absolute rubbish prove it

Whale 'missing link' discovered

By Helen Briggs Science reporter, BBC News

The animal was small, stocky and about the size of a raccoon

The whale is descended from a deer-like animal that lived 48 million years ago, according to fossil evidence.

Remains found in the Kashmir region of India suggest the fox-sized mammal is the long-sought land-based ancestor of whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Research in Nature indicates the animal lived mainly on land but dived into water to escape predators.

Whales are known to be descended from land-dwellers but the "missing link" has been a mystery until now.

Although Indohyus, as it is known, looks nothing like the whales of today, it shares certain anatomical features.

We've found the closest extinct relative to whales and it is closer than any living relative Professor Hans Thewissen

The structures of its skull and ear are similar to those of early whales, and like other animals that spend a lot of time in water, it had thickened bones that provided ballast to keep its feet anchored in shallow water.

"We've found the closest extinct relative to whales and it is closer than any living relative," said study leader Professor Hans Thewissen of the Department of Anatomy at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Ohio, US.

Hippo link

Indohyus belongs to an ancient order of mammals that had two or four toes on each foot. Modern day representatives of the group include camels, pigs, and hippopotamuses.

Hans Thewissen holding the skull of Indohyus

DNA studies show that hippos are in fact closely related to modern whales. They do not appear in the fossil record, however, until about 15 million years ago, some 35 million years after the cetaceans originated in south Asia.

This led Professor Thewissen and his team to search for an older land-based ancestor that would fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of the whale's dramatic evolutionary journey from land to sea.

After seeing loose teeth and fragments of jaw bones found by the late Indian geologist A Ranga Rao some 25 years ago, Professor Thewissen obtained rock samples from Rao's private collection. They harboured a treasure trove of complete Indohyus fossils, including skulls and leg bones.

Dietary clues

The stable-oxygen-isotope composition of its teeth suggests the animal spent much of its time in water.

Some have assumed that the ancestor of whales first took to the water to feed on fish but the latest evidence suggests otherwise.

"The new model is that initially they were small deer-like animals that took to the water to avoid predators," Professor Thewissen told BBC News. "Then they started living in water, and then they switched their diet to become carnivores."

Although the behaviour and habits of Indohyus appear somewhat strange, there is a modern day parallel in the African mousedeer (chevrotain).

The mousedeer lives on land, but is known to leap into the water to avoid predators such as eagles.

what is clean

Chick found during maggot inquiry

NHS Grampian said about 25 maggots were found by cleaners

Specialists probing an outbreak of maggots at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital believe the carcass of a chick could be to blame.

The discovery of the maggots caused the closure of three operating theatres, and postponements of procedures.

NHS Grampian said about 25 maggots were found by cleaners on the floor.

What is believed to be the carcass of a chick was found in pipes above two theatres and has since been removed. No further infestation has been found.

NHS Grampian said generally high levels of hygiene had been found and the roof space was clean and in good order.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said she had been "very disturbed" after first reports of the incident.

I.Q. que

High IQ link to being vegetarian

Vegetarianism has been linked to better heart health

Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says.

A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10.

Researchers said it could explain why people with higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates.

The study of 8,179 was reported in the British Medical Journal.

Twenty years after the IQ tests were carried out in 1970, 366 of the participants said they were vegetarian - although more than 100 reported eating either fish or chicken.

Men who were vegetarian had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians.

We've always known that vegetarianism is an intelligent, compassionate choice benefiting animals, people and the environment Liz O'Neill, of The Vegetarian Society

There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarian but who reported eating fish or chicken.

Researchers said the findings were partly related to better education and higher occupational social class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors.

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher occupational social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians.

However, these differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians.

Lead researcher Catharine Gale said: "The finding that children with greater intelligence are more likely to report being vegetarian as adults, together with the evidence on the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet on heart health, may help to explain why higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life."

Intelligence

However, she added the link may be merely an example of many other lifestyle preferences that might be expected to vary with intelligence, such as choice of newspaper, but which may or may not have implications for health.

Liz O'Neill, of the Vegetarian Society, said: "We've always known that vegetarianism is an intelligent, compassionate choice benefiting animals, people and the environment.

