MICHAEL BOND believes the call for a boycott of Israeli science is 鈥減rofoundly misguided鈥� (快猫短视频, 20 November 2004, p 20). Numerous academics have argued that their part in the international boycott of South Africa helped to end the apartheid regime. Possibly, they propose, a boycott against Israel could encourage change there.
Bond thinks that it would be far better to reward Israeli and Palestinian scientists who work together in the teeth of opposition from Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The new Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization (IPSO), launched under the auspices of UNESCO in November 2004, supports this.
Douglas Alexander is the UK鈥檚 minister with responsibility for economic policy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and he agrees with Bond. He tells me that as a friend of both Israel and the Palestinians, the government considers that boycotts or sanctions against either party are unlikely to bring them closer to a peaceful resolution.
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Alexander says the launch of IPSO was an important development in Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. The UK government wishes it success and encourages the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to take advantage of such opportunities to improve mutual understanding, the minister said.
EARLY Day Motions are a way for MPs to raise particular issues they care about. Many EDMs are trivial, and they are almost never debated. But I commend to your attention one that is definitely not trivial, and ought to be discussed in the new Parliament. It is in the name of Alice Mahon, MP for Halifax in Yorkshire, and points out that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency attributes up to one-fifth of all lethal road accidents to driver sleepiness.
At least 1 per cent of the UK鈥檚 adults suffer from sleepiness for a medical reason 鈥� and an estimated 80 per cent of these are unaware they have a treatable condition. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea involves disrupted breathing that repeatedly wakes sleepers, and the Royal College of Physicians estimates that if the condition is not treated, the resulting tiredness may impair driving as much as being over the legal alcohol limit.
But Obstructive Sleep Apnoea is readily treatable using a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine that costs 拢300 and lasts for 10 years. The Sleep Apnoea Trust says people have been in fatal crashes while on NHS waiting lists for CPAP.
Research at the University of Edinburgh shows that the cost of treating 500 sleep apnoea patients with CPAP for five years would be 拢400,000. The cost of accidents caused by people with untreated sleep apnoea over the same period is estimated at 拢5.3 million.
Mahon, who has the support of 88 other MPs at the time of going to press, urges the government to seize the opportunity in the Road Safety Bill to raise awareness of sleep disorders among unwitting sufferers. It should also improve the provision of NHS diagnosis and treatment services.
