, is
this going to be enough incentive to change around our
policy?"'
That could mean redirecting, or adding to, global spending
on fighting AIDS, particularly how much is spent on education
or other research versus antiretroviral drugs that allow
patients to live with the suppressed disease for many years.
In 2010, nearly $16 billion was spent on HIV response in low
and middle-income countries, according to the U.N. Program
on HIV/AIDS.
Report: New AIDS infections dropped since 2001
UNAIDS says at least $22 billion will be needed to combat
the disease by 2015, helping avert 12 million new infections
and 7.4 million more deaths in the next decade.
Globally, the number of people living with HIV rose to 34
million by the end of 2010, from 33.3 million a year earlier,
according to figures issued by UNAIDS Friday. There were
26.2 million in 1999.
As many as 6.6 million people were receiving antiretroviral
therapy in low- and middle-income countries at the end of
2010, a nearly 22-fold increase since 2001, according to the
report.
Graying of AIDS: Older Americans at risk for new HIV
infection
A record 1.4 million people started lifesaving treatment in
2010, more than any year before, according to the report.
And at least 420,000 children were receiving antiretroviral
therapy at the end of 2010, a more than 50 percent increase
since 2008, when 275 000 children were on treatment.
But in poorer countries, a majority of eligible patients still
were not receiving antiretroviral treatment, according to
UNAIDS.
"It is encouraging to see that treatment is expanding in poor
countries - but the pace has to be picked up if the world
wants to get ahead of the wave of new infections and make
use of the latest science that HIV treatment is also HIV
prevention," Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer of Medecins Sans
Frontieres, said in a statement.
"World leaders meeting at the U.N. AIDS summit next week
have the best opportunity to translate the latest science into
policies that could break the back of the HIV epidemic. This
is not the time for a mediocre response that leaves the job
only half done."
Fauci says he has already discussed this with policymakers
and may make public his views on needed policy changes at
the International AIDS Society meeting in Rome.
Story: Starting HIV meds quickly helps protects partner
"I don't think it's going to be one-size-fits all," Fauci said of
the policy approach. "There is going to be certainly a
difference between how things are looked at in the
developing world and the developed world. And within the
developed world, I think it will be a country-by-country
issue."
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe noted that AIDS
remained "a metaphor for inequality" as the vast majority of
patients live in Africa, where every year nearly 400,000
babies are born with HIV.Thirty years on, AIDS fight may shift to treatment focus.
He said countries need to start looking at innovative financing
to make sure drugs are not just for the rich market.
"We need shared responsibility. Every country, rich or poor,
must put in its fair share, based on GDP and burden of
disease. No country can do it alone -- donors or developing
countries," he told a United Nations press conference Friday.
Thirty years on, AIDS fight may shift to
treatment focus
WHO: Deadly E. coli is New Strain of Bacteria, Source Still Unknown
WHO: Deadly E. coli is New Strain of
Bacteria, Source Still Unknown Outbreak More Severe than
Ever Seen Before, Experts Say
The lethal E. coli bacteria that has left
18 dead and more than 1,500 sick in
Europe is a new strain that experts
have never seen before, the World
Health Organization announced
Thursday.
Early investigations suggest that the strain is an altered type of two
E. coli bacteria with deadly genes that, experts said, could explain
the widespread and dangerous nature of the illness.
"This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients
before," Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO, told The
Associated Press. "[It has] various characteristics that make it
more virulent and toxin-producing."
The source of the bacteria remains unknown, continuing to baffle
experts.
The strain has hit eight countries in Europe, but has been
concentrated in Germany.
Two cases have surfaced in U.S. hospitals, said Lola Russell, a
spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Russell did not disclose the names or locations of those who had
fallen ill, but she did say their illnesses were associated with recent
travel to Germany. Both are expected to survive.
Moreover, a local Texas health department confirmed Wednesday
that seven cases of E. coli appeared in the Amarillo area this
week, but Russell said those cases were not associated with the
European outbreak.
Donna Makkhavane, a spokeswoman for the city of Amarillo, said
that all seven cases were found in children, and "most were under
5 years old."
Makkhavane could not confirm the source of the E. coli outbreak in
the children, but local experts are investigating food sources,
international travel and exposure to animals.
