News

In brief

The Ottawa Treaty banning land mines is due to be ratified as binding in international law on March 1. More than 120 countries, including the UK, had signed the treaty by last December. The US has not signed and the UK’s legislation contains a loophole allowing British troops to handle, transport and store mines, and ask or assist US troops to lay mines—provided they don’t actually lay the mines themselves.

The British Medical Association has published guidelines on equal opportunities for gay and lesbian doctors. The report, Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, calls for training for all NHS employees and medical students on issues of sexuality, including the medical care of gay patients. It also proposes equal membership benefits for same sex couples in the BMA, and the inclusion of equal opportunities policies in contracts of employment.

According to the Department of Health, levels of immunisation for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis and Haemophilus influenza B for children reaching their second birthday achieved the highest ever levels of coverage in 1996-97. However, coverage with the troubled MMR vaccine in the same age group actually fell by about 1 per cent.

More than 1.5m people, mostly young children, have died in Iraq due to international sanctions. Iraq is permitted by the UN to sell $5.2bn of oil every six months. By last summer it was able only to produce $4.6bn due to bomb damage to its refineries (oil installations were bombed again during the recent UK/US raids). Forty per cent of the oil revenue has to be paid in reparations to Kuwait and to the UN for ‘administration’.

There was a 1.3 per cent increase in abortions in Britain in 1997, compared with the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. All age groups showed a rise in the abortion rate, except those aged under 16. The increase was highest (22 per cent) in the 45 and over age group.

There is strong evidence of an association between suicide and unemployment or lack of job security, according to research published in the BMJ. Similar links are not found for other socio-economic measures, such as housing tenure or educational qualifications, say the researchers. The report concludes that policies that reduce unemployment are also likely to reduce the suicide rate (BMJ 1998.Nov 7:1283-1286.)