"Now we've got the scientific evidence to prove it. Maybe that explains why many meat-reducers are keen to call themselves vegetarians when even they must know that vegetarians don't eat chicken, turkey or fish."

But Dr Frankie Phillips, of the British Dietetic Association, said: "It is like the chicken and the egg. Do people become vegetarian because they have a very high IQ or is it just that they tend to be more aware of health issues?"

The NHS needs help

NHS faces 'folly' of short-sighted cuts

VIEWPOINT Dr Alan Maryon-Davis President, UK Faculty of Public Health

Services - including those helping people stop smoking - could be cut

The NHS is facing "seven years of famine" because of the economic downturn, whoever wins the next election.

Preventive healthcare is liable to see serious budget cuts - but public health expert Dr Alan Maryon-Davis says in this week's Scrubbing Up health column that this would be "short-sighted folly".

After a decade of record investment, with a tripling of its budget since 1997, the health service is facing "seven years of famine" from April 2011 as the Treasury claws back money to help rebuild the reserves it spent on bailing out the banks.

Even now, with 15 months of the good times still to go, the planners are looking to see where they can make so-called 'efficiency savings' - cuts to you and me.

The NHS is facing a new ice age

My worry is that, if history is anything to go by, the first things for the chop will be preventive programmes such as stop smoking services, healthy eating initiatives, physical activity promotion, alcohol education projects, mental health work and safe sex drives.

These are all 'soft targets' for the axe-swingers.

The benefits are in the future and there aren't any immediate shrouds to wave.

History lesson

The last time there was a raid on NHS budgets in 2006-07, the millions allocated to a national health improvement strategy called Choosing Health were quietly snaffled to prop up the massive overspend on hospital services and medication.

Suddenly, the much-vaunted Choosing Health strategy, with its high hopes of a healthier nation, was dead in the water.

But that financial crisis was a mere hiccup compared to the year-on-year hard times just over the horizon.

This time the 'efficiencies' will be deeper and longer-lasting. The NHS is facing a new ice age.

Only a paltry 1% or so of the NHS budget is currently spent on promoting health - a proportion that has hardly changed in 20 years

My plea to the army of health service planners and commissioners is simple; hands off prevention. Find your savings elsewhere.

Precious NHS money is still being wasted.

Too many cases are being inappropriately treated in hospital. Too many people are using A&E instead of a GP. Too many are being sent for unnecessary tests. Too many are prescribed high cost drugs when cheaper ones would do.

We need to spend more money on prevention, not less.

'Adding to the burden'

It is sheer short-sighted folly to cut back the very programmes that can help prevent the chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, cancers, chronic lung disease and mental illness, that are crippling the health service.

Our ageing population with its greater health needs, the spiralling cost of high-tech hospital diagnosis and treatment, expensive new drugs and long-term care are all adding to the burden the NHS has to bear.

By promoting health and wellbeing, and preventing disease, we can help people stay younger longer, in better physical and mental shape and less dependent on drugs and expensive treatments.

In short, we should be aiming to add life to years rather than simply adding years to life.

Absolutely preventative health is way to go. Read your comments

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness (NICE) has repeatedly shown how cost-effective low-tech preventive programmes such as stopping smoking and promoting exercise can be compared to long-term medication and high-tech diagnosis and treatment.

Only a paltry 1% or so of the NHS budget is currently spent on promoting health - a proportion that has hardly changed in 20 years.

True, rather more is spent on clinical preventive services such as antenatal care, newborn screening, childhood immunisation, cancer checks, contraception, eye tests, oral health and check-ups in general practice.

Lip service

But even so, the whole prevention slice is tiny compared to the money spent on trying to patch people up after they have already fallen ill.

This is simply unsustainable. We need to move from a 'national illness service' to much more of a 'national health service'.

Politicians of all hues pay lip-service to this mantra. But there's real danger that such good intentions will be steamrollered thinner than an NHS finance director's smile by the impending cuts.

The recession has meant that many people are finding it harder to lead healthy lives and need all the support they can get. Health inequalities continue to widen. Prescriptions for depression are soaring.

