Uncertainty is the Strength of Occupy Wall Street

Now seems as good a time as any to start reading The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He writes in a passage on negative empiricism that "you know what is wrong with a lot more confidence than you know what is right." This statement resonates with me as the ethical backbone of the "occupation" style protests that have swept the world this year.

What do they want? is the common refrain in the media. It's OK that nobody knows yet. In fact, it would be sheer arrogance to assume that a small cadre has all the answers. The point is that when even in rich societies like the United States tens of millions of people are living in poverty, new processes are needed for people to debate the actions, rules, and directions of our societies.

The protesters in lower Manhattan have opted for a process of collaborative consensus. We shouldn't expect them all to be policy wonks (though even a Nobel laureate economist has stopped by). They are instead what Paul Hawken calls our social immune system. Here is their first statement:

STATEMENT OF THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers' healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people's lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

[PHOTO CREDIT: David Shankbone (CC).]

Japan using gas to avoid explosion at nuclear plant

TOKYO - WORKERS at Japan's stricken nuclear plant on Thursday pumped nitrogen gas into a crippled reactor in a bid to contain the world's worst atomic accident for 25 years and prevent a possible explosion.

With the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant approaching its fourth week, operator Tokyo Electric Power said it was concerned a build-up of hydrogen gas at the No. 1 reactor could cause another explosion at the site.

The fresh challenge underscored the fragility of the situation at the stricken plant, after rare progress was seen on Wednesday when workers plugged a hole spewing highly radioactive water into the ocean. Tepco officials say hydrogen building up in the housing around reactor No. 1 could mix with incoming oxygen, creating an explosion.

Experts say the risk of a detonation could rise as the nuclear fuel rods cool and as the steam inside the containment vessel condenses into water, reducing pressure inside the unit and drawing air in through cracks.

The move came as an assessment by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission dated March 26 emerged, citing persistent and growing threats at the plant, including the risk of gas build up and explosions. 

Workers began pumping in nitrogen, an inert gas abundant in the atmosphere, which they hope will displace the oxygen. The process to inject 6,000 cubic metres will take around six days, Tepco said.

Since the pressure level went up, they confirmed that the gas was successfully going into the container,' said a spokesman with Japan's nuclear safety agency. Tepco said it was also planning to inject nitrogen gas into reactors number 2 and 3 as a protective measure. 

-- AFP

Disasters put stress on children in Japan

Twenty-two-year-old mother Yoko Kamata sits with her baby Yuzuyu (left) and son Seiga (right) at a shelter in Kamaishi city in Iwate prefecture. -- PHOTO: AFP

KARAKUWA (Japan) - ZOOM in for a snapshot of apparent normalcy: children sitting in a circle, clasping playing cards tightly in their hands. They laugh, chat and occasionally hop up to break into a goofy dance.

Zoom out and the picture changes: The children are kneeling on mattresses in a chilly classroom they now call home. An elderly woman cries nearby, wondering whether her mother was killed by Japan's tsunami. Outside the school, a teacher fiddles with a radiation detector, checking to ensure the levels aren't high enough to make them sick - or worse.

Behind the smiling faces of thousands of children in shelters across this wave-battered wasteland, experts say there is often serious anxiety as everything these youngsters once held as normal is suddenly anything but.

'That's what is so wonderfully adaptive about children. They can move very easily into playing or laughing,' says psychologist Susie Burke, a disaster response specialist with the Australian Psychological Society. 'But that's not saying they're not deeply distressed and upset about what's going on.'

Reminders of the tiniest victims are scattered throughout the wreckage: a little girl's white shoe caked in mud, a red rubber ball coated in dust, a sodden comic book whose ink has run.

As many as 25,000 people may have been killed in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's north-east coast and damaged a nuclear plant, sending radiation spewing into the environment. Tens of thousands are still living in shelters. -- AP

US rules China dumps aluminium products

WASHINGTON - THE US Commerce Department said on Tuesday that it had found 29 Chinese companies guilty of dumping some US$500 million (S$630.5 million) worth of extruded aluminium products into the US market last year.