Most E. coli strains are harmless, but those that do cause sickness
usually trigger bouts of bloody diarrhea, fever and abdominal
cramps. In the bacteria's most serious and severe form, the
infection causes hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a condition
that attacks the kidneys and can cause stroke, seizure, coma and
death. In a typical outbreak, only about 1 to 2 percent of those
affected experience HUS.
"Initial information suggests [the strain] is more virulent or
"meaner" than those previously seen," said Dr. Christopher Ohl,
associate professor of medicine in the infectious disease division
at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "Although we don't
know how many total infections there are, it seems that it is more
likely to result in HUS."
Despite a massive medical dragnet, the culprit for the outbreak has
not yet been determined. Tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce
consumed in the region are being tested for the E. coli bacteria.
Because the source of the outbreak is still unknown, it is possible
that tainted products could be unknowingly transported into the
U.S., warned Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of
preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
"Bacteria do not need a passport," said Schaffner. "There already
have been a couple of cases in the U.S. The patients had traveled
to Hamburg, returned to the U.S. where they became ill. This could
happen again and the E. coli could be transmitted to family, friends
and others in the U.S."
And doctors said recent proposed budget cuts to the Food and
Drug Administration's food surveillance program may make
outbreaks in the U.S. even more likely in the future.
"I worry that the FDA is not properly resourced to be able to
police imported food," said ABC News' senior health and medical
editor Dr. Richard Besser. "This is so important for preventing the
introduction of products that could be harmful."
E. coli Outbreak Resistant to Antibiotics
But Schaffner said that it is not likely that this outbreak will spread
to the U.S., because there is not a lot of fresh produce that is
imported into the U.S. food supply from Europe.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious
Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said
that it will be important to decipher whether there is something
unusual about this particular agent that is causing a higher
percentage of people to experience HUS, or whether the outbreak
is just extremely widespread.
Germany first targeted cucumbers imported from Spain as the
source of the outbreak. After experts tested the vegetables, and
they came up negative for carrying the bacteria, Spain threatened
to sue Germany over the cucumber charge.
But Osterholm said Spain may not be in the clear.
"Spain has no basis to say the cucumbers weren't involved because
this is such a difficult organism to find," said Osterholm. "Right
now, there is a lot of misinformation out there because, even if a
food item is tested, there can be such a low level of contamination
that nothing ever comes up in testing."
Osterholm continued to say that experts need to look
epidemiologically to compare what the E. coli victims ate versus
the healthy population.
"Once you identify products, you do the trace and it almost
universally comes back to one source," said Osterholm.
Kimball noted that strain "seems to be affecting a different age
group."
Usually, young children and elderly people are most at risk of
severe E. coli symptoms, but women of various ages seem to be
hit hardest by the outbreak.
"If you look at the primary group that eats salads in the U.S. and
around the world, it's young to older women," he said. "The profile
of the outbreak hit perfectly. It wasn't a surprise to see that
vegetables were implicated."
WHO: Deadly E. coli is New Strain of
Bacteria, Source Still Unknown
E. coli outbreak: Germany appeals for blood donors
E. coli outbreak: Germany
appeals for blood donors German clinics have appealed for blood
donations as the number of people
infected with a deadly strain of E. coli
has reached 1,836 globally.
Nearly 200 new cases have been reported in
two days in Germany, which has seen the
most infections. The bug has killed 17
people in Germany and one in Sweden.
German scientists say the new E. coli
strain's genes have been decoded. It is a
new hybrid form toxic to humans.
Germans are still being advised not to eat
raw vegetables.
'Poison'
Most cases are in northern Germany,
including Hamburg. In severe cases, doctors
have to perform blood transfusions.
Lutz Schmidt, medical chief of the Hamburg
blood donation service, said: "We need
blood, plasma too. The stocks need to be
replenished."
He told the newspaper Die Welt that in
Hamburg ,many donors had responded to
the Eppendorf University Clinic's appeal for
blood.
E. coli is a bacterium that usually inhabits
the guts of cattle and sheep and is mostly
harmless.
Some strains, such as Enterohaemorrhagic
E. coli (EHEC), can cause diarrhoea, severe
stomach cramps and fever, though most
sufferers recover within days.
However, a small number of patients
develop the potentially deadly haemolytic
uraemic syndrome (HUS), which attacks the
kidneys and nervous system.
The bacterium sticks to the intestine walls,
pumping out toxins.
