MPs returning from a visit to Asia have told me that before they experienced this year鈥檚 smog in the region, they would never have realised how appalling it is. Even striking pictures such as that in 快猫短视频 (17 August, p 8), don鈥檛 convey the true horrors.
A major political problem is that Asian countries and cities consider air pollution to be a regional problem rather than a local one. They don鈥檛 feel obliged to bring in expensive pollution controls, and simply blame their neighbours for carrying on in their dirty old ways. The consequences of such fatalism will be tragic, as a 快猫短视频 editorial pointed out in the same issue (鈥淎 Russian tragedy鈥�).
Sally Keeble, a junior minister in the Department for International Development, says ministers believe such air pollution could be reversed, eliminating its enormous costs and health impacts. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has set up project Asia Brown Cloud to study the composition and seasonal pattern of the haze. Britain鈥檚 contribution to this is included in the 拢4 million it gives to the UNEP Environment Fund for a range of issues.
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Many years ago I went to Java and Borneo and saw for myself the work the people there were doing to improve their environment: then as now it was an uphill struggle. How much better if billions of today鈥檚 dollars went to fighting the Asia brown haze rather than on any military assault of Iraq. The Asia brown cloud is a far greater threat than Saddam Hussein can ever be.
THALIDOMIDE is close to making a comeback in the fight against a form of cancer (快猫短视频, 8 June, p 5). Pharmaceuticals firm Celgene of New Jersey, has applied to European drug authorities for permission to sell the drug as a treatment for multiple myeloma 鈥� a fatal cancer of bone marrow. In clinical trials the drug performed well against the disease.
Lord Hunt, the junior health minister, has assured me that Thalidomide鈥檚 history as the drug responsible for horrendous birth defects in the 1950s and 1960s is well known, but that it is now showing promise in treating a number of relatively rare and important medical conditions. The European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) has received numerous applications for new uses of thalidomide. Ultimately, the European Commission will determine whether a licence should be granted.
Britain will provide input into these decisions, and in so doing will take expert advice from the government鈥檚 Committee on Safety of Medicines, said Hunt. But he cautions that when evaluating any application for authorisation to market the drug three provisos hold: that the benefits it offers outweigh any risks; that the usual standards of quality, safety and efficacy are met; and that a robust risk management strategy is put in place so that there is no possibility of it affecting a pregnancy.
This is a careful comment. Do I detect an element of buck-passing to the European Commission which the EMEA advises?
