IT鈥橲 A burning issue 鈥� setting seams of coal deep underground alight to produce a range of combustible gases like methane and hydrogen. Now Brian Wilson, the energy minister, tells me that the Department of Trade and Industry is to assess the environmental impact of underground coal gasification (UCG). It seems to me that with the once much-vaunted Selby coalfield due for closure because of 鈥済eological difficulties鈥� UCG could yet help Britain to meet its need for a plentiful energy source.
According to the British Geological Survey, there is far more coal untapped beneath the British sector of the North Sea than in all its onshore mines (快猫短视频, 1 June, p 42). Often, though, the coal seams are deep underground. A question that must be answered, however, is what to do with all the carbon dioxide that UGC would release, without further exacerbating the effects of climate change. Certainly, Britain has much to learn from UCG experience gained by Australia, the US and other countries.
AS 快猫短视频 recently emphasised, there is now a real possibility of tropical diseases, such as malaria and West Nile virus, being carried into northern countries by stowaway mosquitoes (31 August, p 3 and p 9). Which makes the M茅decins Sans Fronti猫res鈥檚 Drugs for the Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) all the more important.
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Sally Keeble, the junior minister for international development, tells me that while Britain does not invest in DNDi, the government supports, through other initiatives and funds, research and development on the most neglected diseases. These initiatives tend to be public-private partnerships, which the Department for International Development (DFID) believes provide the incentives for the development of new medicines.
For example, Britain recently agreed to commit 拢5 million over five years to the Medicines for Malaria Venture, brainchild of the global programme of scientific collaboration, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). LAPDAP is a promising new low-cost combination treatment for malaria developed by the government in partnership with the WHO and the pharmaceuticals industry. On HIV/AIDS, DFID has provided 拢14 million to the International Vaccine Initiative, and recently committed 拢16 million to research on attacking the virus at the point of transmission. The department also now supports the programme of the WHO鈥檚 Tropical Disease Research Division, and is involved in programmes for eradicating lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis or river blindness, said Keeble.
I now hear that the government has set up a working group on access to medicines, with international development minister Clare Short in the chair. It looks at issues such as making medicines more affordable to the poor through differential pricing. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has introduced a new tax credit to promote R&D into diseases that affect people living in developing countries. Since 1997, the government has spent 拢l billion on helping them put in place effective healthcare systems. It鈥檚 a worthy way for Britain to spend its funds 鈥� combating poverty and disease.
