Day: August 12, 2024

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The New Zealand government said Tuesday that it would introduce new legislation to make it easier for companies and researchers to develop and commercialize products using gene technologies such as gene editing. 

Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins said in a statement that rules and time-consuming processes have made research outside the lab almost impossible. 

“These changes will bring New Zealand up to global best practice and ensure we can capitalize on the benefits,” she said. 

Current regulations mean that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) cannot be released out of containment without going through a complex and vigorous process and it is difficult to meet the set standard. Furthermore, gene editing is considered the same as genetic modification even when it doesn’t involve the introduction of foreign DNA. 

Under the new law, low-risk gene editing techniques that produce changes indistinguishable from conventional breeding will be exempted from regulation, local authorities will no longer be able to prevent the use of GMOs in their regions and there will be a new regulator of the industry. 

“This is a major milestone in modernizing gene technology laws to enable us to improve health outcomes, adapt to climate change, deliver massive economic gains and improve the lives of New Zealanders,” Collins said. 

The government hopes to have the legislation passed and the regulator in operation by the end of 2025.
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Harare — Zimbabwean authorities recently declared the end of a cholera outbreak which lasted nearly 18 months, but public health experts say the conditions which caused the waterborne disease still exist and need urgent attention.

After battling a cholera outbreak which began in February of last year, Zimbabwe gave the ‘all clear’ after saying no new cases were recorded in July. The last reported case was in June. During the outbreak, the country recorded 34,549 suspected cases and more than 700 deaths.  

Dr. Douglas Mombeshora is Zimbabwe’s health minister.

“What it means really is to say the interventions that we undertook as government have yielded [the] results that we wanted, that is to make sure that we suppress cholera. There are other issues that we have to continue working on. Because the bug is still in the community,” he said.

Itai Rusike, the executive director of Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, said while his organization welcomed the news of a cholera-free country, more work needs to be done.

“We had major concerns about the illness and the unnecessary loss of lives from avoidable and preventable deaths. … As a country that experienced the devastation of the 2008-2009 cholera outbreak, we seem not to have derived learning from that and subsequent ones. The cholera outbreaks of 2008-2009 were a marker of the need for investment in water and sanitation infrastructure,” said Rusike.

The government and World Health Organization say Zimbabwe had 98,592 cases and 4,288 deaths during the 2008-2009 outbreak.

Speaking to VOA, Dr. Desta Tiruneh, the World Health Organization representative for Zimbabwe, said eradication means the country can now concentrate on other health concerns.

But he hastened to add, “The underlying factors that contributed to the transmission of cholera are still prevailing. These include access to safe water supply, sanitation facilities and hygiene, plus some other misconceptions among the communities that also fuel transmission. Therefore, we have to focus our priorities in addressing these issues, like provision of water supply should be prioritized for those communities where there is high risk of cholera transmission. … In addition, the government should prioritize in focusing in these high-risk communities to make sure this outbreak does not happen in near future.”

Separately, Doctors Without Borders noted that while eradicating cholera is a big win for Zimbabwe, it “believes more can be done to prevent future outbreaks.” The doctors’ group said there was a need for balance between having timely access to cholera vaccines and ensuring Zimbabwe invests in its water sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in both urban and rural communities.

The group, known by its acronym MSF, is one of the humanitarian organizations that worked with Zimbabwe’s government and U.N. agencies to control the spread of cholera.

Driving around Harare, people were seen walking through heaps of uncollected, fly-infested garbage, while sewage flowed in the streets in some places due to burst sewer pipes in need of repair. In some areas, people have complained of going for days without safe water for household chores and drinking. 
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beijing — Engineers sent China’s biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100-km route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country’s expanding low-altitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine aircraft took off on Sunday on an inaugural flight, state media said, citing developer Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co., for a trip of about 20 minutes in southwestern Sichuan province.

China’s civilian drone makers are testing larger payloads as the government pushes to build a low-altitude economy, with the country’s aviation regulator envisioning a $279-billion industry by 2030, for a four-fold expansion from 2023.

The Tengden-built drone, with a wingspan of 16.1 meters and a height of 4.6 meters, is slightly larger than the world’s most popular light aircraft, the four-seat Cessna 172.

The trial run followed the maiden flight in June of a cargo drone developed by state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), the leading aerospace enterprise.

The AVIC’s HH-100 has a payload capacity of 700 kilograms and a flight radius of 520 km. Next year, AVIC plans to test its biggest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2 tons of cargo and fly four times farther than the HH-100.

China has already begun commercial deliveries by drone.

In May, cargo drone firm Phoenix Wings, part of delivery giant SF Express, started delivering fresh fruit from the island province of Hainan to southern Guangdong, using Fengzhou-90 drones developed by SF, a unit of S.F. Holding 002352.SZ.

Cargo drones promise shorter delivery times and lower transport costs, Chinese industry insiders say, while widening deliveries to sites lacking conventional aviation facilities, such as rooftop spaces in heavily built-up cities.

They could also ferry people on taxi services.
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