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Written by Kayla Langhorne
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Sunday, 21 June 2009 12:47 |
Gardasil, the vaccine said to prevent cervical cancer, has been at the centre of a heated debate since it’s introduction in 2006. Anti-vaccine groups have raised questions about the safety of the vaccine, while medical organizations maintain their supportive stance. The question is, who really has our best interests at heart?
The vaccine is said to be 99-100% effective in preventing four strains of the Human Pappilomavirus (HPV), two of which are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers. If successful, the vaccine could cut the deaths caused by cervical cancer by half, saving the lives of 30 women per year.
Despite these claims, concerns have been raised that the vaccine may pose health risks. From the 23 million vaccinations that have been administered, there have been over 10,000 VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) reports, of adverse events following the Gardasil vaccination. Of the reactions, 6 percent were found to be serious, and included cases of hospitalization, permanent disability, life-threatening illness, and over 32 deaths. However these VAERS reports are anecdotal, and have been analyzed by medical experts including panels from the VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink Project) and the CISA (Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network). Though their integrity and motives remain to be seen, these organisations found no common medical pattern suggesting that Gardasil caused the reported adverse reactions.
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Written by Christopher Mills
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Friday, 19 June 2009 14:39 |
The addition of text messaging capability to the GSM mobile technology released in the early 1990's, was just an afterthought. In 2004, it was estimated that 500 billion text messages were sent worldwide. It was not expected to become as large as it has. With text messaging's limited capacity, a sub-set of the English language was born: text speak. A language that is almost indecipherable to anyone over 30.
Given this considerable usage and secret youth-oriented language, one would begin to think it is a clever marketing strategy; and would be an invaluable tool in capturing that ever-elusive, teenage audience. Well, apparently somebody at TVNZ thought this would be a good idea to show on television and subsequently, implemented it into their broadcast.
During show promotions, producers had replaced words such as 'tonight', and 'tomorrow' with abbreviations like 'ton' and 'tmw'. Needless to say, the television audience of New Zealand was not impressed, with TVNZ receiving many emails and letters regarding the promotions. It has been a topic of discussion online also, the Facebook group 'I Hate TV2's New Abbreviations!!' has almost 20,000 members.
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Written by Christopher Mills
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Friday, 12 June 2009 11:25 |
...To prevent them from further bothering you and inciting others, to disagree with your opinions as well? Maybe. Right now, it's quite possible that John Key is wishing that Labour leader Phil Goff would disappear quietly, after calling the latest budget 'dishonest'.
Well, if this were Myanmar, it would probably happen. In all likelihood, we would not even have a Government, just a military ruler, who with a group of other military leaders, 'took care' of the country as they saw fit. Sounds like a fantastic idea.
Myanmar, or Burma as it is sometimes known, has not had a democratically elected government since 1962, when General Ne Win led a military coup d’état. During his reign, Ne Win implemented a system that he called the Burmese Way to Socialism. It is described as combined Soviet-style nationalization and central planning, with the governmental implementation of superstitious beliefs. Critics described it as "an amalgam of Buddhist and Marxist illogic" (Newsweek, February 1974).
Since the initial overthrowing of the government, many changes were made, including the banning of all other political parties. The name of the country changed from the 'Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma' to the 'Union of Myanmar', and countless people were imprisoned for opposing the military led government. One of those people is Aung San Suu Kyi.
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