A department investigation concluded that the products, used in construction, vehicle parts, furniture and other goods, were being exported to the United States at roughly 33 per cent less than their fair value.

If the conclusion is upheld by the US International Trade Commission, the companies' products could be slapped with anti-dumping tariffs at that rate.

'Commerce determined that Chinese producers/exporters have sold aluminium extrusions in the United States at dumping margins ranging between 32.79 to 33.28 per cent,' the department said in a statement.

Several companies were also determined to have received significant subsidies that also merit penalty tariffs.

In 2009, China exported US$514 million worth of extruded aluminium products to the United States, falling slightly to US$503 million last year. -- AFP

Japan nuclear plant workers pushed to limit

People work in the control room of reactor No. 2 with restored lighting at the earthquake and tsunami affected Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

OSAKA - WORN-OUT workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being pushed to the limit as high radiation levels endanger their lives and prolong their grim residency at the tsunami-ravaged facility.

After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant, workers have toiled in toxic, dark environments laying electric cables, clearing rubble, hosing down overheating reactors and checking equipment.

Frequently spiking radiation levels have forced them to retreat from certain areas and extending their stay at the crippled plant central to Japan's worst ever nuclear accident.

Clad in protective suits, double-thickness gloves and masks and armed with flashlights, workers on shift rotations return from hours of hazardous toil to nap on floors or in corridors before returning to the grim darkness.

Huddling at the plant's 'quake-resistant' tower, resting workers lie on lead matting to prevent exposure to radiation which can rise up to 10 micro-sieverts an hour in that part of the complex.

'Workers sleep in conference rooms, hallways or near bathrooms. Each person is given one blanket, everyone sleeps on the floor in rows,' said Kazuma Yokota, a nuclear safety agency inspector stationed at the plant. 'We want to avoid staying too long as much as we can, because we are exposed to radiation every day. I've been exposed to 883 micro-sieverts in the past five days,' the exhausted-looking 39-year-old confided to broadcaster NHK. -- AFP

Thais to destroy potatoes with traces of radiation

The Thai Food and Drug Administration says the sweet potatoes had radiation levels well below the that which the World Health Organization considers hazardous. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

BANGKOK - THAI authorities say they will destroy a shipment of sweet potatoes from Japan because they were found to have traces of radiation.

The Thai Food and Drug Administration says the sweet potatoes had radiation levels well below the that which the World Health Organization considers hazardous.

The tubers were found to have Iodine-131 levels of 15.25 Becquerel per kilogram. The hazardous threshold is 100 Becquerel per kilogram.

The agency said on Tuesday the shipment would be destroyed as a precaution.

Naturally occurring radiation can be found in almost everything in the world and the agency didn't say what normal levels of radiation in sweet potatoes would be nor whether any random tuber tested in Bangkok might have similar traces of radiation. -- AP

Anti-nuclear protesters march in Indian capital

Indian protesters belonging to the Anti-Nuclear Struggles Solidarity Forum hold placards and chant slogans during anti-nuclear protest, in New Delhi. -- PHOTO: AP

NEW DELHI - ABOUT 100 protesters marched to India's Parliament on Friday demanding that the government give up plans to build a large number of nuclear power plants because of safety issues underscored by Japan's nuclear crisis.

'The choice is clear - no nuclear,' chanted the protesters from the Anti-Nuclear Struggles Solidarity Forum, a coalition of more than a dozen groups.

They said radiation leaks at a Japanese nuclear complex hit by an earthquake and tsunami showed it was a dangerous form of energy generation.

The protest ended peacefully after the group marched through parts of the capital.

For decades India was forced into nuclear isolation as it pursued nuclear weapons as part of an arms race with neighbouring Pakistan.

