Big Tobacco undermined research in Asia

BANGKOK: Two studies released Tuesday allege that big tobacco companies tried to undermine anti-smoking policies in Asia by infiltrating a research institute in Thailand and providing funding for one in China.

Public health researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Edinburgh analysed internal industry documents made public following litigation in the United States.

The researchers claimed that Philip Morris planted a scientist in Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok in a bid to get researchers to play down the impact of secondhand smoke.

A separate study including a Mayo Clinic researcher alleges that British American Tobacco provided funding in China for the Beijing Liver Foundation in a campaign to shift the focus there away from smoking dangers to ailments like liver disease.

Both companies denied the charges presented online in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal. The two studies were partly funded by the National Cancer Institute in the United States.

Anti-smoking groups say big tobacco for years has sought to covertly influence government smoking policies and squash scientific findings highlighting the hazards of smoking.

Earlier reviews of company documents have claimed that cigarette companies worked to defeat a tobacco advertising ban in Europe, pressured drug companies to tone down marketing for smoking-cessation products and placed consultants at the World Health Organisation (WHO) to try to subvert efforts to reduce smoking.

Critics contend the companies are turning increasingly to Asia where smokers are on the rise.

WHO estimated this year that 30% of the world’s smokers now live in China and 10% in India. Thailand has seen the number of cigarettes smoked more than double since 1972 to 42 billion sticks in 2004.

“There is no doubt that the WHO regrets the unethical behaviour of tobacco companies that infiltrate research organisations to influence the research process and the findings of such organisations,’’ said Edouard Tursan d’Espaignet, epidemiologist with the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.

In the Thai study, University of Sydney’s Ross MacKenzie and University of Edinburgh’s Jeff Collin allege that Philip Morris scientist Roger Walk was able to lecture and organise conferences at the Thai government-funded Chulabhorn from the early 1990s to at least 2006.

The researchers say this allowed Philip Morris to develop relationships with key officials and scientists in efforts to discount the threat of secondhand smoke.

Spokesman Marija Sepic of Switzerland-based Philip Morris International -- which separated this year from the US branch of the company -- dismissed the documents as outdated and said the company never hid its affiliation with Walk.

However, Chulabhorn associate vice-president Jutamaad Satayavivad said the institute was not aware Walk worked for Philip Morris until about a decade into his tenure. After seeing the study, institute officials plan to bar him because he was“not straightforward in sharing with us,” she said.

The other study alleges that London-based British American Tobacco used the Beijing Liver Foundation to lobby China’s Health Ministry in a campaign to forestall smoke-free legislation.

The researchers say documents show that the company provided training for industry, public officials and the media to spread its message that secondhand smoke was an insignificant source of pollution.

“Our findings show that despite the tobacco industry’s public efforts to appear socially responsible and to assert that they are part of the solution to the global tobacco epidemic, there is a fundamental conflict between the interests of tobacco companies and public health,” said the Mayo Clinic’s Monique E. Muggli, who conducted the study with Kelley Lee, Quan Gan, Jon O. Ebbert and Richard Hurt.

China’s Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

British American Tobacco spokesman Catherine Armstrong said it was illogical to suggest that any link the company has to a medical charity “was an attempt to divert attention away from smoking related disease.”

Grant My Wish

Its the digital world now. Most of the things we are using now are all computerized and digital. Take for example the basic things in life such as the telephone, the computer, the television set, cell phones, digital cameras and a lot of other stuff.

Basically, given a day without electricity and all these digital stuff, I guess I'll suffer so much from boredom.

And now, with the digital camera so handy you can take pictures anywhere at anytime you want. A friend of mine just recently bought a Sony DSLR digital camera and its really a nice one. The photos taken are really clear and beautiful.

So, if you wanna save all the trouble of developing the photos, now you can use a digital photo frame, its so easy to use and convenient. Just upload the photos into it and you get to change the photos everyday.

Now, CEIVA Digital Photo Frame is a unique brand to recommend. Visit their website and watch the video there, its really a hilarious one! I've shared it with my friend and they were all excited to know more about it.

There's more, now that there is a contest available. The contest, Got a Wish Sweeepstakes will get 1 random entry selected for each day of the contest; cash prize of $500 per winner.

When thoughts collide

In an age when headlines and sensationalism attract our attention, there is a need for us to understand some, if not all, of the different religions that exist.

I ONCE bought an English-Hindi/Hindi-English dictionary to give to a friend. However, I changed my mind and gave her a different gift and that dictionary remained on my bookshelf.

Flipping through it, I found that some words looked strangely similar, if not the same, as those used in my mother tongue:

angur (grapes); akal (wisdom or intellect); akhbar (newspaper); agar (if, so as to); adab (etiquette); anu-grah (favour/grace); asli (true/pure); adat (habit/ custom); ibadat (worship/ adoration); ilm (knowledge/learning); iman (faith/belief); usul (principle); qayamat (day of resurrection/ last day of judgment); karya (work/vocation); kismis (raisins); kursi (chair); khazana (treasury/trea­sure); khas (peculiar/special); and zahir (obvious/clear), among others.

On the same bookshelf is a copy of Don’t Be Sad, a book written by Saudi writer Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni. In it, he refers to a much earlier writer, Al Jahiz (776-868), who wrote: “The book is a companion that does not praise you and does not entice you to evil ... As long as you are remotely attached to a book, it suffices you from having to keep company with those who are idle.”