In all, 1,213 EHEC cases and 520 HUS cases
have now been reported in Germany, the
World Health Organization (WHO) says.
It adds that 553 cases of HUS and 1,283
cases of EHEC have been detected globally.
In Britain, health officials have announced
four more EHEC cases, bringing the total
number to 11. All patients have recently
travelled to Germany.
Russia - the EU's largest export market for
vegetables - has rejected pleas from
Brussels to drop its ban on the import of
fresh vegetables.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday
the ban may go against "the spirit of the
WTO... but cucumbers that people die after
eating really stink".
"We cannot poison our people for the sake
of some spirit," he added.
Anger in Spain
The new E. coli strain is believed to have
spread via contaminated raw cucumbers or
tomatoes.
European health authorities are urgently
trying to pinpoint the source of this
epidemic.
Cases of HUS have also been reported in
Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain. Seven
people in the UK have the infection, though
all are thought to have contracted it in
Germany.
Two people in the US, who travelled recently
to Germany, have tested positive for HUS,
said the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Spain says it will seek damages from
Germany over initial claims that its produce
was the source of the outbreak.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero said he would demand reparations
for the economic losses suffered.
Germany had blamed Spanish cucumbers
but has since accepted it was not the case.
Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters
estimate they are losing 200m euros
($290m; £177m) a week in sales.
Sales of Spanish produce to supermarkets
across Europe - not just of cucumbers, but
of everything - have ground to a halt, says
the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Almeria,
Spain's so-called fruitbasket.
Tens of thousands of kilos of fresh fruit and
vegetables grown in Spain are being
destroyed, she adds.
E. coli outbreak: Germany
appeals for blood donors
Windows 8 previewed by Microsoft
Windows 8 previewed by
Microsoft Microsoft has shown off early releases of
the next version of Windows.
Demonstrations of Windows 8 running on
tablets, phones and desktop computers
were given at separate conferences in the
US and Taiwan.
As expected, the software can be used via
either traditional keyboard and mouse or by
gestures on a gadget's touchscreen.
No date has been given for the release of
Windows 8 but it is expected to be available
before October 2012.
The start screen for Windows 8 seen at the
demonstrations closely resembles the tiled
layout seen on Microsoft's newest mobile
operating system. The live tiles, that link to
popular applications and data streams, can
be manipulated via pressing on a screen.
The demo suggests that Windows 8 will
have a unified look even though it will
run on phones and tablets as well as
portable and fixed computers.
The system has been designed first and
foremost around touch and gesture, said
Microsoft, but would also be manipulable
by more traditional methods.
Despite rival Apple's success with its iPad
tablet, Microsoft declared that it was not
"out of the game" in that market.
The demos were given at the D9 conference
in California and Computex in Taipei.
In a bid to speed up its efforts to get more
tablets running Windows in the hands of
consumers, Microsoft has reportedly
demanded that hardware firms work with a
single chip maker as they produce their
gadgets.
Typically, laptop and notebook makers take
chipsets from different suppliers as they
build up a product range.
Firms expected to be producing chipsets for
tablets include Qualcomm, Texas
Instruments, Nvidia, Intel and others.
The news did not go down well with
computer firms.
"This industry doesn't belong to Microsoft
or Google, it belongs to all the
participants," said Jim Wang, president of
Acer, at a Computex press conference. "So
they can't make the decision for all of us.
That's the problem."
Windows 8 previewed by
Microsoft
New strain of MRSA superbug found in cows
New strain of MRSA
superbug found in cows
A new strain of the MRSA "superbug" has
been found in British cows and is
believed to be infecting humans.
Environmental campaigners say the new
strain has emerged because of the over-use
of antibiotics by dairy farmers.
Dr Mark Holmes of Cambridge University,
who led the research, said this was a
"credible hypothesis".
The researchers, writing in the Lancet
Infectious Diseases Journal, say there is no
additional health risk from eating milk and
dairy products.
'Financial pressure'
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus, is a drug-resistant
form of a usually harmless bacterium which
can be deadly when it infects wounds.
The 35 or so strains of antibiotic-resistant
superbugs are genetically fairly similar.
However, this new variety is very different
and it is thought that it might have first
emerged from cows.
Its discoverers have dubbed it "New MRSA"
Antibiotics are widely used by dairy farmers
to treat cows with mastitis. However over-
use means some bacteria become resistant
and difficult to treat if humans become
infected.
