News

In brief

• One in eight NHS hospitals have closed since 1990, according to official statistics. There have been 245 closures in England, 17 in Wales, 34 in Scotland and 8 in Northern Ireland over the past five years.

The figures were compiled at the request of Labour shadow health secretary Margaret Beckett, although ministers had previously claimed the information was not available.

• The Women’s Environmental Network is co-ordinating a national petition calling for an action plan to combat breat cancer in Britain. WEN wants to see increased public funding for research into the causes of breast cancer, and in particular to investigate any possible links with environmental toxins.

• MPs have failed to revoke new regulations which continue to allow promotion of baby milks direct to the public, often through hospitals and clinics. The regulations, which came into effect on 1 March, provoked a storm of protest from national health and consumer bodies, who argue that commercial interests are being protected at the expense of infant health.

• The latest issue of GenEthics News reports that, following seven years of debate, the European Parliament has voted not to allow commercial patents on genetic material, including human genes. The result gives a boost to a worldwide campaign by green activists against the patenting of life.

• The World Health Organisation has declared poverty the leading cause of death and ill health worldwide, and warns that the gap between rich and poor is widening rather than narrowing. In Bridging the gaps, an outspoken report on the health of the people of the world, it says: ‘Poverty wields its destructive influence at every stage of human life, from the moment of conception to the grave.’

It calls for greater investment by the rich nations in the health of developing countries, including a review of third world debt and conditions of trade.

• NHS paybed activity increased dramatically in the first three years of the internal market, according to official figures. Income from private patients rose 63 per cent from £113m in 1990/91 to £185m in 1993/94. The private sector regards this evidence of commercial behaviour by the NHS without enthusiasm, suspecting ‘unfair’ subsidisation of paybeds.