Teenage erectile dysfunction Pantel Deluxe.

Teenage erectile dysfunction.

News - European press review

The 60th anniversary of the liberation of Paris features prominently in today’s French papers, while in Germany a new film on Adolf Hitler comes under scrutiny.

The anniversary of the liberation of Paris in 1944 makes the headlines in the French press, with the left-of-centre Liberation devoting its entire front page to a photo of a smiling couple dancing on top of a tank under the heading: “The freest of days.”


Paris liberated

Both Le Monde and Le Figaro give pride of place to General Charles de Gaulle’s famous words to the French 60 years ago: “Paris! Paris insulted! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated, liberated by its people!”.

Also prominent on the front page of Le Monde is a cartoon linking the past with more recent events.

It shows two German soldiers, their hands raised, marching in front of a US tank amid the celebrations and flag-waving.

“Please: Is there a way we can avoid being sent to Guantanamo?” one of the Germans asks his captors.


Two Frances

In its editorial, entitled “The two Frances”, Le Monde expects the ceremonies to commemorate what General Charles de Gaulle called “a certain idea of France”.

But there is another France, it argues, “that of Vichy and collaborationism”, the France which “acclaimed Marshal Petain in the streets of Paris only a few weeks before the liberation”.



Today the social achievements of the post-war era are being dismantled and individual resignation… seems to prevail over the spirit of collective revolt


Liberation

The paper warns against “painting too large a picture” of the De Gaulle version, or “any pretence” that the Vichy regime was just “a parenthesis” in the country’s history.

Such an attitude, it says, would “carry the serious risk of continuing to conceal the second (France), when all the signs are that it has not given up”, given the far-right’s performance in the 2002 elections and the current “upsurge” in racist and anti-Semitic attacks.

Liberation follows a festive paragraph with the argument that the very “fervour” of this year’s celebrations of various World War II “is symptomatic of a profound ” with the present.

In present-day France, the paper says, “the social achievements of the post-war era are being dismantled”, while “individual resignation… seems to prevail over the spirit of collective revolt”.



Never has a president of the republic celebrated the lessons of the past to the extent that Jacques Chirac is doing in a bid to contain the evils of the present


Liberation

“Over the past 20 years,” it adds, “the far-right has become a part of the political landscape, and in recent months hardly a day has gone by without anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim incident occurring.”

“Never has a president of the republic celebrated the lessons of the past to the extent that Jacques Chirac is doing in a bid to contain the evils of the present,” the paper says.

“But celebration is not the same as action, it argues, and President Chirac’s “impotence to stamp his mark on the history books has never been so glaring”.

Shooting the past

Germany’s Die Welt says The Downfall, a new film on Adolf Hitler’s final days premiered in Berlin on Monday, puts viewers “eye to eye” with the dictator.

“The demon,” it adds, “turns out to be a human being with traits and features which, though not exactly attractive, are nevertheless understandable.”



Today the Germans have their history, but are no longer saddled with it - this enables them to look Hitler in the eye


Die Welt

There are moments in the film, the paper says, when Hitler “takes on sympathetic characteristics” and others when “it is difficult to avoid a degree of pity”.

The paper argues that the fact that Hitler is portrayed “” rather than as completely inhuman is “a sign of emancipation”.

“The strength to engage in recollection comes from distance,” it says.

“Today the Germans have their history, but are no longer saddled with it. This enables them to look Hitler in the eye.”

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung calls The Downfall a film for post-war generations.

The paper says it seeks to put into pictures “what is really unimaginable” and wants to show “things which do not fit in the categories of realism or authenticity”.

“With The Downfall,” it adds, “German cinema has again gained in self-confidence in the way it handles German history.”

The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.

Read another articles about .

Posted by on 03-18-2008 at 05:03 pm
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Press bares Russian soul

Russian newspapers pull no punches as they examine the state of the nation following last week’s tragic events in Beslan.

The president and the government come in for particular condemnation, but nobody is immune from scathing criticism, in what can be seen as a case of profound soul-searching.



Beslan, and other tragedies testify to one of our fundamental - indifference to the squandering of human life. To us, human life is not the most precious thing. We are ready to sacrifice a huge number of people. This happened 100 years ago, and 300 years ago, and during the rule of Ivan the Terrible. Corpses floated down the Volkhov river for a week, but the state’s objective was achieved - Novgorod was forced to join Moscow. Exactly the same thing has happened now. We have lost several hundred people, but we have shown that we cannot be spoken to in that manner.