India still refuses to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, but the United States passed legislation in 2008 ending a ban on civilian nuclear trade with India. Since then, several foreign governments have been courting India to get a piece of its lucrative nuclear energy market. -- AP

Fukushima seawater may affect reactor cooling: France

PARIS - EMERGENCY use of seawater at Fukushima could harm longer-term efforts to cool the plant's crippled reactors, France's nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.

The agency said it was 'concerned' that salt from seawater used extensively to cool the reactor cores could be corrosive or build up in crystalline layers inside heat exchangers and valves, hampering their efficiency.

This equipment will be needed when pumping power is restored at the plant and coolant is recirculated as normal, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said.

'The impacts from the presence of salt in the water could affect the cooling of the fuel within a very short time,' the IRSN said. 'The general recommendation is to rebuild stocks of freshwater on site.'

Engineers resorted to the desperate step of injecting seawater into three reactors to cover fuel rods that dangerously overheat if exposed to air. Pumping capacity at the plant was knocked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck north-eastern Honshu.

Separately, the IRSN published data about radioactivity contamination found in spinach and leeks in Tochigi, Ibaragi and Gunma prefectures. The figures - which the agency said it had received indirectly - showed that on March 19, iodine 131 contamination was highest in spinach from Ibaragi, at up to 11,000 Becquerels per kilo. This compares with Japan's maximum permitted limit for selling or eating food of 2,000 Bq/kilo. -- AFP

Hong Kong bans Japanese dairy, vegetable imports

Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene department said on Wednesday that three samples of vegetables showed radiation contamination, while broadcaster RTHK reported that the readings were as much as 10 times above safe levels. -- PHOTO: AP

HONG KONG - HONG Kong said on Wednesday it is slapping a ban on a wide variety of Japanese food imports after radiation contamination was found in vegetables shipped from the quake-stricken country.

Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene department said on Wednesday that three samples of vegetables showed radiation contamination, while broadcaster RTHK reported that the readings were as much as 10 times above safe levels.

'Three samples of vegetables were found to have been contaminated,' a department spokesman said without elaborating.

The Hong Kong ban applies to dairy products, fruit and vegetables from five prefectures near the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was hit by a powerful quake and tsunami on March 11, followed by a series of explosions and fires.

The Chinese territory is the first Asian government to impose such a ban, after the United States blocked imports of dairy and other produce from areas near Fukushima.

France has urged the European Union to impose 'systematic controls' on Japanese food imports, while South Korean officials said they're considering banning food shipments from areas near the quake-damaged plant. -- AFP

Dutch woman, 63, gives birth: New country record

THE HAGUE - A 63-YEAR-OLD Dutch woman gave birth to a daughter on Monday, becoming the oldest-ever new mother in the Netherlands, the hospital and news reports said.

'Baby Meagan was born at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden at 9.48am (0848 GMT, 4.48pm Singapore time) on March 21,' said a statement on the website of the hospital in the northern Dutch province of Friesland.

'Meagan is the daughter of Tineke Geessink, a 63-year-old woman from Harlingen.' The girl was born with the aid of Caesarian section, said the statement, adding: 'Both mother and daughter are fine'.

Dutch media reports said Ms Geessink was the oldest-ever Dutch woman to become a mother. 'It is a feeling that I have had for so long', to have a child, the woman told Dutch public radio, NOS.

'At some point there was something inside me saying: 'It is now or never', and I decided to try everything possible to see if it is still possible.' The NOS said the woman got pregnant through a foreign sperm donor as Dutch fertility doctors would not help her due to her age.

'There is no guarantee that if you have a child at a young age you will see your child grow up,' Ms Geessink, a single mother, told the radio. 'Of course, the risk with me is bigger. And whether the child will find it nice to have such an old mother ... I hope that she loves me so much that she will just be glad to have me.' -- AFP

Would You Stay in Libya as a Nurse for More Pay?

The Philippines is widely recognized as one of the world's top labour exporters. Although its Department of Foreign Affairs began evacuations from Libya shortly after the troubles began like many other countries, it appears that one of its main exports have chosen to stay. Among others, Filipino medical professionals--doctors, dentists, and nurses--have been in great demand abroad as evidenced by their sheer numerical strength.