We need not only to protect the health promotion and disease prevention services we've got, but actually invest more in them.

And we need to start doing that right now

cnd /union war

Sorry, your entry can't be deleted right now. Please try again later.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament - Trade Unions

to CND, I am researching certain instances, I wonder wether you could
indicate wether Mr. Toy Blair was a member of your organisation , also
wether he still is, and does your organisation have any comment on the
actions of him as one of your members, this would be appreciated so I can
assess the material I am writing for it's correctness.
Richard Thurgood/richimag

CND reply /thank you for your e-mail. I'm afraid that such information comes under
the remit of the Data Protection Act - we cannot disclose details
regarding members.
Sorry we could not be of more assistance with this enquiry - please feel
free to let us know if you have any other questions we can help with.

Trade Unions

Trade unions are vital to CND's campaign against the replacement of Trident and our long standing commitment to achieving the global abolition of nuclear weapons.

Today CND has national affiliations from UNISON, CWU, RMT, FBU, TSSA, ASLEF, NUM and UNITY.

Other unions, including the UNITE sections TGWU and AMICUS, and also UCATT, the NUT and the NUJ have voted to oppose the replacement of Trident.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament - Trade Unions

total evolution

New dinosaur gives bird wing clue

The Limusaurus fossil sits among small crocodile fossils

A new dinosaur unearthed in western China has shed light on the evolution from dinosaur hands to the wing bones in today's birds.

The fossil, from about 160 million years ago, has been named Limusaurus inextricabilis.

The find contributes to a debate over how an ancestral hand with five digits evolved to one with three in birds.

The work, published in Nature, suggests that the middle three digits, rather than the "thumb" and first two, remain.

Theropods - the group of dinosaurs ancestral to modern birds and which include the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex - are known for having hands and feet with just three digits.

It's a really weird animal - it's got no teeth, had a beak and a very long neck, and very wimpy forelimbs James Clark, GWU

It has been a matter of debate how the three-fingered hand developed from its five-fingered ancestor. Each digit among the five was composed of a specific number of bones, or phalanges.

Palaeontologists have long argued that it is the first (corresponding to the thumb), second, and third fingers from that ancestral hand that survived through to modern birds, on grounds that the three fingers in later animals exhibit the correct number of phalanges.

However, developmental biologists have shown that bird embryos show growth of all five digits, but it is the first and fifth that later stop growing and are reabsorbed.

The remaining three bones fuse and form a vestigial "hand" hidden in the middle of a bird's wing.

'Weird animal'

James Clark of George Washington University in Washington DC and Xing Xu from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing hit an palaeontologist's gold mine in the Junggar Basin of northwestern China.

Previous digs have unearthed the oldest known fossil belonging to the tyrannosaur group and the oldest horned dinosaur among several others.

The dinosaurs had beaks and may have had feathers

This time, the ancient mire has yielded a primitive ceratosaur, a theropod that often had horns or crests, many of whom had knobbly fingers without claws.

"It's a really weird animal - it's got no teeth, had a beak and a very long neck, and very wimpy forelimbs," Professor Clark told BBC News.

"Then when we looked closely at the hand, we noticed it was relevant to a very big question in palaeontology."

The fossil has a first finger which is barely present, made up of just one small bone near the wrist. The fifth finger is gone altogether.

It is a fossil that appears to offer a snapshot of evolution, proving that the more modern three-fingered hand is made up of the middle digits of the ancestral hand, with the outer two being shed.

The third finger is made up of the four phalange bones that the second should have, and it is presumed that the second would lose one bone to become like the first finger that was missing in the fossil.

This process of shifting patterns of gene expression from one limb or digit to another is known as an "identity shift", and was again caught in the act - making the conflicting theories of bird hand origin suddenly align.

"This is amazing - it's the first time we've seen this thing actually starting to disappear," Jack Conrad, a palaeontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, told BBC News.

"There's been this fundamental rift - there was no way to make peace between the good data we were seeing from the developmental biologists and the palaeontological evidence that showed with every fossil we found we were seeing [fingers] one, two and three."

evolution

New dinosaurs found in Australia

The carnivorous theropod Banjo is likened to the velociraptor

Australian palaeontologists say they have discovered three new dinosaur species after examining fossils dug up in Queensland.