They are calling on us to unite. But the government must change its ways if we are to unite around it. You can unite around a government which at least talks to its people in a normal way, which is transparent, , predictable. It is impossible to unite around the present government.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta



If the press had not been working in Beslan, the country would not have found out about this tragedy, just as it does not know about Samashki and Bamut scene of bloody battles in Chechnya. It would not have united in common grief, there would not have been any mourning - but there would have been City Day in Moscow, there would have been festivals, competitions and concerts. And the president would not have had to appear wretched and confused, as he appeared during his strange and lacklustre address to the nation, which had been waiting so long for the authorities to react. And you and I would not have been so ashamed of ourselves and of our government. And when you are not ashamed, no conclusions get drawn.

Commentary in Gazeta



There is one other sad thing that a journalist should point out - the indifference and passivity of a significant part of our public, at such critical moments in our history. During the first tragic days of September, our TV stations continued to churn out sentimental soaps, while restaurants and casinos in Moscow and other rich cities remained packed with merrymaking clients who, it turns out, couldn’t give a damn about the future of the Russian state and the security of ordinary citizens.

Much will probably depend on the behaviour of our economic elite, who have made incredible fortunes out of Gorbachev’s economic “innovations” and Yeltsin’s privatisation. They should give some thought to the need for self-restraint and modesty. The provocative behaviour of many latter-day millionaires, the endless media reports about their purchase of sports clubs, jet planes, foreign islands and resorts and about extravagant society events prevent, like nothing else, the true consolidation of Russian society.

Krasnaya Zvezda



Why is it that so many people have cheerfully analysed the mistakes of Putin’s policies in the Caucasus, but nobody has analysed the mistakes of pseudo-liberal strategy? Why is it that repentance is demanded of Putin, but nobody intends to apologise for supporting exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky’s ravings about explosions in Moscow apartment blocks? Or did Putin also arrange Beslan? For how much longer will they call for talks with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, whose military-political impotence has long since become an amorphous cover for terror?

There is only one conclusion to be drawn. The creation of a full-fledged civil society has ceased to be a pious dream of a handful of , and has become a question of life or death for the country as a whole. Either we find each other or they will finish us off.

Commentary in Izvestiya



We in Russia are fond of reproaching everybody for double standards, whilst we ourselves, for the sake of our prestige in the Arab world, continue to cling on to Yasser Arafat, for whom terror has always been and still is a way of exerting political pressure on Israel. We try to fight against terrorism, yet we protect Syria because it buys weapons from us. We prefer to overlook the fact that Damascus has sheltered 15-odd terrorist organisations and openly approves of terrorist attacks if they are directed against Israelis.

Countries which have suffered from terrorist attacks have one common weakness. They are so concerned at rebuffing terrorism that they do not particularly concern themselves with the reasons for it. Not only Russia, but also Israel is trying to play down the connection between terror and the problem of a real and full settlement of the conflicts. Moscow asserts that ‘the political process’ in Chechnya is in full swing and the situation is swiftly changing for the better. However, this does not convince the terrorists. Jerusalem repeats that there is nobody in Palestine with whom to conduct talks, and shuts itself off from it with a wall. But the terrorists find loopholes in it. Meanwhile, both Russia and Israel cherish the hope that the fire can be extinguished by foisting loyal leaders on Chechnya and Palestine.

Commentary in Kommersant



Vladimir Putin has appealed to the nation for the first time in all the years of his rule. The tragedy in Beslan was the reason. Immediately after the president’s address, some political analysts described it as an act of political penitence. There were indeed strong elements of repentance in what the president said: “We stopped paying due attention to issues of defence and security”; “We allowed corruption to strike at the judicial and law-enforcement spheres”; “We could have shown greater efficiency if we had acted in good time”; “We have failed to recognise the complex and dangerous nature of the processes taking place in our own country and the world”.

The issue here is how to interpret the pronoun “we”. The president and his team? But if “we” means the president and the entire Russian people, that is something completely different. This is apportioning blame among all citizens of the country - even though the absolute majority of them do not have any possibility of influencing… the processes taking place in our own country and the world.