The situation is no different in the Middle East. With their ability to adapt to local cultures, Filipino nurses--particularly those of Muslim faith--have been practising in these countries. Loath to let them go, it turns out the Libyan government has promised increased pay in exchange for Filipino nurses not leaving the country immediately. While the risk-reward ratio of such an action is debatable, these nurses are hedging on medical facilities not being targets for the pro-Gadhafi forces, the rebels, or the Western no-fly zone enforcers. Risky? Yes, but I hope their safety is indeed what they believe it is. From the Philippines' Daily Tribune:

At least 2,300 Filipino nurses have refused to be evacuated even after the United Nations approved military strikes against Libya. Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the nurses, 2,000 of whom are based in capital Tripoli and 383 in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, opted to stay following request from the Libyan government, which promised to increase their pay significantly if they remain.

“We have not received any request to come and provide transport so they can leave Tripoli,” Del Rosario said. “They feel safe being in a hospital and there’s nothing safer than being in a hospital.” But if the situation worsens, he said the government can arrange another ship to pick them up. The government has ended its evacuation in Libya and has moved to safety some 13,000 Filipinos.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya said the Filipino nurses chose to stay “in order to fulfill their professional obligation and attend to the needs of the sick and wounded...The safest places for them are the hospitals were they work. Hospitals are considered protected areas under international humanitarian law,” he added.

Matters are complicated by Manila throwing its backing to UN Resolution 1973:

Manila has expressed support to the UN resolution in Libya. Malaya said the Philippines “abides by the decision of the UN security council in imposing a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace as a member of the UN and a signatory of the UN charter. “This UN action is a humanitarian measure which is meant to safeguard the civilian population in Benghazi and other contested areas of said country,” he said.

Recent developments, he added, “will not likely adversely affect Filipinos, as the bulk of our nationals already exited Libya.” The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli will remain open to serve the needs and oversee the safety of the remaining Filipinos there, he said. “Ambassador Alejandrino Vicente and the embassy staff in Tripoli will remain to take care of the country’s interests and ensure the safety of Filipinos who chose to remain for personal reasons,” Malaya said.

And speaking of which, the Philippine government is on the hook for its citizens in several other Middle East destinations where ongoing protests may yet put them in harm's way. Take Syria and Bahrain:

In Syria, Philippine officials there are ready to activate the country’s contingency measures once the political strife worsens. A stock estimate from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas showed 19,423 Filipino workers in Syria. Syrians also took the same path as their neighbors by staging similar loud protests against their authoritarian government, hoping it would result in having their political freedom restored.

“The Philippine Embassy in Syria is closely monitoring developments in certain parts of the country,” Malaya said, adding that the 1,050-strong Filipino peacekeepers stationed in Golan Heights who were deployed to the country as part of a UN peacekeeping contingent can be mobilized to evacuate the thousands of Filipinos if needed.

Meanwhile, Bahrain Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa has assured the Philippine government that all Filipinos will be provided protection amid the growing unrest in the Middle East state. Khalifa on Saturday personally relayed this message to Del Rosario, who is currently on five-day Middle East swing to check on the condition of Filipino workers trapped in the spreading conflict across the region.

I suppose this is one of the unspoken responsibilities of mass migration in the 21st century. For, we have an international system where (economic) migrants are ultimately no one's responsibility except for the home country.Given that the Philippines does promote such migration, it's only fair. Then again, there will always be those who are more adventurous--alike the Filipino nurses in Libya.

Contamination at Fukushima plant to last 'decades'

PARIS - LOCAL contamination from Japan's quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant will be a problem that will last 'for decades and decades,' France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said on Monday.

Releases of radioactivity from the plant 'are now significant and continuing,' the head of the agency, Andre-Claude Lacoste, told a press conference.

