6 April 2013 | NewScientist | 7

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ITALIAN officials are allowing some patients to continue with a controversial stem cell therapy amid protests from scientists that it is unproven and unsafe.

The Stamina Foundation has been administering a therapy based on stem cells derived from bone marrow to people with a range of degenerative diseases at Brescia civil hospital. But after an inspection in 2012, Italian drug regulator AIFA ordered a halt to Stamina’s stem cell treatments at the hospital. Their report says the foundation’s therapy did not follow the official path required for clinical approval in Italy.

The halt sparked protests among patients’ families, and local courts ruled that some people could continue treatment. On 15 March a group of Italian stem cell researchers published an open letter to the country’s minister of health, Renato Balduzzi, asking him to shut down all of the foundation’s treatments at the Brescia hospital.

Instead, Balduzzi signed a bill authorising Stamina to continue treating patients who had already begun the regime, unless they developed serious side effects.

Stem cell see-saw

IF RIVERS are a nation’s lifeblood, the US should be on the sick list. More than half of the country’s streams and rivers are in a “poor condition” for aquatic life, according to a survey by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The agency sampled nearly 2000 sites in 2008 and 2009, looking at factors such as physical disturbances, mercury in fish flesh, faecal bacteria and nutrients from fertilisers.

Nutrient pollution, which causes algal blooms that can deplete a river’s oxygen, was the main problem: 40 per cent of rivers and streams were rated “poor” for their high levels of phosphorus and 28 per cent were given the same rating for excessive nitrate contamination. Nitrates are the more persistent contaminant as they leach into groundwater and from there into streams. A new study suggests nitrates will cause pollution for decades to come, even without further fertiliser use (Environmental Science & Technology, doi.org/kx2).

Phosphorus pollution is also a growing problem. Only 34.2 per

cent of river stretches tested were rated in “good” condition for phosphorus, down from 52.8 per cent in 2004.

Unfortunately, not all farmers observe official guidance on fertiliser use. “If everyone followed it, things would probably be quite a bit better,” says Neil Dubrovsky, a US Geological Survey hydrologist based in Sacramento, California.

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Bird flu virus mutatesTwo men in Shanghai have died from the H7N9 bird flu virus, which doesn’t usually infect people. A woman with flu in the eastern city of Chuzhou is in critical condition, and there is an unconfirmed fourth case. The source of the infection is not yet known, nor is it clear how the virus has become lethal to humans.

Fukushima failings“We must humbly accept our failure to prevent the accident,” said Naomi Hirose, president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company. For the first time TEPCO has acknowledged that it was ill-prepared to deal with the earthquake and tsunami that led to meltdowns at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011.

Cheap drugs victoryA ruling by India’s Supreme Court has upheld the right of manufacturers to make cheap variants of patented drugs. The ruling denied Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis the right to patent a modified version of anticancer drug Glivec. The court declared that patents on slight variations of existing drugs would unfairly restrict the availability of cheap variants in poor countries.

Bee confusedDo pesticides addle the brains of bees? Yes, conclude new studies reporting that neonicotinoid and coumaphos pesticides inhibit learning in bees (Journal of Experimental Biology, doi.org/k2z). No, says a UK government report, which found neonicotinoids had little effect on colony success.

Digital recycling hitchSo much for the second-hand digital economy. ReDigi, the Boston-based firm that lets users resell their used MP3s, has just lost a lawsuit brought by Capitol Records for copyright infringement. The judge ruled that because a digital song was to be stored on a new hard drive, it counted as copying.

–A fertiliser runs through it–

Cry me a river

Rare earth bounty

“Italy’s health minister says patients who have already started the controversial treatments can continue”

JAPAN keeps finding treasure in deep-sea mud. For the second time in two years, a Japanese team has announced vast deposits of rare earth elements on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Rare earth elements are not rare, but they are hard to find in easy-to-mine minerals. Right now, China produces about 97 per cent of the world’s supply, which is used in many common technologies, from LCD screens to the batteries in hybrid cars.

Two years ago, Yasuhiro Kato and colleagues at the University of Tokyo announced they had found mud below international waters that is rich in rare earths. The latest discovery is nearby but is inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, so the nation will not need to negotiate mineral rights.

Kato says that his team will explore the resources for the next two years, before mining begins.

60 SeCondS

–The immortal Henrietta Lacks–

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“nitrates will cause pollution for decades to come, even without further fertiliser use”

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