Vatican bans singer who supports condom

The Vatican has decided to exclude Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury from its Christmas concert, saying she had threatened to promote the use of condoms during the show. “She was excluded because she had announced that at the concert she would openly promote the use of condoms to fight the plague of AIDS,” said Father Giuseppe Bellucci, a priest who is organising the show. Mercury, who is an ambassador of UNICEF and the UN anti-AIDS program, had been invited to sing several songs as part of an international cast. The Church says promoting condoms to fight the spread of AIDS fosters what it sees as immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behaviour that will only contribute to its spread. Fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best ways to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, the Church adds.

Alcohol’s heart gains doubted

Any heart gains from drinking alcohol in moderation are likely outweighed by the harm, say researchers. The findings in The Lancet suggest that drinking a glass or two of wine a day may not be such a good idea. Although past research suggests some benefits for the heart, research by Dr Rod Jackson, from the University of Auckland, says the studies were flawed. According to him, the way the earlier studies were carried out did not allow the researchers to be able to say with certainty that the findings could not be due to other factors, rather than solely the amount of alcohol consumed. “We should not encourage people to start drinking specifically to protect their heart, as there are much safer options,” says Jackson.

Tea and coffee protect liver

Coffee and tea may reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drink alcohol too much, are overweight, or have too much iron in the blood, says a report in Gastroenterology. A study of nearly 10,000 people showed that those who drank more than two cups of coffee or tea per day developed chronic liver diseases at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup each day. Researchers analysed the records of 9,849 participants whose coffee and tea intake was evaluated and who were followed for about 19 years. According to them, caffeine present in tea and coffee hold the key to the benefit.

Religion against polio cure

Irrational beliefs arising out of religious fundamentalism is still thwarting polio eradication, reports the New Scientist. Campaign against vaccination by Muslim clerics in west Africa and Indonesia had so long troubled health officials and aided a resurgence of the bug. Now polio has appeared in the Amish community which stubbornly rejects any sort of mass immunisation effort, a report in the magazine says.