Health

» A federal panel recommends that at least some Americans who visited Britain at the height of the mad cow disease scare should not donate blood. The panel fears transfusions from such people could spread the brain disease to others.
» The BBC reports cholera and typhoid, often associated with emerging nations or medieval times, are reemerging as health threats on the fringes of Europe because of poor hygiene and sanitation. Warming trends are also allowing mosquitoes that carry malaria and other tropical diseases like dengue fever to breed as far north as Southern Europe.
» Live spores of deadly anthrax have been found on an Aral Sea island where the biological weapon was supposedly safely buried, drenched in bleach in stainless steel drums. The Soviets buried hundreds of tons of biological weapons on the island.

Drought

What may be the worst drought in Mexico's history is drying up rivers and reservoirs. Along the Texas border, some farmers have even resorted to pumping raw sewage on their crops to keep them alive. Pulse magazine reports: "Last summer, only 2% of Mexico's population did not have enough to eat. Now that figure is at 7.5%, and 26% of the people earn just enough to buy food. Inflation has driven the price of basic food items up 379% since 1994."

Mutation

One third of mice recently trapped in a Northern California wildlife refuge possessed both male and female sex organs. Years ago, thousands of birds were poisoned in the same area by toxic farm run-off. As recently as 1995, only 3% of trapped rodents showed the dual-sex characteristics.

Courts

In Madison, Wisconsin, a woman who allegedly tried to kill her fetus with booze cannot be charged with attempted homicide because a state appeals court ruled that an unborn child is not a human being.

Fraud

Two European pharmaceutical companies were fined $725 million for price fixing on vitamins. After it pleaded guilty, F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd., a Swiss company, paid the largest criminal fine ever imposed—$500 million. Consumers unwittingly paid hundreds of millions of dollars in illegally inflated prices for vitamins and food staples such as enriched bread, cereal and milk.

Catholic Church

In Poland, Pope John Paul II warned against interpretations of the Bible "promoted by some present literature and individualist philosophies." He maintained, "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God . . . has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the [Catholic] Church alone, whose authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."

Solar Storms

Ironically, just as the world faces the uncertainty of Y2K disruptions, scientists say the sun will enter the most violent and disruptive part of its 11-year cycle in January 2000. Severe solar storms, erupting with massive bursts of magnetic energy and radiation, will continue at their peak until April. Apart from Y2K, these solar storms alone could mean entering the new millennium in the dark with a dead cellular phone. Ships and planes that rely on satellites for navigation might have trouble, and even spacewalking astronauts are at risk.

Climate

Worldwatch Institute recently released a report titled "Vital Signs 1999," in which they aver that the latest data predict big problems to come, with the average global temperature, weather-related damage and people displaced by storms all going "off the charts." The U.N. reports 707 natural disasters killed more than 52,800 people in 1998. At least 50 of these catastrophes were classified as "major" and caused some $93 billion in damage.