BMJ  2003;327:180 (26 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7408.180

News

In brief

Austrian surgeons transplant tongue: A 42 year old man with a malignant tumour of the tongue and jaw was given a new tongue this week in a 14 hour operation at the Vienna General Hospital. The procedure had previously been done on animals, but this was the first time that it was done on a human.

Health risk from eating current GM crops "very low": A report from the UK government published this week concluded that the health risk from eating current genetically modified crops and produce was "very low." The most serious potential harm came from the powerful weedkillers that such crops were engineered to tolerate and that could wipe out insects on which birds and other wildlife depended. See www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/report/default.htm

Charity worker treating war casualties is killed: Two makeshift hospitals run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the Liberian capital of Monrovia are treating more than 80 civilians severely wounded in the third round of fighting between government militias and rebel forces in the city in less than two months. A Liberian member of the charity's staff was killed.

More than 100 children in India die of encephalitis virus: More than 100 children have died in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in the past month from encephalitis. Many children died within hours in hospital, making a precise diagnosis difficult. Some doctors suspect that malnutrition brought about by a drought in the previous months may have weakened the children, making them susceptible to viral infections.

NICE Citizens Council publishes discussion document on age: The Citizens Council of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has published a document looking at whether there are times when the age of a person should be taken into account when NICE makes a decision on how treatments should be used in the NHS. The document can be accessed at www.nice.org.uk

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?