Writing in the journal PLOS One, they describe one of the creatures as a fearsome predator with three large slashing claws on each hand.

The other two were herbivores: one a tall giraffe-like creature, the other of stocky build like a hippopotamus.

The fossils date back nearly 100m years to the middle of the Cretaceous period.

They were found in rocks known as the Winton Formation.

Beyond velociraptor

Queensland Museum palaeontologist, Scott Hucknell, said the carnivore, Australovenator wintonensis, was even bigger and more terrifying than velociraptor made famous in the Jurassic Park movies.

"The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile. He could run down most prey with ease over open ground," he told reporters.

FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE More from BBC World Service

The dinosaurs have been named after characters in Australia's famous song, Waltzing Matilda.

The carnivore has been named named after Banjo Patterson, who composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton in 1885, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper explained.

Clancy, Witonotitan wattsi, was a tall slender animal, while Matilda, Diamantinasaurus matildae, was more stocky and hippo-like.

These two plant-eating, four-legged sauropod species are new types of titanosaurs - the largest animals ever to walk the earth.

Banjo and Matilda - possibly predator and his prey - were found buried together in a 98m year old billabong, or stagnant pond.

Breakthrough

The find was published in the public access journal Public Library of Science One, and was announced by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in Winton.

She said the discoveries were a major breakthrough in the scientific understanding of prehistoric life in Australia.

Museum Victoria palaeontologist, John Long, said the finds were "amazing".

The newspaper quoted him saying that the finds put Australia back on the international map of big dinosaur discoveries for the first time since 1981, when the discovery of Muttaburrasaurus, a large four-legged herbivore that could rear up on two legs, was announced.

The new species will be part of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History under construction in Winton. This aims to house the world's largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils when it is completed in 2015

feminist labour

Harman pay gap data 'misleading'

Ms Harman has launched a new Equalities Bill

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman has been criticised by an official watchdog for exaggerating the pay gap between men and women.

UK Statistics Authority chief Sir Michael Scholar said Ms Harman's use of figures was potentially misleading.

She had said women were on average paid 23% less per hour than men but the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the figure was actually 12.8%.

The government said Ms Harman's figures related to full and part-time workers.

The Government Equalities Office, which issued a press release in April with the 23% figure in it, said this provided the "fullest picture" of the gender pay gap.

'Impartial and objective'

But in a letter to Ms Harman, who is also the women's minister, Sir Michael said the use of different figures was "likely to confuse the general public".

He said: "The Statistics Authority is concerned that this may undermine public trust in official statistics."

"It is the Statistics Authority's view that the use of the 23% on its own, without qualification, risks giving a misleading quantification of the gender pay gap."

We understand the concerns raised about different measures of the gender pay gap Government Equalities Office

A source said Ms Harman's department was warned about using the figure beforehand but went ahead anyway.

Both figures were taken from the same annual survey of hours and pay, and are based on average hourly earnings excluding overtime.

The ONS measure is based on full-time earnings alone while the GEO figure includes full-time and part-time workers.

Both men and women who work part-time are paid less, but the vast majority of part-time workers are women. That means including all part-time workers in the figure could exaggerate the pay divide.

Sir Michael said neither measure was "entirely satisfactory" on its own and suggested different ways to discuss the gender pay gap that were "impartial and objective".

Knife crime row

But a spokesman for the Government Equalities Office rejected the criticism.

He said: "We understand the concerns raised about different measures of the gender pay gap - that's why we discussed this with the Office for National Statistics some time ago.

"The 23% gender pay gap figure used by the Government Equalities Office includes both full- and part-time employees.

"With women representing over three-quarters of the UK's part-time workforce, we believe this figure gives the fullest picture of the country's gender pay gap."

Equalities Bill

Last year the Home Office was rebuked by Sir Michael for a press release on knife crime statistics that he said was "premature, irregular and selective".

The row came as Ms Harman launched her Equalities Bill, which aims to establish an "equality duty" on public bodies.

