The big news last week was that breast cancer rates are down. Apparently, after years of a steady climb, diagnoses of breast cancer went down by 7% in 2003. That's great news, undoubtedly.

The papers have been making much of the fact that the dip is probably a result of women turning away from hormone replacement after a 2002 study linked the therapy to breast cancer. But there's a lot more to this story. Yes, hormone replacement can be harmful--but only in women who take the hormones more than a decade after hitting menopause. In fact, as I reported last year, scientists say estrogen is good for women between the ages of 50 and 59 or those who've recently gone through menopause, and only increases breast cancer risk in older women.

That's complicated--but isn't that what these articles should do? Parse out the complicated news for their readers? Sadly, the results of the original study were so grossly misreported that it triggered panic among women, many of whom stopped taking hormones even when they needn't have. The fact is that, apart from these hormones, there are no effective remedies for menopause symptoms. Case in point, a year-long study released today showed that the popular herbal supplement black cohosh did not relieve hot flashes and night sweats.

You know what did? Hormones.

Posted by Apoorva Mandavilli at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Against all our best hopes, the Libyan court has delivered the worst verdict possible: it sentenced six foreign medical workers accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV to be shot.

The defense says it will appeal to the Libyan supreme court.

The Libyan courts have refused to consider scientific evidence that the more than 400 children infected at a Libyan hospital were the victims of unsafe medical practices—and that the outbreak had begun before the medics arrived. Whether the diplomatic community has been forceful enough in pushing this evidence forward is unclear. An article in today’s New York Times, for instance, says that some diplomats have suggested that the US response has been muted.

Despite the efforts of the scientific community in the last few months, continuing activism—and stepped up diplomatic pressure—will be necessary if the medics are to have any hope. In Declan’s article on news@nature, Emmanuel Altit, head of the international defense team backs up this view. He says that the international community can help by insisting that the scientific evidence of the medic’s innocence be included.

Posted by Charlotte Schubert at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow a Libyan court will release its verdict on whether to sentence six foreign medical workers to death.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are accused of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV in a Libyan hospital in 1998. Scientists and medical groups have rallied behind the medics, with forceful letters highlighting the scientific evidence of their innocence.

The diplomatic community seems to be less energized. Both the European Union and the United States have called for a fair trial. But when the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Libya this spring, the plight of the medics was not part of the deal. And in a recent press conference, a spokesperson for the US State Department was dismissive of evidence published last week in Nature that would exonerate the accused.

Many familiar with the trial are pessimistic about the outcome. Whether the EU and the US are exerting enough pressure on Libya for a fair verdict should become clear tomorrow. If the medics are sentenced to death, it would not only be a miscarriage of justice; it may also reflect a failure of diplomatic will.

To learn more about the trial, go to Declan Butler’s blog. Declan is a reporter at Nature, who is following the case. Mickey Grant, an independent film-maker, has also covered the trial in his movie, “Injection," which I reviewed for news@nature. Grant explores the probable cause of the childrens' infection—poor medical practices, which he claims are rife and underreported in Africa.

Posted by Charlotte Schubert at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)