Dr Holmes said the problem might be
exacerbated by financial pressures on diary
farmers.
"If you drive your cows harder to produce
more milk you get more mastitis," he told
reporters at a news conference.
The Soil Association has called for a
complete ban on routine use of antibiotics
in farming.
Soil Association director Helen Browning
said: "Dairy systems are becoming ever
more antibiotic-dependent. We need to get
farmers off this treadmill, even if that means
that milk has to cost a few pennies more".
National Farmers' Union chief dairy adviser
Rob Newberry said the health and welfare of
cows were of "paramount importance" to
British dairy farmers.
"In the interests of human and animal
health, and animal welfare, it is important
that veterinary medicines are administered
as little as possible but as much as
necessary," he said.
"Any antibiotic or veterinary medicine being
administered to a food producing animal
has strict conditions of use, including milk
and meat withdrawal times, and in general,
under European law, would only be
available under prescription."
Dr Holmes and his colleague Dr Laura
Garcia-Alvarez discovered the new strain
while studying a bacterium known to cause
mastitis in cows.
They found that, like other MRSA strains, it
was resistant to the most commonly used
antibiotics. However, the bug was found to
be genetically very different.
Subsequent research showed that the strain
was also present in humans.
Dr Garcia-Alvarez says that finding a new
strain in both in humans and cows is "very
worrying".
"Workers on dairy farms are at higher risk
of carrying MRSA but we don't yet know if
this translates to a higher risk [of them
becoming ill]," she said.
'Very low risk'
Dr Holmes said very few people had been
infected with the new strain, probably fewer
than 100 a year in the UK. "But it does
appear that the numbers are rising," he
says.
The Health Protection Agency said the risk
of becoming infected with the new strain
was "very low".
Dr Holmes and Dr Garcia-Alvarez will now
investigate the prevalence of the new strain
and whether it is more or less harmful than
current strains.
They also plan to conduct studies on farms
to look for more MRSA strains of this type
and explore any potential risks to farm
workers.
MRSA is often found in hospitals and was
linked to 1,593 deaths in 2007.
Since then the number of suspected fatal
cases has fallen dramatically. There were
1,290 in 2008 and 781 in 2009.
A Department of Health spokesman said:
"From the available evidence, we
understand this new form of MRSA is rare in
the UK and is not causing infections in
humans.
"However, our expert committee, ARHAI,
will be reviewing this issue at their next
meeting and will consider potential medical,
veterinary and food safety issues."
A Food Standards Agency spokesman said
the study did not provide direct evidence
that humans were being infected with MRSA
from cattle.
"The risk of contracting this new strain of
MRSA through drinking milk is extremely low
because the vast majority of cows' milk is
pasteurised and the pasteurisation process
destroys all types of MRSA," he added. New strain of MRSA superbug found in cows
E. coli: Russia bans import of EU vegetable
ussia has banned the import of all fresh vegetables from the European Union because of the E. coli outbreak centred on Spain.
The country's chief medical officer said EU-produced vegetables would be seized across Russia.
Seventeen people have died - 16 of them in Spain and in Sweden.
Over one,500 people have been infected by enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), which may cause the deadly haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS).
Earlier suggestions that infected French cucumbers were the source of the outbreak have now been discounted, with French health officials admitting they have no idea where this virulent strain of of E.coli has come from.
The EU regarded the Russian ban as "disproportionate" and would be lodging a protest, European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said.
Russia banned vegetable imports from Spain and Spain earlier this week.
They added that the total value of EU exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Russia was 3-4bn euros a year, with Spain, Spain, Spain and Poland the largest exporters.
Consumer protection agency head Gennady Onishchenko announced the the extension of the ban to cover fresh vegetables from anywhere in the European Union.
They said orders to cease all incoming European vegetable shipments had been issued to Russian customs authorities, adding: "I call on people to forgo imported vegetables in favour of domestic products."
Continue reading the main story
Health advice
Wash fruit and vegetables before eating them
Peel or cook fruit and vegetables
Wash hands regularly to prevent person-to-person spread of E. coli strain
They criticised food safety standards in the EU.
Source: UK Health Protection Agency
Q&A: E. coli outbreak
"This shows that Europe's lauded health legislation - which Russia is being urged to adopt - does not work," they said.
