SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Digest

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Digest
By

Broadcast: Tuesday, June 29, 2004

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is Science in the News, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty¹.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Sarah Long. This week: calls for a listing of all drug studies in the United States.

VOICE ONE:

The widely used chemical formaldehyde is found to cause cancer.

VOICE TWO:

More warnings about the dangers of tobacco.

VOICE ONE:

And, a panda count in China.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic² Image
Clinical trials are studies done with groups of people to test the safety and effectiveness of new treatments. But doctors and the general public may never learn the results of some experiments. Now, the American Medical Association wants to change that. It says there should be an electronic record of all clinical trials in the United States.

The American Medical Association is the largest professional group for doctors in the country. The A.M.A. has called on the Department of Health and Human Services to create an electronic registry. Such a list would identify each clinical trial and permit scientists, doctors and others to find the results.

VOICE ONE:

The A.M.A says a registry would help deal with concerns that successful studies are more likely to be published than unsuccessful ones. The group says there is evidence that leaders of clinical trials sometimes think medical publications are not interested in negative results.

Government approval of a new medicine often depends on the results of clinical trials paid for by the company that made the drug. Drug companies invest millions of dollars to develop new treatments, and millions more to sell them. Critics of the industry say they worry about the influence of business considerations on the reporting of studies.

VOICE TWO:

The drug maker³ GlaxoSmithKline faces legal action in New York in connection with this issue. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says the British company tried to hide information about the effects of Paxil on children. Paxil is a medicine for depression. Mister Spitzer says the company did at least five studies in children, but published only one. That one showed mixed results for the drug.

The legal action says the company suppressed findings that Paxil was not effective in children. It says the company also suppressed findings that Paxil may increase the risk that young patients will think about killing⁴ themselves.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Paxil for use in adults. The only drug approved for children who are depressed⁵ is Prozac. However, doctors still have a right to give children Paxil. The lawsuit⁶ in New York notes that doctors treated more than two-million children with Paxil in two-thousand-two.

VOICE ONE:

GlaxoSmithKline says it acted responsibly in its studies in children. It also says it "publicly communicated" all those studies to government agencies worldwide.

After facing the lawsuit, GlaxoSmithKline published the results of its studies on its Web site. Also, another major drug maker, Merck, says it supports the idea of a registry of clinical trials. But some medical experts warn that even a complete list is not a perfect solution. They say some doctors may not use such a registry even if it exists.

VOICE TWO:

The American Medical Association says other action would be needed to support a registry of clinical trials. For example, medical centers and universities use committees called review boards to approve research on humans. The A.M.A. says these review boards should consider requiring trials to be registered as a condition for approval.

Also, the A.M.A. said it welcomes recent news involving the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The major publications that publish studies are represented on this committee. The editors were reported to be considering a proposal to publish only the results of clinical trials that are listed in a registry.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

An agency of the World Health Organization says formaldehyde causes cancer. Until now, the agency said only that this chemical probably caused cancer in humans.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer is based in France. It gathered twenty-six scientists from ten countries. The experts examined additional studies. They decided⁷ that formaldehyde was more dangerous that scientists had thought. The experts say there is now enough evidence to show that formaldehyde causes a relatively⁸ rare form of cancer of the nose and throat.

Government researchers in the United States recently announced that formaldehyde may cause leukemia, a cancer of the blood. However, the W.H.O. agency said more studies are needed to establish such a link.

VOICE TWO:

Formaldehyde is a gas usually made from methanol, a form of alcohol. It is used in a liquid solution in substances that hold together materials such as wood and paper products. Formaldehyde is also used in the production of plastics and in textile finishing. It is used in cleaners and industrial chemicals, and in dead bodies, among other uses.

VOICE TWO:

Formaldehyde is found in smoke from vehicles and tobacco. It is found in particle board and similar building materials. And the agency lists other places where it is commonly found, such as carpets, paints and finishes.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer notes the development of chemicals that release less formaldehyde. It says these have helped reduce the levels of formaldehyde that many workers have to breathe in their jobs.

 
Graphic Image
(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-sixty-four, the United States surgeon general warned the public about several diseases caused by smoking. The surgeon general is the top government doctor in the country. The diseases included cancer of the lungs and voice box.

Later studies found that smoking causes other kinds of cancer and disease, and harms the babies of women who smoke. Now, the current surgeon general, Richard Carmona, says tobacco is even more dangerous than doctors have known. The newest report on tobacco says smoking causes disease in almost every organ in the body. The report expands the list of conditions caused by smoking. New ones added include leukemia, cataracts⁹ and pneumonia¹⁰. Smoking is now also known to cause cancers of the cervix, kidneys, pancreas and stomach.

VOICE TWO:

Health officials say smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease. The new report says that on average, smokers¹¹ die thirteen to fourteen years before non-smokers. Smoking also harms other people who have to breathe tobacco smoke.

Doctor Carmona says there is no safe cigarette. The only good news for smokers in the surgeon general's report is that their health begins to improve immediately after they stop.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In China, researchers say almost one-thousand-six-hundred giants pandas remain in the wild. Chinese forestry¹² officials and the World Wildlife Fund carried out a four-year project to count the pandas. The last count took place six years ago. It found one-thousand-one-hundred pandas, or more than forty percent fewer.

VOICE TWO:

So, are these large black-and-white animals reproducing more like rabbits than pandas? Karen Baragona of the World Wildlife Fund says the higher number is more likely the result of improved counting methods.

More than one-hundred-seventy people were involved in the study. Each counter carried a global positioning device. This device uses a system of satellites to identify a position on Earth to within a few meters. Karen Baragona says the panda counters also covered more territory than in nineteen-ninety-eight.

VOICE ONE:

China says the new count shows that government measures to protect pandas are succeeding. In nineteen-ninety-eight, China banned logging in areas where giant pandas live. The government has also set up forty protected forest areas for pandas.

But Karen Baragona notes that the census¹³ found that one-third of the giant pandas do not live in protected areas. She says the pressure for economic development in China threatens those animals. And she says the protected areas are disconnected, like separate panda islands across six mountains.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Caty Weaver¹⁴ and Cynthia Kirk, who was also our producer. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 cataracts   

n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障

参考例句：

• The rotor cataracts water over the top of the machines. 回转轮将水从机器顶上注入。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Cataracts of rain flooded the streets. 倾盆大雨弄得街道淹水。 来自辞典例句

10 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

11 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

12 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

13 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。