MOSAIC:Don’t say it with flowers -DAWN Magazine; July 18, 2004

July 18, 2004

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MOSAIC:Don’t say it with flowers IN 2001, Americans spent an estimated $50 per capita on flowers, garden plants and nursery crops; and the floricultural grower receipts topped $13 billion. But some industry costs remained hidden. The floral industry uses the highest level of pesticides of all agricultural sectors. And since most of the flowers Americans buy originate abroad, these pesticides can include some that are banned in the US, such as the DDT. These chemicals may even remain on bouquets long enough to rub off on to the skin or be inhaled. According to another report by the Environmental Working Group, a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel was found in four of the 22 winter lettuce samples purchased from Northern California grocery stores. The lettuce contaminated with perchlorate, a hormone disrupter, was traced to farms in Southern California and Arizona that irrigate their crops with Colorado River water, which has been contaminated with perchlorate by military and industrial activity. An average-sized serving of the tainted leafy greens contained at least four times the level of perchlorate considered safe in drinking water by the American EPA, though not enough research has been done to determine how much perchlorate in the diet would be dangerous. The EWG is calling on the federal government to do a comprehensive study of perchlorate in the food stream and to clean up military sites contaminated with the chemical. And last, but not least, when Lori Thomas of Seattle discovered the salmon that she bought at a supermarket had been raised on feed that artificially kept its flesh pink, she was incensed. The issue is of two chemicals used by fish farmers to turn the otherwise-grey salmon flesh pink, thereby making it more marketable. Farmed fish are a different colour from wild salmon because they are fed a different diet. Wild salmon come by their pink flesh naturally. Critics say one of the chemicals, canthaxanthin (which is also used in tanning pills) can cause damage to the human eye. So be it flowers, food or fish, consumers need to be aware of the dangers of contamination. — Samina Iqbal The Aids threat THE estimated number of drug abusers in Pakistan in 2004 is almost five million, states a recent issue of the Journal of Pakistan Medical Association. A study conducted in 1993 showed heroin to be used by 51 per cent drug abusers and 93 per cent of them were either inhaling the product or smoking it in cigarettes. Only 1.8 per cent of heroin addicts were injecting themselves and they were from Karachi. The National Assessment Study done in 2000 estimated 60,000 drug addicts to be injecting themselves. The possible reason is the availability of injectable heroin in the market, return of people from abroad where only injectable drugs are used and cost effectiveness. It has been proved that injectable drug users are at a higher risk of acquiring and transmitting blood borne infections including HIV/Aids. They share syringes, shoot drugs in groups, have a high prevalence of hepatitis C and syphilis, donate blood for money and indulge in commercial sex. The first outbreak of HIV infection occurred in Larkana, Sindh, when 19 drug users tested positive for HIV infection. This figure has increased to 45 by February 2004. Drop-in-Centres have been established under the harm reduction programme, where 930 drug abusers are registered. They are provided syringes, peer education, counselling, condoms, antiseptic dressings for wounds and primary health care. This programme has still not achieved desired results in terms of preventing HIV/Aids in the high-risk groups. Drug abuse is a serious social issue besides being a health problem and HIV/Aids has compounded it. A consolidated effort is required from all sectors to overcome this menace. *— Dr Fatema Jawad* Combating cancer “MORE than 30 per cent Postmenopausal women get breast cancer in Pakistan and in 70 per cent cases, the cancer spreads. In this situation the presentation of data at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that shows that Femera treatment can increase the life span and quality of life, is a good development.” This observation was made by Dr Tariq Nadeem Ansari, Head of Oncology Department, Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi on getting the report from ASCO conference in New Orleans. New data from the landmark MA-17 study demonstrates a significant 40 per cent reduction in the rate of distant breast cancer recurrences, or metastases, with extended adjuvant (post-tamoxifen) Femara (letrozole) in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer. At the median 2.5 year follow-up, a survival advantage has now become apparent in those women whose cancer had already spread to lymph nodes at the time of diagnosis (nodepositive). In this group of trial participants, which comprised approximately 50 per cent of all patients in MA-17, deaths were reduced by a significant 39 per cent vs. placebo. Patients with node-positive breast cancer are more likely to develop distant metastases and, therefore, may be at greater risk of dying from the disease. These results from the MA-17 trial indicated that Femara is the first hormonal therapy to demonstrate a survival advantage in any population in the extended adjuvant setting. Across the entire study population, survival differences did not reach statistical significance in this analysis. The term extended adjuvant describes the period following standard adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen. Even years after breast cancer diagnosis and primary treatment the ongoing risk of breast cancer recurrence and mortality remains significant for all patients. Extended adjuvant treatment with Femara is the first therapy to effectively address this ongoing risk.

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