Nexus - 0704 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS over computer "keys"—special codes that unlock scrambled messages. "The arrival of this spy centre means that Big Brother is finally here," said Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes. "The balance between the state and individ- ual privacy has swung too far in favour of the state." (Source: The Sunday Times, UK, 30 April 2000, www.sunday-times.co.uk) be the first ruling of its kind, Superior Court Judge Richard Arnold freed Christopher DeAngelo, a 28-year-old insur- ance agent, because the defendant was unable to appreciate that his actions were wrong. Defence lawyer John Williams said: "This was someone who was driven to commit crimes because of prescription drugs." Meanwhile, doctors in the USA are pre- scribing Prozac and Ritalin to an ever- increasing number of children. In 1995, over 150,000 children—just in the age group of two to four years—were on Prozac-type drugs. This figure is likely to have tripled since then. (Sources: Guardian Weekly, 2-8 March 2000; The Observer, 12 March 2000) similar to the specimen from the Feldhofer Cave in Germany—proving that both are genuinely Neanderthal and that there was little diversity among them. "The fact that these two Neanderthals are closely related and not related to modern humans implies that they don't have the diversity to encompass a modern human gene pool," said Goodwin. (Source: Reuters, 27 March 2000) PROZAC - A PRESCRIPTION FOR VIOLENCE rozac, the world's best-selling anti- depressant, is being blamed for turning healthy, placid people violent. It is thought to have led to crimes that include murder. In the first clinical trial of its kind, Dr David Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales, gave Prozac to a volunteer group of mentally healthy adults and found that even their behaviour was affected. "We can make healthy volunteers belligerent, fearful, suicidal, and even pose arisk to others," he said. The study is the strongest vindication yet of mental health campaigners who claim that dozens of people have been wrongly imprisoned because of the effects Prozac has had on their behaviour. In the United States, school shootings have been linked to number of children given Prozac and other anti-depressants. In February, a judge in Connecticut acquitted a bank robber who blamed his behaviour on Prozac. In what is thought to INCENTIVES FOR DOCTORS MAY AFFECT YOUR HEALTH t usually begins in medical school. Students receive drug company pens, clocks and coffee mugs. As they become doctors, the gifts they receive often increase in value: drug samples, tickets to ball games, dinners for them and their fam- ilies, all-expenses-paid trips to ski or beach resorts to "consult" with drug company rep- resentatives. It is all part of an intense marketing effort. Each drug company tries to con- vince doctors of the benefits of its medica- tions, so the doctors, in turn, might pre- scribe them to you. By one published estimate, drug compa- nies last year spent an average of US$13,000 on every physician in the USA, which adds up to more than $8 billion. Drug companies now employ 70,000 sales representatives, which means one sales rep- resentative for every nine doctors. A recent analysis of 16 different studies showed that doctors courted by drug com- panies were more likely to engage in "non- rational" prescribing. In other words, they were more likely to order a drug that was more expensive or less effective than what the patient actually needed. The doctors were also more likely—in some cases, 20 times more likely—to ask a hospital to add the company's drug to the hospital inventory, even though most of the requested drugs "presented little or no therapeutic advantage". (Source: ABC News, USA, 17 February 2000, http://abcnews.go.com/onair) MODERN HUMANS NOT RELATED TO NEANDERTHALS A analysis of DNA extracted from the ribs of a 29,000-year-old Neanderthal infant buried in a cave in southern Russia shows that modern humans are not related to Neanderthals. The infant would have been among the last of the Neanderthals. Exactly what hap- pened to them is a mystery. Various theo- ries suggest they were killed off, lost out to competitors or were simply absorbed by modern humans. The study, led by William Goodwin of Glasgow University, is also important because it verifies the findings of the first analysis of Neanderthal DNA in 1997. The DNA sequence from the infant is very “47\ ~ JE3 TE Found iP (ESL € A VCR, (Xe eZ, Cpe minal \ pete Hes Y eye ee LOCKERBIE PRIME WITNESS PREVENTED FROM TESTIFYING ormer US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) operative Lester Coleman was recently incarcerated in a Kentucky prison on charges he alleges are false—yet anoth- er effort by the federal government to silence him. Upon his release, Coleman was remanded into custody once again, this 8 - NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2000