Commentator in Komsomolskaya Pravda

Other recent press reviews on this subject include:

European papers ponder siege aftermath, 7 September

World press reactions, 6 September

Russia papers vent fury, 6 September

Middle East press appalled by siege, 5 September


BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

Posted by on 03-18-2008 at 02:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - UK Islamists work to free Bigley


While the Muslim Council of Britain has been working on the ground in Baghdad to contact those holding British hostage Ken Bigley, more radical Islamists in London have been making their own efforts.

One figure, Yasser al-Sirri who runs the Islamic Centre in London, says he received news over the weekend regarding Mr Bigley.

Mr al-Sirri told the BBC that he sent an email appeal though an intermediary in Iraq last Thursday and then received a number of messages back over the weekend including one indicating that Mr Bigley was alive and that Mr al-Sirri’s appeal would be taken into account when determining the British hostage’s fate.



Let his release be a message to the British people to prove that Islam is a religion of forgiveness


Yasser al-Sirri

On Sunday, Mr al-Sirri made appearances on the al-Arabiyah and al-Jazeera TV stations to make further appeals.

“We asked the group in our appeals to release the hostage as a gesture of generosity, particularly after Blair and his government let him down,” he said.

The potential significance of this lies in the content of Mr al-Sirri’s message as well as his background.

‘Political context’

His lengthy original appeal was based on detailed arguments surrounding Islamic law, quoting from the Koran.

But his message also had a political context: “let his release be a clear message from you to the British people, and a call for them to realize the impotence and criminal nature of their government,” Mr al-Sirri said.

He argues that Tony Blair has let Ken Bigley down by not securing his release and therefore by showing mercy to Mr Bigley, Mr al-Zarqawi could embarrass Mr Blair.

He also argues that Mr Bigley is merely an ordinary worker and that it would have more of powerful impact to release him.

“Show mercy to the weak. … Let his release be a message to the British people to prove that Islam is a religion of forgiveness,” read the appeal.

A similar appeal has also been made by another Islamist in London, Saudi dissident Dr Muhammad al-Masari who runs the Party for Islamic Renewal.

He told the BBC that though contact has been difficult and “haphazard”, he has been able to talk over the phone to militants in Iraq.

‘Radical links’

Of course, it is impossible to know whether the messages Mr al-Sirri received back are valid since the contact is indirect.

But he is known as a figure with extensive links and amongst more radical Islamists.

His Islamic Observation Centre monitors arrests and deportation of Islamists around the world.

Mr al-Sirri himself was sentenced to death in absentia in an Egyptian court in 1994 for his role in an attempt on the Egyptian prime minister and he successfully fought off an attempt by the US to extradite him for links to terrorists.

A British judge also cleared him of conspiracy in the 2001 murder of Afghan General Ahmad Shah Masood in Afghanistan.

His background makes it more plausible that he could be able to get in contact with Zarqawi’s group and, if he did, that his appeals would have more impact, although ultimately it is hard to be sure how significant the impact of these less mainstream Islamist voices will end up being in Ken Bigley’s fate.

Read another articles about .

Posted by on 03-17-2008 at 02:03 pm
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Viagra bought online ‘often fake’


Half of men buying the impotence drug Viagra online are getting counterfeit tablets, study findings suggest.

Dr Nic Wilson from the University of London tested Internet-sold samples using a new technique that accurately spots the of tablets.

She told the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester how many authentic-looking tablets were fakes.

Drug giant Pfizer, which manufactures Viagra, is conducting its own investigations into the fake copies.

Counterfeits

Dr Wilson used a technique called near infrared (NIR) microscopy which provided a detailed picture of what was in each tablet.

This technology is similar to the older method called NIR spectroscopy but gives much more .



There is a high probability that the tablets have no clinical effect


Researcher Dr Nic Wilson

Dr Wilson explained: “A counterfeit tablet may contain lactose as an ingredient in the bulk tablet, whereas the authentic tablet does not.

“NIR spectroscopy could only show that the tablet is different, while NIR microscopy could actually identify the likely presence of lactose.”

Many of the samples tested contained less of the active ingredient sildenafil than authentic Viagra.

They also contained different components from the bona fide Viagra.

Dr Wilson said: “We don’t know that ‘wrong’ components will be harmful, but the user runs the risk of poor quality and possible toxicity, not to mention the fact that there is a high probability that the tablets have no clinical effect.”