'We have to assume that Japan will have a long-term issue of managing the impacts,' he said. 'It's a problem that Japan will have to deal with for decades and decades to come.' The releases stem in part from deliberate venting of steam and gas, which also contain radioactive particles, to ease pressure in overheating reactor vessels, he said. Another source is 'leaks' of as-yet unknown origin, he said.

'Ground deposits of radioactive particles (around the plant) are significant,' said Jean-Luc Godet, in charge of ionising radiation management at the ASN.

'The Japanese authorities have not drawn up, or communicated, a map of these deposits, and it is not vain thinking to believe that this (contaminated) zone extends beyond 20 kilometres,' he said, referring to the 12-mile zone within which local inhabitants have been evacuated.

On Sunday, the Japanese government said it had detected 'abnormal levels' of radiation in milk and spinach taken from areas near Fukushima, but this did not pose any threat to health. -- AFP

Australia not reconsidering sale of uranium

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

SYDNEY - MAJOR producer Australia is not reconsidering its sales of uranium following the nuclear crisis in Japan, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday.

Although Australia uses no nuclear power, it is the world's third-ranking uranium producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada, exporting some 9,600 tonnes of oxide concentrate annually worth over A$1.1 billion (S$1.39 billion).

It also holds the world's largest uranium reserves, with 23 per cent of the total, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Perception of the nuclear industry has been seriously hurt since the Fukushima No. 1 plant in Japan was crippled eight days ago by a massive earthquake and tsunami. But Ms Gillard said it would not affect Australian uranium sales.

'What is happening in Japan doesn't have any impact on my thinking about uranium exports,' she told Sky News. 'We do export uranium and we will continue to export uranium. Countries around the world will make their own choices about how they source their energy.'

Japan is an important customer of Australia, as is China, which last week ordered safety inspections of its nuclear plants and suspended approval of new projects. -- AFP

Six workers exposed to high radiation at Japan plant

OSAKA - SIX workers at a quake-stricken nuclear power plant have been exposed to high levels of radiation but are continuing working there, its operator said on Sunday.

They have been exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation, an official at the Tokyo Electric Power Co said, adding he had no information on what tasks they were assigned to.

'There has been no adverse effect on their health,' Takeo Iwamoto said. It was not immediately known if they had been reassigned to different tasks.

The government set 100 millisieverts as a limit for work in an emergency operation at a nuclear power plant in Japan. But the threshold has been raised to 250 for the on-going crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

The limit for work in a normal situation at a nuclear power plant is 50 millisieverts.

A 9.0-magnitude quake on March 11, followed by aftershocks and colossal tsunami waves, damaged the cooling systems of the plant, some 250km north-east of Tokyo, leaving it on the brink of a meltdown. -- AFP

Thailand to give iodine pills to Japan-bound flyers

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S public health ministry said on Wednesday that it would hand out free iodine tablets to passengers at airports where jets are departing for disaster-stricken Japan.

Fears about harmful nuclear contamination are growing after a series of explosions, fires and radiation leaks at a nuclear facility on Japan's north-eastern coast, following Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.

'I have already ordered the government pharmaceutical organisation to produce back-up iodine tablets for special purposes,' said a ministry statement.

'Initially, we will produce 15,000 tablets to distribute for free at the airports which have flights from Thailand to Japan, such as Suvarnabhumi airport (in Bangkok) and Phuket airport, starting tomorrow,' it said.

'But we will screen and give only to passengers who are travelling to the risk area in northern Japan.' The ministry warned against all but necessary travel to the area, also saying it would offer advice and screenings to those returning to Thailand from Japan. -- AFP

Foreigners, wary of nuclear risk, flee Tokyo

As Japan confronts a post-quake nuclear emergency, foreigners have begun a slow exodus from Tokyo, though some are maintaining a stiff upper lip. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

TOKYO - FEARING the possible risk of contamination as Japan confronts a post-quake nuclear emergency, foreigners have begun a slow exodus from Tokyo, though some are maintaining a stiff upper lip.

Several European nations have advised their citizens to consider leaving the Japanese capital following two blasts at a quake-damaged atomic power plant 250km to the north, sparking fears of a possible meltdown.