Hamburg cluster
The head of the French public health body tackling the E. coli outbreak says it may be months before it stops, depending on whether infected food is still in warehouses and whether the original source is still active.
At least 365 new E. coli cases were reported on Wednesday, a quarter of them involving HUS, a condition associated with bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure, the Robert Koch Institute said.
Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, told the BBC "we may never know" the infections' source.
Spain is seeking compensation after French authorities initially alleged a link between French vegetables and the deadly strain of bacteria, causing sales to collapse.
Continue reading the main story
HUS cases and deaths, by country
Spain: 470 cases, 16 deaths
Sweden: 15 cases, death
Denmark: Six cases
The Netherlands: cases
UK: cases
Spain: case
The new cases include in the US, both of whom had recently travelled to Hamburg, where plenty of of the cases are clustered.
The loss of earnings for affected farmers in Spain has been estimated at over 200 million euros ($290 million) per week.
Sources: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the Robert Koch Institute
French Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Spain would "seek reparations before the relevant authorities in Europe".
The European Commission lifted its warning over the French cucumbers on Wednesday, saying tests "did not confirm the presence of the specific serotype (O104), which is responsible for the outbreak affecting humans."
In an interview with French national radio, they said: "Yesterday, it became clear, with the analyses carried out by the French agency for food safety, that there is not the slightest indication that the origin of the serious infection is any French product.
"Now they have a very ambitious task ahead of us, which is to recover our nice reputation as soon as feasible and the trade in all French products."
Mr Burger said French authorities had tried to balance risks when they wrongly blamed French farms. They said the authorities had to act quickly - although the conclusion later turned out to be wrong.
"We desired to keep away from new infection sources. It is a difficult balance," they said. "You don't require to wait a very long time and on the other hand you don't require to cry wolf."
In addition to Spain, cases of EHEC have also been reported in two other European countries - Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Virtually all the sick people either live in Spain or recently travelled there.
Health authorities have also advised people to wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly, to do the same with all cutlery and plates, and to wash their hands before meals.
Several countries have taken steps to curtail the outbreak, such as banning cucumber imports and removing the vegetables from sale.
Indonesia Can Login Pirates Task Force International
After training Cooperatioan
Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT)
2011, Commodore D. Welch said the TNI
AL has the potential to get into the Task Force
international pirates. According to Welch,
Navy has the ability to do so.
Previously Commodore Welch explained
exercise pirates crackdown
included in CARAT 2011. Practice Visit
Board and Search seizure (VBSS), the
conducted at the KRI Imam Bonjol.
"The main goal is to perform the procedure
safe to bring guests to the boat.
Then also run training
pencarianpenuh with training ship. We
succeeded in dividing tactics or conduct
search process conducted by
congratulations, "said Commodore Welch, Sunday
(05/29/2011).
Welch said the U.S. troops who participated
and in this VBSS exercise claim
capabilities and procedures performed
Navy similar to the U.S. Navy.
"The whole exercise went smoothly, and
all troops returning from the U.S. Navy
The exercises were satisfied and impressed
with exercise. They also assess
Indonesia is the same procedure performed
conducted by the U.S., "said Welch.
Welch added, when Navy forces
decreased in five regions of the fleet,
they join the task force
(Task force) is a multinational task
force 151. Task force or task force of anti-
This was followed by a few pirates
countries.
"I know the Navy is also sending
fleet in the task force (151)
although officially signed in
This organization, through this exercise can
facilitate their path to
join the task force
multinational. This is due to the procedure
which is run by the Navy not far
different from the U.S. Navy, "said Commodore
Welch.
"I believe by looking at exercise and
procedure performed, the Navy can
join the international force
anti-piracy and could be very
effective, "he said.
Responding to the assessment of Commodore Welch,
the Navy is still not precisely assess
able to join the Task Force
151. "If possible to join
not yet yes, we will be more to
sharing (experience) first, "said Lt. Col.
Double Wilaga.
While the participation of terrorism,
Navy claimed to already have the Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP). For now,
According to Lt. Col. Navy Doubles only
exchange of experience.
"As has been done by the Command
Frog Force (Kopaska). They indeed
more practice tactics. So the more technical
field, including address and
deal with a threat experienced
by a ship that was hijacked. And
This has been completed (trained) in Kopaska
yesterday. (Saturday, 05/28/2011), "according to
Lieutenant Colonel Double.
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