She said NIR microscopy should help regulatory authorities monitor the movement of counterfeit tablets.

Crackdown

It is the job of the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Authority to investigate any reports it receives of websites under its jurisdiction which appear to be in breach of regulations regarding , or sale and supply of medicines.

In 2003, counterfeit Viagra with an estimated value in excess of 2.35m was seized.

Pfizer said it welcomed the research and was also analysing the samples.

A spokesman said: “We do not recommend that anyone obtains any medicine online without seeing a doctor.

“Without knowing what ingredient is in a counterfeit medicine a patient could be putting their health at risk.

“It is important for men to see their doctor if they have erectile dysfunction as it may be an indicator of a more serious condition.

“Viagra may not be suitable for all men and there are also some men for whom sexual activity is not considered safe or for whom an oral treatment may not be appropriate.”

, and more another.

Posted by on 03-17-2008 at 08:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Japan struggles for place in the world

Such worries are understandable.

As domestic alarm rises over the potential threat posed by neighbours China and North Korea, and Washington seeks allies to help shoulder the burden of its foreign policy, Japan is coming under increasing pressure to play a more assertive role on the international stage.

Its leaders have responded by instigating a review of Japan’s UN role, its constitution, and its general security policy.

But any changes are controversial in a country which is still haunted by the atrocities it wreaked during its wartime occupation of the region.

Japan’s post-war constitution forever renounces war, and its soldiers have not fired a shot in conflict since 1945.

The 59th anniversary to mark the world's first atomic bombing on Hiroshima, western Japan, Aug. 6, 2004

Japan’s WWII memories have hampered its international role

The government already went too far, in the eyes of people like Mr Kodama, when it pushed through legislation last year to allow it to send troops to Iraq.

The 550-strong contingent is only there to help rebuild the nation, not to fight. But many fear it could get drawn into conflict in what is, in reality, still a combat zone.

Yet Washington would like Japan to do more, for example by extending the military’s powers so that they can fire to defend their allies, and not just themselves.

Some lawmakers in Japan would also like a freer hand, frustrated not only by the country’s impotence on the international stage, but by its inability to adequately defend itself.

“They think Japan should stand up for itself much more…. should be an equal partner with the United States,” said Christopher Hughes at the University of Warwick.



There’s a big distinction between in UN resolutions and invading China again


Taro Kono, ruling party lawmaker

The most obvious threat to Japan is North Korea, which demonstrated in 1998 that it had missiles which can reach Japan. It is also believed to have nuclear weapons.

But analysts say the real, unspoken, worry is China - Japan’s long-term rival for regional trade and resources.

As a result, Japan is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of its security policy. This week, a government panel recommended a series of changes, including
the relaxation of its arms sales ban, a debate on offensive missile capability, and a fuller international policing role for its armed forces.

Separately, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is reviewing the constitution, including the pacifist Article 9, and wants to hold a referendum on possible changes in about five years’ time.

How far to go?

Japan cannot wholly reinvent itself. Severing its post-war US alliance and declaring itself completely neutral, for example, is unrealistic for a country so reliant on Washington for security and trade.

PACIFISM UNDER THREAT?
Japan’s constitution renounces the use of force

This has been stretched to allow self-defence troops

1992 law allowed troops to join UN and relief work overseas

2003 law said troops could go to non-combat zones in Iraq

PM Koizumi wants to give Japan even greater powers

It is lobbying for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which would give it more say in international diplomacy. But analysts think it unlikely the current permanent members will welcome a new face, and thus the dilution of their powers.

But Japan can shape its security policy, and in doing so decide how it negotiates an identity for itself in the 21st century.

Taro Kono, an LDP lawmaker who sits on Japan’s parliamentary select committee for constitutional reform, denied that the security review under way marked the start of a creeping militarism.

Anti-Japan display before the final of the Asian Cup 2004 held in Beijing, China, Saturday, Aug 7, 2004

Chinese football fans showed their distrust of Japan earlier this year

“There’s a big distinction between participating in UN peacekeeping resolutions and invading China again,” he said.

Ben Self, US-Japan security analyst at the Stimson Center in Washington, was equally sanguine, arguing that Tokyo was only taking tiny steps.

