Reuters.com: Swine flu striking pregnant women hard: CDC study
Some rather ominous news from Reuters: “Pregnant women infected with the new H1N1 swine flu have a much higher risk of severe illness and death, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday, confirming a trend that has worried global health experts. While pregnant woman have always had a higher risk of severe disease from influenza in general, the new H1N1 virus is taking an exceptionally heavy toll, the researchers said. "We do see a fourfold increase in hospitalization rates among ill pregnant women compared to the general population," Dr. Denise Jamieson of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a telephone interview. "We’re also seeing a relatively large proportion of deaths among pregnant women. We report 13 percent in the paper, but that is a very unstable number based on a small number of deaths reported," said Jamieson, whose study appears in the journal Lancet …”
Xinhuanet (via agencies): Pollution reduces kids’ IQ: Study
Irony alert – the article cites a study of pollution in New York. Maybe the editors who posted this over at Xinhuanet haven’t been looking out their own windows lately (cough, cough): “A pregnant woman’s exposure to pollution can adversely affect her child’s IQ, according to a new study. The study analyzed 249 children living in densely populated areas of Harlem and Bronx in New York for 5 years. It found that children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of toxic pollutants on a regular basis scored on average 5 points lower than children of mothers not exposed to pollution to the same extent …”
Chinadaily.com: More Children Taking Up Cigarettes in Beijing
As if the air wasn’t bad enough: “More teens are smoking in Beijing, where the number of primary and middle school students picking up the habit has more than doubled from previous years, a survey has found. The survey, conducted by Beijing’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every two years since 2005, recently polled nearly 40,000 students across the capital on their smoking behavior last year. The poll showed 17 percent of students at the primary and secondary level picked up cigarettes last year, up from 7 percent in 2005.”
New York Times: China Puts Online Games That Glorify Mafia on Its Hit List
Virtual Gangsters need harmonizing too: “On Monday, the Ministry of Culture issued a notice banning online games that feature Mafioso kingpins, marauding street gangs or any sort of hooliganism predisposed to organization. The decree, which promises “severe punishment” for violators but fails to specify the penalties, also prohibits Web sites from including links to Internet games that glorify organized crime.”
Washingtonpost.com (Reuters, China Daily): Ageing Shanghai urges second baby for eligible couples
More shenanigans down south: “China’s financial hub will urge eligible couples to have two children as worries about the looming liability of an aging population outweigh concerns about over-stretched resources, the China Daily reported on Friday. The Shanghai policy marks the first time in decades that Chinese officials have actively encouraged more procreation.”
Time.com: A Brief History of China’s One Child Policy
Related to the link above: “Is the world’s most populous nation about to get more crowded? Reports surfaced in international media last week that in an effort to slow the rapid graying of the workforce, couples in Shanghai — the country’s most populous city — would be encouraged to have two kids if the parents are themselves only children. Shanghai officials have since denied any policy shift, saying this caveat is nothing new, but the contradictory reports are another manifestation of ongoing rumors that Beijing is rethinking the controversial one-child policy that has for the past three decades helped spur economic growth — but exacted a heavy social cost along the way.”