According to www.islamonline.net, Al Jahiz was a well-known Muslim scholar. He grew up in Basra, Iraq, and “attended its schools, studying under some of the most eminent scholars of Islam. One of the most important aspects about the period of Al Jahiz’s intellectual development and his life was that books were readily accessible. Though paper had been introduced into the Islamic world only shortly before Al Jahiz’s birth, it had, by the time he was in his 30s, virtually replaced parchment, and launched an intellectual revolution.”

Making comparisons of words and thoughts in different languages and religions also led me to read a little about Buddhist teachings. Buddhists believe in the eight worldly “dharmas”, which are made up of four ideas of opposites:

“... First, we like pleasure; we are attached to it. Conversely, we don’t like pain. Second, we like and are attached to praise. We try and avoid criticism and blame. Third, we like and are attached to fame. We dislike and try to avoid disgrace. Finally, we are attached to gain, to getting what we want. We don’t like losing what we have” (in When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron, 1997).

The three books mentioned above are obviously disparate from each other. Or are they? How is it that a Hindi dictionary contains words similar, if not the same, as those in the Arabic language? Why do the concepts of pleasure and pain, praise and criticism which are written by a Buddhist nun not sound alien to those of us who are not Buddhists?

Perhaps the answer lies in the nature of languages where words are absorbed from an older language into a newer one, or that the ones used in one religion can be understood by those of other religions.

In an age when headlines and sensationalism attract our attention, there is a need for us to understand some, if not all, of the different religions that exist. We should note the nuances and subtleties behind state­ments made by any one group of people.

We are living at a time when television can give us “live” news coverage via satellite. There is also the wide, unfettered realm of the Inter­net where we can remain anony­mous and write whatever we wish. ­

With such powerful media tools at our fingertips, we need to interact with each other with even more sensitivity than ever before. We must be more cautious in what we say, despite the temptation to say whatever we wish to and be considered daring or brave.

When the film The Da Vinci Code was shown in cinemas in 2006, Christian churches became the focus of international attention. The book on which the film was based questioned Jesus Christ’s life.

Both the book and the film caused much controversy. Anyone and everyone with keyboards and access to the Internet gave their opi­nions. Secular and religious figures as well as religious groups from all around the world had some­thing to say. Among the thousands of comments made, a statement by Mark Turn­bull, a BBC radio presenter, caught my eye: “I would like to suggest that our faith is far stronger than any blasphemy or work of fiction. The church has had more severe accusations leveled against her before and come through them.”

Thousands of miles away in India, Roman Catholics in Mumbai received Muslim support to protest the release of the film.

More recently here in Malaysia, a Muslim fatwa about yoga has received a lot of attention in the media. It should be noted that fatwa, or edicts, are made as a guide for Muslims only. Those practising other religions do not have to abide by or agree with them.

Indeed, those of us who are Muslims but are not scholars of Islamic religious laws have always had to depend upon the advice of our uztaz, uztazah and imam who serve our communities. We ask them for guidance when we are unsure about any facets of our daily lives. We accept the fact that religious scholars know more than us and are therefore in a position to guide us.

In addition, we always refer to the Holy Koran for guidance.

There is a Christian hymn which also speaks of guidance:

“Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us

O’er the world’s tempestuous sea;

Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,

For we have no help but Thee.”

— James Edmeston (1791-1867), England.

I remember this hymn because I attended a Church of England boarding school where we were required to go to church every Sunday. It was, for me, just a part of my weekly routine.

Recently, my family celebrated a birthday by sharing it with fellow Muslims at a nearby mosque. At home, a few friends came to celebrate with us. If there was a need to prove that race or religion did not matter, it was at that moment. We are Malays but our Chinese and Indian friends were there with us. It didn’t seem strange; after all, we live in the same city, go to the same restaurants and shop at the same supermarkets.

At a time when we are looking for answers, we really have to devote more time in seeking knowledge and to understand our fellow citizens better.

Battle for Mumbai ends, death toll rises to 195

MUMBAI: Commandos killed the last remaining gunman in the Taj Mahal Hotel here to end a devastating attack by Islamic militants on India’s financial capital that left 195 dead, including 26 foreigners.

Shortly after dawn on the third day of the siege, heavy gunfire and loud explosions signalled the final commando offensive against the militants, who had held hundreds of security personnel at bay for 60 hours.

”All operations are over. All the terrorists have been killed,” city police chief Hassan Gafoor said, as the special forces units emerged from the smoke-filled hotel and firemen moved in to douse a fierce blaze.

On Friday, elite troops had stormed a Mumbai Jewish centre and killed two gunmen – but also found six dead Israeli hostages, including a US-based rabbi and his wife, who were murdered as the commandos closed in.

Another luxury hotel which was attacked, the Oberoi Trident, was declared clear of militants late Friday, with scores of trapped guests rescued and 24 bodies found.

"They were the kind of people with no remorse – anybody and whomsoever came in front of them they fired at,” an Indian commando said of the young gunmen.

The head of the commando forces, J.K. Dutt, said his men were conducting a final sweep of the battle-scarred Taj.

”We are now going through each and every room to make sure it is safe,” he said, appealing to any guests still hidden in the hotel to make themselves known.