“I think it’s political manoeuvring to show Washington that movement is there without actually going there yet,” he said.

But Warwick University’s Christopher Hughes argued that Japan’s military role had been expanding at an rate over the last few years, suggesting Japan’s “overall trajectory” was towards building a full combat force.

It is difficult to judge how the public feel. Opinion polls by major newspapers to mark Constitution Day last month all agreed that for the first time in half a century a majority of Japanese were in favour of revising the constitution.

Akira Kawasaki from the Japanese NGO Peace Boat complained that the public was not helped by unsophisticated debate predicated on broad questions of national pride such as “If you don’t have any kind of military force, how can you protect your own country?”

He said the country needed to make the debate more specific and honest - for example, by Japan’s ties to the US - in order to give the public something to get its teeth into.

It is not clear how much change Japanese people can stomach. But the issue may at least force more public discussion about Japan’s wartime past, and its future role.

“Usually Japanese people don’t like discussion or expressing opinions openly, and now is a good time to have a discussion about this basic problem,” said Mr Kodama.

, and more another.

Posted by on 03-16-2008 at 09:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Tributes to Arafat led by Blair


Prime Minister Tony Blair has led UK tributes to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in the early hours of Thursday in a French hospital.

Giving his to Mr Arafat’s family, the prime minister renewed his commitment to peace in the Middle East.

“President Arafat came to symbolise the Palestinian national movement,” he said in a statement.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said: “There will be a deep sense of loss among the Palestinian people.”

Mr Arafat, 75, had been in a coma since 3 November and on Tuesday suffered a brain haemorrhage. In his final hours, he had brain damage and kidney and liver failure.

It has not been made clear what illness the Palestinian leader was suffering from, although doctors ruled out cancer and poisoning.

‘International awareness’

Jack Straw said it would be “hard to imagine the Middle East without” Mr Arafat.

He said: “I want to express my deep sympathy and condolences to the Palestinian people on the death of Yasser Arafat.”

He said the Palestinian president had “created an international awareness” of the plight of his people and was a “towering figure” in the Arab world.

And he made clear the British Government would work with Mr Arafat’s successor.

The foreign secretary said he would be attending Mr Arafat’s funeral on behalf of the British Government.

Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat dies

UK mourn Arafat

Mr Blair said: “President Arafat… won the Nobel peace prize in 1994 jointly with Yitzhak Rabin in recognition of their efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

“He led his people to an historic acceptance of the need for a two-state solution.

“That goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve. Peace in the Middle East must be the international community’s highest priority.

“We will do whatever we can, working with the US and the EU to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement.”

Mr Howard said that Mr Arafat had “sought to stand up for interests”.

“But will be for history to judge whether the failure to achieve a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel… was the failure of circumstance or of will,” Mr Howard added.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said Mr Arafat had been “a remarkable figure on the international stage for decades and helped achieve great strides for the Palestinian cause”.

But he added: “History will judge it as tragic that he was unable or unwilling to go the extra mile at a crucial time.

HAVE YOUR SAY


He worked hard to achieve the idea that no-one today will reject: that Palestinians deserve a state


Mohammed, Williamsburg, USA

Send us your comments

“It is to be hoped that a new generation of
leaders can now seriously advance the Middle East peace process.”

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “opportunity has got to be taken” by the international community “to press ahead to try and reach some settlement”.

He added: “For the last two years both Israel and the US have refused to deal with Arafat.

“To a large extent he has suffered political impotence, and that has inevitably had consequences for the extent to which the Palestinian cause has been seen to be of importance.”

Read another articles about .

Posted by on 03-16-2008 at 05:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Alcohol

The government has published its long-awaited White Paper on Public Health.

Alcohol is one of the areas covered in the document.

What does the government plan to do?

  • Ofcom will strengthen rules of broadcast of alcohol, particularly adverts aimed at underage drinkers.
  • Alcohol manufacturers will be urged to include warnings to encourage sensible drinking on products and in advertising.
  • The will be investment in NHS services to tackle alcohol problems at an early stage.
  • The government will work with the Portman Group to cut down binge drinking.

What are the health risks?

