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Courier Mail: Spot o' tea healthy

Scientists now have proof that the several cups of tea keen tea drinkers have every day are doing some good, reports the November 14 Courier Mail. One study shows tea can help prevent harmful blood clots from forming, while in a second study, conducted by cardiologists at the School of Medicine, it helped open narrowed arteries in people suffering from heart disease. At the end of the eight-week MED trial, during which subjects drank four cups of tea a day, their arteries widened by 6 to 11 percent. "Drinking tea appears to have reversed the inability of the arteries to expand," says Joseph Vita, a MED associate professor and director of clinical research at Boston Medical Center. The studies used black tea.

Boston Herald: Taliban and al-Qaeda loyalists losing home field advantage

Any advantage Taliban and al-Qaeda loyalists had in fighting U.S. forces is slowly being buried with each flake of snow and drop in temperature, according to military experts. Winter has already arrived in northern Afghanistan, snow is covering the plateaus in the central region, and colder weather is due by the end of the month in the southern reaches near the Pakistan border, reports the November 20 Boston Herald. "I think the negative impact is entirely on the side of those who are fighting with the Taliban and al-Qaeda," says H. Joachim Maitre, a COM professor, director of the Center for Defense Journalism, and a military expert who has traveled in Afghanistan. "They are ill-prepared for a tough winter. The American military capability will not suffer at all."

Boston Globe: First clone made of human embryo criticized

Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester announced on November 25 that it had created the first clone of a human embryo in a process it hopes will lead to new treatments for debilitating diseases. While officials of the company say they oppose cloning entire human beings and use tough security measures to ensure their research is limited to what they call therapeutic cloning -- creating cells and tissues to replace damaged ones -- ethicists and policy-makers expressed outrage that the private-sector scientists have pressed ahead before the public debate on the ethics of cloning is concluded, says the November 26 Boston Globe. "Blowing ahead like this makes it more likely that similar research will be banned," says George Annas, an SPH professor of health law. "This is irresponsible. I'm not sure it should be outlawed, but there should be well-thought-out ethical guidelines and strong oversight. It's not good enough for researchers to promise they won't clone a human baby." Annas was also interviewed on the November 25 CBS Evening News, the CBS Morning News and National Public Radio's Morning Edition on November 26, and was a guest on The Connection November 26 on NPR.

30 November 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations