The Week
Help Arrives, But Slowly
Food aid has begun to arrive in the famine-stricken African nation of Niger, and recent rains are improving the outlook for this year's harvest. But relief workers say the nine-month gap since the first calls for emergency help didn't have to happen. The famine, following a severe drought that destroyed last year's crops and a massive locust infestation, has left about 2.5 million people, or one fifth of the country's population, urgently in need of food, according to the United Nations, which so far has raised $34 million for relief. Some turned to eating weeds and leaves for survival.
Critics say the problem is not only that countries were slow to respond but that international aid organizations wasted time pursuing ineffective policies: The initial strategy was to subsidize skyrocketing food costs instead of directly handing out rations. The concern is that handouts, while bringing faster relief, can have the unintended effect of undermining incentives for the local food production that is needed for longer-term recovery. Countries across West Africa, including Mali and Mauritania, are also suffering from the effects of the drought; aid has been slow reaching there, too.
Who's Watching The Border?
The governors of Arizona and New Mexico are exasperated by what they regard as wholly inadequate federal efforts to improve security along the Mexican border, so they're taking the matter into their own hands: They've declared an emergency in their states. "The health and safety of all Arizonans is threatened daily by violent gangs, coyotes, and other dangerous criminals," says Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. About half of the now 1.1 million illegal immigrants arrested entering the country annually are caught in Arizona. The governors set aside $3.25 million to beef up security in eight counties along the border; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also urged the Mexican government to bulldoze the town of Las Chepas, a popular staging ground for traffickers. But Mexican President Vicente Fox bristled at the governors' suggestions, encouraging them to cooperate with Mexican authorities. "We must work together," he said. "That's the only way to win."
For two Democratic governors--Napolitano, who is seeking re-election, and Richardson, who has his eye on a 2008 White House bid--the state of emergency may be a chance for political points.
A Big Jury Verdict In the Vioxx Case
A Texas jury on Friday found drug maker Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took its once popular Vioxx painkiller. The jury awarded $24.4 million in actual damages and $229 million in punitive damages to Robert Ernst's widow in the first of more than 4,000 Vioxx-related civil lawsuits. Evidence in the trial showed that Merck scientists raised potential heart risks in 1997, two years before the company began selling the drug. The company withdrew Vioxx last September. Merck was "disappointed" by the verdict and plans to appeal.
In any event, Texas law caps punitive damages using a formula that puts the maximum in this case at $1.65 million.
A Medical Success; An Ethical Dilemma
A team of Swiss doctors used tissue from a 14-week-old fetus to successfully treat eight children with deep burns that normally would have required skin grafts taken from other parts of their bodies, according to a report in the online edition of the medical journal Lancet. Doctors at University Hospital in Lausanne removed a small piece of skin from an electively aborted fetus after obtaining the mother's consent. Cells were placed in a nutrient culture to grow skin sheets about 3 1/2 inches by 4 3/4 inches. These were laid over the burns and reapplied every few days. All the children soon healed without any of the scarring, thickening, or loss of mobility that typically follows severe burns. The technique also prompted the children's own skin to regenerate.
Even if validated in future studies, it is uncertain whether the technique would be adopted here. Federal law does not prohibit such use, and many states allow fetal tissue to be used medically, but many--perhaps most--physicians and hospitals would be fearful of negative public reaction.
This story appears in the August 29, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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