Drinking too much alcohol is linked to an increased risk of:

  • cirrhosis of the liver,
  • cancer,

  • stroke,
  • pancreatitis,
  • gastritis (inflammation of the lining of the stomach)
  • fertility problems,

  • impotence,
  • neurological disorders,
  • mental health problems

While experts say it is difficult to evaluate exactly how many deaths alcohol misuse is linked to, the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England estimated 22,000 deaths a year were associated in some way.

Moderate drinking - one or two units a day - can have health benefits, giving protection against coronary heart disease. However, this only applies to men over 40 and women who have been through the menopause.

Recommended limits are four units of alcohol per day for men and three for women.

How many people are affected?

The latest Office for National Statistics data for England, outlining drinking habits in 2002, showed 37% of men had drunk more than the recommended daily limit of four units of alcohol on at least one day in the previous week.

Twenty-one per cent had drunk more than eight units in one day - officially classed as binge drinking.

Twenty-two per cent of women had drunk more than their recommended daily limit of three on at least one occasion.

Nine per cent had drunk more than six units in a day.

The ONS figures also showed that 27% of men and 16% of women had drunk more than their recommended weekly limits of 21 and 14 units respectively.

Around 2.9 million - or 7% - of the UK’s adult population are now estimated to be dependent on alcohol.

About 25% of children aged 11-15 drink alcohol, and they drink an average of around 10 units per week.

Is it getting worse?

Office for National Statistics data shows the number of women drinking more than 14 units a week has been steadily increasing, from 12% in 1992 to 17% in 2002.

The number of men drinking over 21 units has remained at around the same level over the last decade.

Alcohol misuse is estimated to cost the NHS around 1.7bn a year - and the economy as a whole 20.1bn.

What did want?

Alcohol Concern has said it would like to see the no of units in a drink displayed on cans and bottles, so people can easily tell if they are drinking more than the recommended daily and weekly limits.

It has also called on the government to launch more awareness campaigns highlighting the dangers of drinking .

It said those that existed at the moment appeared “preachy and irrelevant”.

The British Medical Association has called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising, and clear labelling of alcoholic drinks to show the number of units they contain.

It warns the UK has one of the highest levels of alcohol abuse and binge drinking in Europe, and doctors are now seeing levels of liver disease among young people.

The National for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome UK has also backed warning labels.

Earlier this year, the government published its Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England which set out a range of measures including targeting pubs and shops suspected of selling alcohol to under-18s and a “social responsibility charter” for drinks producers which includes providing clear product information and health warnings.

And some information of .

Posted by on 03-15-2008 at 02:03 pm
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Smoking

The government has published its long-awaited white paper on public health.

Smoking is one of the issues covered in the document.

What does the government plan to do?

  • By the end of 2008, all enclosed public places and workplaces will be smoke free.

  • All restaurants and pubs and bars preparing and serving food will also be smoke free. However, other pubs and bars will be free to choose whether to allow smoking.
  • There will be tighter on advertising of tobacco and the government will consult on how to use picture warnings on tobacco products most effectively.
  • More emphasis will also be placed on helping smokers to quit, including phone , email and text support schemes.

What are the health risks?

According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), about half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit.

SMOKING KILLS
On average, each cigarette shortens the life of the smoker by around five to 10 minutes.
Source: Action for Health and Smoking
Q&A: Passive smoking

Most die from one of the three main diseases associated with cigarette smoking - lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease (bronchitis and emphysema) and coronary heart disease.

Smoking causes more than 50 illnesses and has more than 20 ways to kill.

About a sixth of all deaths and nearly a third of all cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking.

Smoking has been associated with increased sperm and with impotence in men.

Smoking leads to an earlier menopause and, during pregnancy, increases the risk of and sudden infant death.

Exposure to other people’s tobacco smoke is also damaging.

How many people are affected?

Tobacco use kills around 106,000 people in the UK every year, which is nearly 300 every day.

About 12 million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes - 27% of men and 25% of women.

It has been estimated that, in England, 364,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to diseases caused by smoking. This translates into 7,000 hospital admissions per week, or 1,000 day.

More than 17,000 children under the age of five are admitted to hospital every year because of the effects of passive smoking.

Smoking costs the NHS between 1.4 and 1.7 billion a year in England.

Is it getting worse?

World-wide, almost 5 million people die prematurely each year as a result of smoking. Based on current trends, this will rise to 10 million within 20 years.

In 1974, 51% of men and 41% of women smoked cigarettes - nearly half the adult population of the UK.