France went further, telling citizens to leave the Tokyo area 'for a few days' if they had no specific reason to stay and warning that if a reactor were to explode, radioactive steam could reach the city in a 'matter of hours'.

'A third of our staff has left,' Stefan Huber, the Austrian deputy head of the European Union delegation in Japan, told AFP.

He added that executives at several German companies such as Bosch, Daimler and BMW, as well as law offices, had evacuated their spouses and children, noting that in Tokyo's German community 'it's a veritable exodus'.

Marissa, a dual Australian-Italian national who has lived in Tokyo for the past six years with her husband and two young children, decided Sunday that she was not taking any more chances and the family flew to Hong Kong.

'We just thought it was probably better to leave at this point in time... I don't know about this nuclear issue, they don't seem to have quite got it under control yet,' she told AFP, asking to be identified only by her first name. -- AFP

Japan halts vaccines after deaths of 4 children

Japan has stopped using vaccines from Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis after four children died after inoculations. -- ST FILE PHOTO: BRYAN VAN DER BEEK

TOKYO - JAPAN has temporarily stopped using vaccines from US drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Sanofi-Aventis SA of France while it investigates the deaths of four children who were inoculated, the health ministry said on Monday.

The decision to halt the vaccines against pneumonia, some types of meningitis and other infections was made on Saturday. The government is hearing from experts at a meeting on Tuesday, the health ministry said.

The four children, from under six months to 2 years old, died between March 2 and March 4. The deaths occurred the same day to three days after the vaccines were administered, the ministry said.

The vaccination began in Japan about a year to two years ago. The vaccines have been administered to 1 million to 1.5 million children, according to the ministry.

Pfizer in Japan said the company was cooperating with the investigation on the Prevenar vaccine. The US has been using Prevenar for about 10 years, the company said.

Sanofi-Aventis in Japan said its ActHIB vaccine was approved in France in 1992, and a year later in the US. -- AP

Drops Not Drones, Vaccines Not Marines

You are likely to be judged by the company you keep. In Osama bin Laden's case, the isolated mountains of tribal Afghanistan and Pakistan provide a perfect safe haven for him and for polio. Thirty years of conflict and low economic development have resulted in security and health infrastructure that is inadequate for deploying an effective regional eradication program. Thus the Af-Pak borderlands remain one of only a handful of places (including India and Nigeria) where polio is endemic, though flare-ups also occur across Africa and Central Asia due to importation.

As the Afghan war moves into its tenth year and intensifies to ten airstrikes per day, the time is beyond ripe to question whether we're packing the right payload. The United States spends more than $100 billion per year executing the war in Afghanistan, while Afghan GDP is around $15 billion. Clearly this is unsustainable.

Compare this to the figures required for global health and development. Bill Gates said recently that $2 billion is needed for polio eradication over the next two years, while the campaign is currently experiencing a $700 million shortfall. In a speech at the former Roosevelt home in New York, Gates delivered his annual foundation letter in which he outlines his strategy for charitable giving. Polio eradication is the key focus this year, and his rationale centers on four points:

1. We are close to eradication: There are only about 1,000 cases left per year globally;
2. Eradication will permanently free up resources for other vaccination and health campaigns;
3. The affected regions will benefit in terms of economic productivity; and
4. Eradication will provide a motivational victory for the health industry, driving further hope and investment.

As polio is just one affliction of poverty among many, it's important to consider the opportunity costs. Critics such as D. A. Henderson, the leader of the team who eradicated smallpox, feel that dumping billions into polio eradication is a misallocation of funds. Polio is difficult to kill because of a number of combined factors: the variety of strains, asymptomatic carriers, a vaccine that is not 100 percent effective, parental refusal, a lack of infrastructure, and management problems in organizing all the national campaigns. It is very much a door-to-door endeavor, but so was smallpox eradication.

