Infinite Unknown

Questions are arising over how long the Tamiflu retro-viral drugs being stockpiled by the New Zealand government — and many other countries — will remain an effective weapon against the next flu pandemic.

Tamiflu-resistant forms of the “ordinary” seasonal influenza are rapidly spreading and the drug may be ineffective in fighting the dominant flu strain in South Africa this winter.

World Health Organisation (WHO) data shows tests on 107 people in South Africa with the H1N1 strain — one of the three most common flu viruses in humans — found all had a mutant bug resistant to Tamiflu, the WHO said in a statement. Only one of the patients was taking Tamiflu at the time of sampling.

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Tags: bird flu, H5N1, influenza, New Zealand, resistant, South Africa, Tamiflu, Vaccination, Vaccine, virus, WHO

BRITISH Defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s.

The dramatic admission, made after years of denials, features in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers.

The Sunday Mirror newspaper said the court papers reveal that the Ministry of Defence now believes that nuclear tests were responsible for the deaths of some British servicemen.

However, the MoD insists that only 159 men were affected out of the 20,000 who were present.

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Tags: Australia, Cancer, dise, Fiji, Government, lawsuit, Ministry of Defence, New Zealand, nuclear, Radiation, U.K.

Border control staff will be able to use iris scans and finger printing to check passengers’ identities under major changes to New Zealand immigration rules.

Despite criticism from Amnesty International at the level of secrecy permitted, the changes look set to become law, with the National Party pledging its support.

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Tags: Amnesty International, Fingerprints, human rights, Immigration, New Zealand, Politics

NEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters Life! ) - Americans are the least satisfied with their health care system - and their President -, while the Dutch system is rated the best, according to new research.

Polls about health care in 10 developed countries by Harris Interactive revealed a range of opinions about what works and what doesn’t.

In the United States a third of Americans believe their system needs to be completely overhauled, while a further 50 percent feel that fundamental changes need to be made.

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Tags: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Health, health insurance, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, U.K., U.S., WHO

The average Kiwi has to work until smoko time each Wednesday just to fuel up the car and buy the groceries.

Calculations by the Sunday Star-Times show that on the average Kiwi wage of $45,000 a year, a worker needs to toil away for 17 hours a week just to keep their family fed and their car fuelled. That is because food prices have gone up by 11.8 per cent in the past year, while petrol prices have jumped 34 per cent. By contrast, wages for most people have risen by only about 3 per cent.

An average couple with two dependent children can now expect to spend around $244 a week on groceries, plus another $47 a week on petrol (more if they own a second car or a gas-guzzling 4WD). That’s an increase of about $43 on grocery and fuel costs compared with a year ago.

Wages have not risen at the same rapid rate which means more of their income is being swallowed up by necessities each week.

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Tags: Food Prices, New Zealand, Oil, Oil Prices

New Zealand scientists claim to have developed a “flatulence inoculation” aimed at cutting down on the massive amount of methane produced by its sheep and cows.

Such animals are believed to be responsible for more than half of the country’s greenhouse gases, causing huge environmental problems.

But Phil Goff, New Zealand’s trade minister, told an Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in Paris yesterday that a solution was in sight.

“Our agricultural research organisation just last week was able to map the genome … that causes methane in ruminant animals and we believe we can vaccinate against” flatulent emissions, Mr Goff said.

Scientists in New Zealand have been working around-the-clock to reduce emissions from agriculture, such as changing the way fertilisers are used on pasture land, Mr Goff added.

Sheep, cattle, goats and deer produce large quantities of gas through belching and flatulence, as their multiple stomachs digest grass.

Ruminants are responsible for about 25 per cent of the methane produced in Britain, but in countries with a large agricultural sector, the proportion is much higher.

The 45 million sheep and 10 million cattle in New Zealand burped and farted about 90 percent of that country’s methane emissions, according to government figures. Continue reading »

Tags: New Zealand, OECD, Vaccination, Vaccine

The credit crunch has hit home for thousands of New Zealanders as debt collection agencies report up to a 500 per cent increase in workload over the past few months.

Debt collectors who have been in the industry for more than 15 years say they have never been busier, with small-time borrowers and businesses “across the board” defaulting on loans and payment for services.

Meanwhile, budgeting advisory services are swamped with people needing help as debts spiral out of control. One service says its waiting time to see new clients is up to five weeks.

Graeme Byers, owner of debt collector Guardian Credit Services, told the Herald on Sunday his business had increased by between 400 and 500 per cent this year.

“There’s just more debt out there. Poorer people are getting hammered.”

Byers said the collapse of numerous finance companies had put many people into positions where they could not pay everyday debts. “One feeds off the other. It snowballs,” he said. Continue reading »

Tags: credit, debt, New Zealand

High cost of water adds to pressure to sell, change grapes or even move

MELBOURNE - Australian grape growers reckon they are the canary in the coal mine of global warming, as a long drought forces winemakers to rethink the styles of wine they can produce and the regions they can grow in.

The three largest grape-growing regions in Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, all depend on irrigation to survive. The high cost of water has made life tough for growers.

Some say they probably won’t survive this year’s harvest, because of the cost of keeping vines alive. Water prices have more than tripled. Continue reading »

Tags: Australia, Australian Wine and Brandy Corp, CSIRO, economics, Global Warming, harvest, New Zealand, vineyard, water prices, wie, Wine Grape Growers, winemaker

Victoria Fray with a glass of drinking water made with her new desalination machine. Photo / Greg Bowker

Auckland engineer Victoria Fray has come up with a new variation on the age-old theme of teaching someone to fish so they can feed themselves forever.

She has designed a mini-desalination plant that is small and robust enough to be sent to remote Pacific islands to provide water for up to 900 people in an emergency - then be hauled back to Auckland and used again in the next disaster elsewhere. Continue reading »

Tags: desalination, engineer, machine, New Zealand, Opus, plant, Red Cross, sanitation, Victoria Fray, water