Image of children smoking

Younger people are continuing to take up smoking

Now just over one-quarter smoke, but the decline in recent years has been heavily concentrated in older age groups.

Almost as many young people are taking up smoking, but more smokers are quitting.

Although 70% of smokers want to give up, less than 5% succeed each year.

According to the Wanless report into the future of the NHS, a fall in the number of smokers from 26% now to 17% of the population by 2011 and 11% by 2022 is needed.

However, if current rates of decline in smoking prevalence continue, smoking prevalence will still be at 22% by 2011, and it would take twenty years to reach17%.

The statistics were supplied by ASH.

What did campaigners want?

The British Medical Association is calling on the government to introduce UK-wide legislation as a matter of urgency to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

ASH says a national coalition, of government officials, health experts, charities and industry, should be set up to oversee the new tobacco strategy under the Public Health Minister.

It believes giving a specific minister responsibility for public health in all relevant departments within government, not just the health department, would help.

Both the BMA and ASH call for restrictions on tobacco advertising and public education campaigns to motivate and encourage smokers to quit.

Read another articles about .

Posted by on 03-15-2008 at 01:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - Prostate cancer treatment concern


One in three men with slow-growing prostate tumours are not getting the best treatment - and could be risking their sex lives, experts warn.

Men with the condition have a range of options available to them, including “watchful waiting” where doctors monitor and give no active treatment.

But other options, such as surgery or , cause side effects.

Professor Roger Kirby, head of urology at St George’s Hospital, London, warned patients often make uninformed choices.



Men should be helped to make informed choices


Dr Chris Hiley, The Prostate Cancer Charity

The condition can take many years to develop, and men often do not need to make quick decisions about which treatment to have.

Dr Kirby said many men do often regret the option they chose, and doctors often feel they should recommend the most radical treatment.

But he said that many men could take a less drastic approach with fewer side effects, such as impotence or urinary .

How to choose

In addition to “watchful waiting”, men can choose to keep their cancer under control using hormone treatment.

Each treatment has different benefits and potential side effects, so what is right for each man depends on factors such as how aggressive the cancer is, how old the patient is, and what is important to him.

Research has shown that those men who take time to consider how treatments could affect their quality of life tend to feel happier about the decisions they make.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, affecting 27,000 in the UK each year and killing 10,000.

Professor Kirby said: “Currently, perhaps a third of men when confronted with locally advanced prostate cancer needlessly risk losing their sex life by making the wrong
treatment choice.”

He said there were tools which could help doctors and patients decide which treatment is best.

Professor Kirby has been involved in developing the Vitality Index - a questionnaire which ranks side effects and assesses a patient’s willingness and ability to cope with them.

Details were recently presented to a meeting of the British Association of Urological Surgeons.

He said: “This new treatment aid could help men with prostate cancer and their doctors arrive at the right treatment decisions, therefore helping to maintain the sex lives and quality lives of patients and their
partners.”

‘Doubly difficult’

Dr Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “Choosing a treatment at any stage of prostate cancer can be very difficult.

“It requires a close partnership between the doctor and the man with prostate cancer, to make sure that there is the best fit between the effects on the disease, and the side effects on each man’s life.

“The working of this partnership is doubly difficult when it is established at a time when the man is anxious, vulnerable and in need of .

“As a result of these difficulties, some men may not be offered choices, despite the fact that treatments vary in their side effects. This has to change.

“Men should be helped to make informed choices. It is their body, their health, under discussion.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said men with prostate cancer were being seen more quickly and are receiving better care because of extra investment.

“We recognise that patients need clear to help them make informed decisions about their treatment.

“That is why we have set up a Coalition for Cancer Information to develop better resources for patients and we are developing a National Prostate Cancer website where patients and their families will be able to access clear and accurate information.”

, and more another.

Posted by on 03-14-2008 at 01:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

News - June brought D-Day for Morgan


Dawn on 6 June, 2004 and a group of old soldiers gathered on a beach in Normandy.

They were together again to remember the day 60 years ago at the start of the great Allied invasion of Europe.

This year’s anniversary commemorations of that bloody day were attended by hundreds of Welsh veterans and their families.

It was a poignant affair and it is unlikely that there will be another like it.

Missing among the political dignitaries who attended that day was First Minister Rhodri Morgan.