THE GATEWAY IMMUNIZATION

A point in favor of financing polio eradication is that the vaccine can be viewed as a gateway process leading to routine immunization services for more common diseases. One-fifth of children today don't have such access. Beyond the obvious health consequences, lack of access also presents an organizational problem in the fight against polio because it leads to underreporting and thus keeps the virus elusive.

There is also the issue of innovative and appropriate technologies: Something as simple as camel-portable refrigerators could go a long way toward keeping vaccine doses fresh. If the U.S. military is deploying innovative solar modules to replace the generators that power air conditioning at its forward operating bases in Afghanistan, then clearly some of these technologies can be repurposed for more benign operations.

THE MORAL DIMENSION

At the Bill Gates event, David Oshinsky, author of Polio: An American Story, said we need to motivate a new March of Dollars to "get kids interested in the moral dimension" of helping other kids around the world. The original March of Dimes organized by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was able to finance research for the polio vaccine through a flood of small private contributions.

But it was much easier to motivate Americans to donate when their classmates were leaving behind empty school desks. Gates attributes the moral gap today to this physical proximity problem. Even with his computer software stitching the world together, polio mostly kills and maims people outside the eye of the rich world's collective consciousness. Few things illuminate the power and puzzle of globalization more than the world's richest man reaching out to help some of the poorest. His ethical sense drives him to do it.

COALITION OF THE HEALING

Gates has collected allies along the way. The British government has pledged to double its funding to $60 million from $30 million as a matching grant conditional on contributions from other donor governments. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi recently contributed $50 million, and the government of Pakistan announced an emergency response to the increase of cases in its territory.

So whose side are we on? In one corner we have Robert Gates and the U.S. Department of Defense dropping bombs from drones. In the other corner we have Bill Gates asking the world to spend more to save the most vulnerable. Send in the vaccines, or send in the Marines. It's a pretty stark simple choice.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Gates Foundation (CC).]

Scientists warn of water woes

OTTAWA - DEMAND for water in agriculture and energy production could spike in the coming decades while catastrophic floods and droughts strike more often, a water conference in Canada is to hear this week.

'At unpredictable times, too much water will arrive in some places and too little in others,' said Zafar Adeel, chair of UN Water which coordinates water-related efforts of 28 United Nations organisations and agencies.

Within a generation, water demand in many countries is forecast to exceed supply by an estimated 40 per cent. In other parts of the world prone to flooding, catastrophic floods normally expected once a century could occur every 20 years instead.

Meanwhile, spending on technologies and services to discover, manage, filter, disinfect and desalinate water, improve infrastructure and distribution, mitigate flood damage and reduce water consumption by households, industry and agriculture is expected to rise to a trillion dollars annually by 2020.

Some 300 scientists, policy-makers and economists will release these and other research findings as well as proven new tools, ideas and best practices for optimising water management at a Canadian Water Network international conference in Ottawa.

The event kicks off on February 28 and runs through March 3. Conference speaker Hans Schreier of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver will present research buttressing the need for flood-prone areas to brace for more frequent disasters. -- AFP

13 million abortions a year in China

Couples in a Beijing hospital waiting outside an operating theatre where abortions are performed. In the past, older married women were the ones going for abortion. Now, it is young, unmarried women who are resorting to abortion. -- PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN

BEIJING - THE first time Ms Jenny Zhou had an abortion, she was only 20 and she remembered crying the whole time.

Her boyfriend did not accompany her. He was in the university dormitory, playing video games instead. They broke up eventually.

The second time Ms Zhou went for an abortion was in 2007. She was accompanied by her fiance, whom she married last year.

'Four years ago, he felt we could not afford to have a baby until we bought a big flat and a nice car,' said Ms Zhou, 28, now an IT manager in Beijing.

'I didn't mind. Abortion now is painless anyway - I was under anaesthetic. It's so easy, no wonder it's popular nowadays.'

Young women like Ms Zhou form the main group driving China's abortions, which number about 13 million annually or nearly a quarter of the world's total. Abortions in China peaked in the 1990s, with official figures saying 14 million were performed.