IDENTIFYING the dead must be one of the most harrowing tasks that bereaved
relatives and GPs face. Teeth are often the best clue, but how can a pathologist
identify a corpse with dentures?
Hisashi Kishigami, a dentist from Osaka, came up with the idea of a silicon
chip that can be embedded in a set of false teeth
(快猫短视频, 30 September, p 15)
to help speed up the process. I suggested to Paul Boateng, the Home Office
minister with responsibilities for coroners鈥� law, that chip technology was a
sensible idea.
Boateng replied that anything making it easier to identify a dead person is
worth further investigation. Clearly, the long-term success of any such
development depends on cooperation between dentists and false teeth
manufacturers. Boateng said that Kishigami had applied for patents for his
invention in the US and Japan, so the cost of the device had to be
considered.
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However, Boateng was sufficiently taken by the idea of chips in dentures to
pass on details to Lord Hunt, the junior health minister with responsibilities
for the general dental services.
DEEP-SEA fishing is doing untold damage to the coral mounds that are home and
breeding ground to some 800 deep-sea animals around Britain鈥檚 shores. It is
good, therefore, to learn that the Department of the Environment, Transport and
the Regions is considering setting up 鈥淪pecial Areas of Conservation鈥� beyond the
12-mile limit around Britain鈥檚 coast to protect these vulnerable habitats and
the many fish species that depend on them.
A recent 快猫短视频 report on the problem
(23 September, p 15) motivated
me to ask fisheries minister Elliot Morley what the government was doing and
whether some of the coral mounds in the western sector of the North Sea should
be brought under the protection of European conservation law.
Morley said that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
(ICES) recently underlined the poor state of deep-sea fish species around
Britain and called for urgent action to prevent fishing causing further damage
offshore. He went on to say that some member states of the European Union
advocate setting EU-wide Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and fishing quotas for
individual member states next year. Britain certainly agrees that stocks need
protection, but the government has serious reservations about whether TACs are
the best approach. The fear is that TACs will entrench already excessive catch
levels when what is needed is an across-the-board reduction in fishing pressure.
Moreover, TACs would be undermined if countries outside the EU were able to
continue unrestricted fishing of these stocks. International agreement through
the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission is essential if a strategy to save
deep-water species is to be found, said Morley.
Instead of TACs, the minister added, Britain supports the ICES鈥檚 suggestion
that the best approach in the short term will be strict controls on fishing
effort, coupled with improved data collection. 鈥淚 expect to be working very
closely over the coming months with all interested parties to outline effective
management measures to achieve this, and to introduce them as soon as we can,鈥�
he said.