Improbably, he was discussing the prospect of Wales hosting golf’s Ryder Cup. That decision was almost certainly his biggest mistake of the year, if not in his time in office.

At a stroke, Mr Morgan succeeded in placing himself in a political bunker. There would be no campaign to save ‘Private Morgan.’

Rhodri Morgan

Rhodri Morgan was criticised for not attending the D-Day anniversary

Instead he would have to save himself and issue an unreserved apology to those wounded by his decision to dispatch cabinet colleague Edwina Hart to Normandy, instead of going himself.

Even Labour Party members were surprised at the decision and some felt that it cost them dear at the local government elections which saw Labour lose three crown jewels: Cardiff, Swansea, and Bridgend.

The former Labour leader of Cardiff council Russell Goodway was in no doubt that the D-Day “fiasco” was one of the main factors in contributing to the party’s demise.

The fall-out from that incident and the political retreat which followed has reverberated ever since. It may well extend to the new year, manifesting itself again when Labour least wants it - at the time of a general election. Old soldiers do not forget.

Mr Morgan and his generals will dismiss this as nonsense. They will argue that there were other, less emotional, but equally important moments for the Welsh Assembly Government in 2004. They may have been subsumed by D-Day, but they were significant, nonetheless.

Of course, I had forgotten that other small explosion earlier in the year when the Richard Commission detonated its own constitutional device.

Rhodri Morgan and Lord Richard of Ammanford

Lord Richard of Ammanford handed in his report in March

It took Lord Richard and his team two years to consider the arguments before recommending full law making powers for the Welsh assembly.

It then took the Labour Party another six months to consult its members and just one day to decide to say yes to powers, but not just now, thank you.

That decision was taken at a special conference which managed an enforced display of unity worthy of an eastern bloc committee meeting.

Labour members also showed considerable powers of understanding in accepting Rhodri Morgan’s alternative proposal - the formula 13.2+!

‘Plus what, exactly?’ you may ask. The details are too tortuous to try and explain here but, as I understand it, 13.2+ would grant the assembly government powers of the kind first granted to a Tudor monarch to change laws he did not like. Confused? So are the rest of us.

In reality, the Morgan alternative to Richard was widely regarded as a good old political fudge in order to delay decisions until after next year’s general election.

It did not go down well with the chattering classes, who began whispering that Rhodri had lost his nerve and, after the D-Day decision, had lost the plot.

So, what to do?

Quangos

Rhodri Morgan announced the end of three quangos in July

Get rid of all those enemy tanks parked on your lawn. That’s what you do. That is when we heard the sound of several simultaneous explosions in Wales.

Without warning - surprise is always an advantage when attacking - the first minister fired up the long-talked of bonfire of the quangos.

Three big bodies - the Welsh Development Agency, the Wales Tourist Board and Elwa, the post-16 training and education body - went up in flames.

More would follow; sucked into the assembly government vortex as Labour realised its long-held dream of shrinking the unaccountable state.

It was a master stroke at a time of political adversity, but it was not long before there were critical voices to be heard. Far from de-centralisation they argued, the bonfire of the quangos represented the Stalinisation of Welsh civic society.

The problem for many of Mr Morgan’s political opponents, however, was that they privately agreed with his decision to start the conflagration. It was just the way he did it that they objected too. In the circumstances, Mr Morgan could afford to smile at their impotence in the matter.

Interesting year ahead

However, in the new year he may have more difficulty in repelling his opponent’s attacks in a more vulnerable area - his continuing difficulty in bringing down hospital waiting lists.

All three opposition parties in the assembly feel they can coalesce around health in attacking Mr Morgan and his beleaguered Health Minister Jane Hutt. There is much talk of a grand coalition to bring down a Labour government which currently rules with a majority of just one.

That one may disappear if the Labour AM for Blaenau Gwent, Peter Law, decides to stand as an independent at the next general election.

We could see a test of Old Labour versus New Labour in one of the safest seats in the country. Not only that, the landscape in the assembly would be transformed as a consequence.

Suddenly, politics in Wales in 2005 is looking very interesting indeed. Rhodri Morgan, though, will be hoping that the year ahead does not prove to be his Dunkirk.

And some information of .

Posted by on 03-13-2008 at 01:03 am
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction with 0 Comments

« Previous Entries