Sex, sweeteners and price-fixing
Last updated: Thursday, February 14, 2008 PrintIn a statement on Tuesday, the department of health said that "it is extremely concerning that the prices of important pharmaceuticals are being fixed to achieve huge profit margins."
With high healthcare costs being as topical as it is at present the scandal is not only placing the companies involved – Adcock Ingram, Dismed, and Thusanong – in a bad light, but is casting a shadow over the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.And in the light of much larger investigations taking place in Europe and the US, the notion that the pharmaceutical industry is particularly prone to moral corruption seems to be vindicated.
Cancer to hit SA hard
And in more bad news, the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) has warned that Kaposi's sarcoma is to become "the main fatal cancer" in South Africa within five years.
Kaposi's sarcoma is particularly common among Aids patients.
And in more Aids-related news, US researchers report that starting Aids patients on anti-retroviral drugs at an earlier stage than that recommended by current guidelines may increase life expectancy by as much as 2.8 years.
Sweeteners making you fat?
And in a rather counter-intuitive finding, researchers this week reported that sweeteners may actually cause weight gain. Apparently, low-calorie sweeteners such as those found in diet sodas may disrupt the body's ability to manage hunger and energy expenditure.
It should however be pointed out that the research was done in mice and is far from being proven in humans.
And finally, an "expert" this week predicted that sex with robots will be an acceptable part of human life by the middle of the century. Whether this kind of speculative prediction offers anything more than some good headlines and an excuse to talk about robotics – or sex – is however doubtful.
- (Marcus Low,Health24)
- (Health24)
Sources include HealthDay, Sapa, EurekAlert and Reuters Health
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February 15, 2008
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