Organisations such as schools and hospitals with more than 150 employees would have to report annually on their gender pay gap and they would have to promote equality in age, religion or belief, race, disability, pregnancy and sexuality under the proposed legislation.

Launching the Bill in the Commons on Thursday, Ms Harman said it would also outlaw the British National Party's "apartheid" membership rules, which dictates that members must be from the "indigenous British ethnic groups deriving from the class of 'Indigenous Caucasian"'.

Ms Harman said she was "shocked and horrified" by the election of BNP leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons to the European Parliament last week.

She said there was "no place" in Britain for having a political party that only accepted white people as members and the Equality Bill would prevent this.

labour wrong again

Go easy on equality says minister

Mr Denham called on Labour to confront a "difficult truth"

The political left must stop "holding up egalitarianism as the ideal", Communities Secretary John Denham has told the Fabian Society think tank.

Basing fairness purely on "society's response to those in greatest need" risked being unpopular, he said.

He called for a "different, more nuanced view of fairness and equality".

His comments come as an Equality Bill is going through Parliament which would make public bodies consider social class gaps when forming policies.

Mr Denham said that the numbers within society who signed up to the traditional egalitarian view were "simply too small to construct a strong, viable and inclusive electoral coalition".

He told the Fabian Society: "We must confront the difficult truth: that this form of egalitarianism, the one that defines fairness solely in terms of society's response to those in greatest need, is badly out of step with popular sentiment.

"A rejection of inequality - both absolute, relative and of opportunity - is absolutely core to who we are. But we will be more successful - not just electorally but in challenging unacceptable inequality - if we adopt and own a different, more nuanced view of fairness and equality."

Mr Denham said Labour had to relate to the aspirations of people on middle incomes, adding that this group felt excluded by policies and language aimed at 'the poor'.

He said this group were in fact more concerned about those in higher social classes.

nhs again labour lies union dictat

Patients' fears 'being ignored'

Josephine Ocloo fears patients and their families are not being listened to

A World Heath Organisation representative has said she fears issues remaining at Stafford Hospital are not being taken seriously.

Patient safety champion Josephine Ocloo made her remarks at a public meeting between patients and relatives and the authors of a report into the hospital.

The hospital trust has been accused of "appalling" emergency care standards.

Patients and relatives have been calling for a public inquiry into the matter.

They are due to go the House of Commons on Wednesday to speak to Health Secretary Andy Burnham over the matter.

'Work to do'

The Department of Health has acknowledged there is still some work to do at the hospital.

In a statement it said: "The Healthcare Commission's report into Mid-Staffordshire revealed a catalogue of failures at every level.

"The then Secretary of State apologised unreservedly on behalf of the NHS and the Government.

"Both the Healthcare Commission's report and Professor Sir George Alberti's report acknowledge that improvements have been made, including increases in the number of nurses, but there is more to do.

"In response, the trust has published a detailed action plan and their progress on this is being closely overseen by Monitor - the Foundation Trust regulator - the Care Quality Commission and the local Primary Care Trust."

At the meeting, Professor Sir George Alberti said there were better training programmes already in place for the nurses, but said the hospital still did have a way to go.

The government has previously said a public inquiry was not appropriate as the Healthcare Commission had already carried out a full investigation.

The hospital trust was accused of "appalling" standards after 400 more deaths than expected were recorded between 2005 and 2008

diamond mine

Zimbabwe army 'runs diamond mine'

Until the military moved in illegal diggers were seeking their fortune

Lobby group Human Rights Watch has accused Zimbabwe's army of using forced labour, including children, to mine diamonds in the east of the country.

Local villagers who do not co-operate with the military are beaten and tortured, the US-based group says.
Their report also details an alleged massacre of diamond diggers last year, after the disputed elections.
It urges the unity government to take control of the mines and use the revenue to help rebuild the country.
"Zimbabwe's new government should get the army out of the fields, put a stop to the abuse," Human Rights Watch's Africa director Georgette Gagnon said.
"The police and army have turned this peaceful area into a nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence," she said.
'Buying off the military'
The report is based on interviews done in February in Marange district.
Its researchers say that as far as they are aware, the situation has not changed since the former opposition joined the government four months ago.

Millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, Human Rights Watch statement Eerie silence at Zimbabwe mine Blood diamond scheme 'is failing'

Human Rights Watch claims control of the mines is part of a systematic attempt by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party to buy support from the military.
The diamond fields in Marange were seized just one month after the power-sharing deal was first agreed in September 2008.
On the face of it, the military takeover was an attempt to seize control from unlicensed miners, the lobby group says.
But in reality it was a systematic attempt to enable key army units, whose support President Mugabe needed following June's elections, to have access to riches, Human Rights Watch says.
"Documents that we reviewed that we got from the military and the police clearly indicate that this was a clearly designed system to benefit the army," researcher Dewa Mavhinga said.
Witnesses say it involved a brutal military operation that saw some 200 people killed in three weeks.
It says army brigades are still in control forcing hundreds of children and adults endure forced labour for mining syndicates.
While the new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is touring the West lobbying for aid, "millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones… and corruption", the rights organisation says.
If the diamond industry was legally regulated, Human Rights Watch estimates it could amount to $200m a month for the country.
It is calling for diamond exports from Zimbabwe to be banned and for the country to be suspended from the Kimberly Process - the certification scheme for diamonds - until the demilitarisation of the mines is achieved.
On Wednesday, Global Witness reported that the Kimberly process was failing - partly because of the situation in Zimbabwe.

pancreas

Animal fats pancreas cancer link

Red meat is a source of animal fats

Eating a diet high in red meat and dairy products is linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, a US study has suggested.

Researchers followed 500,000 people who had completed a food diary for an average of six years.
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute paper found those who had the most animal fats in their diet had a higher risk of developing the cancer.
UK experts said cutting down on the fats was a way of reducing risk.
There has previously been confusion over whether there was a link between animal fats and pancreatic cancer, with different studies reaching opposite conclusions.
About 7,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, with smoking being the biggest risk factor.
The prognosis is poor - the time between diagnosis and death is usually about six months.
'Welcome addition'
This latest research was carried out by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, which felt earlier studies had been too small to give reliable results.
The participants were being followed to see if they developed a range of diseases.

This large study adds to the evidence that pancreatic cancer is more common in people who eat too much fat, particularly saturated fat Josephine Querido, Cancer Research UK

Of the half a million studied, 1,337 developed pancreatic cancer.
Men who consumed the highest amount of total fats had a 53% higher relative rate of pancreatic cancer compared with men who ate the least.
In women, there was a 23% higher rate of the disease in those eating the most fat compared with those who ate the least.
Overall, people who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had 36% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer compared with those who consumed low amounts.
Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the researchers led by Dr Rachel Stolzenberg-Solomon, said: "We observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources.
"We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources.
"Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis."
In an editorial in the journal, Dr Brian Wolpin, of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Dr Meir Stampfer, of the Harvard School of Public Health, said the study was a "welcome addition to the understanding of a disease that is in great need of new insights".
Josephine Querido, senior science information officer for Cancer Research UK, said: "This large study adds to the evidence that pancreatic cancer is more common in people who eat too much fat, particularly saturated fat.
"Understanding ways of reducing the risk of pancreatic cancer is very important because it can be very difficult to treat.
"Apart from stopping smoking, the best way to reduce your risk of cancer is to eat plenty of fruit vegetables and fibre, and to cut down on fatty foods, red and processed meat and limit your intake of alcohol."

bse still

Untested bullock enters the food supply

The Agency has been notified that meat from a bullock aged over 48 months has entered the food supply without being tested for BSE.
As specified risk material (SRM) was removed and it is unlikely that the bullock was infected with BSE, any risk to human health is extremely low. SRM is the parts of the carcass at risk of carrying BSE infectivity.
However, BSE testing is mandatory for cattle slaughtered for human consumption at over 48 months of age.
The bullock was 56 days past the 48 month age limit and slaughtered on 13 May at P J Hayman & Sons abattoir in Ottery St Mary, Devon.
The error was discovered on 2 June in the course of routine official checks of documentary records. By then, the carcass had left the premises and subsequent checks indicate that the affected meat is no longer in the food supply chain.