Australia admits cyber defences 'inadequate' as medical hack hits millions

 France24 – AFP, 26 October 2022 

Hackers have accessed millions of medical records at Medibank, one of Australia's
largest private insurers SAEED KHAN AFP/File

Sydney (AFP) – Hackers accessed millions of medical records at one of Australia's largest private health insurers, the company said Wednesday, prompting the government to admit the nation's cyber safeguards were "inadequate". 

This was the latest in a series of hacks targeting millions of people that have brought Australian companies' lax approach to cyber security into sharp relief. 

Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said information about each of the company's 3.9 million policy holders -- some 15 percent of Australia's population -- had been compromised. 

"Our investigation has now established that this criminal has accessed all our private health insurance customers' personal data and significant amounts of their health claims data," he said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. 

"This is a terrible crime. This is a crime designed to cause maximum harm to the most vulnerable members of our community." 

The cyber attack was revealed last week, but it was not known until now how many people were impacted. 

The hackers have previously threatened to leak the data, starting with 1,000 famous Australians, unless Medibank pays a ransom. 

Medibank on Wednesday also confirmed it was not insured against cyber attacks, estimating the hack could cost the company as much as Au$35 million (US$22 million). 

The Medibank hack followed an attack on telecom company Optus last month that exposed the personal information of some nine million Australians -- almost a third of the population. 

The Optus attack was one of the largest data breaches in Australian history. 

'Inadequate'

Australia's Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has previously accused companies of stockpiling sensitive customer data they did not need. 

Firms currently face paltry fines -- Au$2.2 million -- for failing to protect customer data. 

Dreyfus last week said these fines would be ratcheted up to Au$50 million. 

"Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate," he said. 

"It's not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business." 

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on Tuesday said the fallout from the Medibank hack was "potentially irreparable". 

"One of the reasons why the government is so worried about this is because of the nature of the data," she told Australia's parliament. 

"When it comes to the personal health information of Australians, the damage here is potentially irreparable." 

O'Neil has previously described hacking as a "dog act" -- an Australian phrase reserved for something especially shameful or despicable.

Why scientists are concerned about leaks at biolabs

Yahoo – AFP, Issam Ahmed, Lucie Aubourg and Paul Handley, May 30, 2021

This general view shows the Wuhan Institute of Virplogy in Wuhan,
in China's central Hubei province

The theory that Covid-19 might be the result of scientific experiments has thrown a spotlight on the work of the world's most secure biolabs. 

While the evidence linking SARS-CoV-2 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China is strictly circumstantial, a number of experts want tougher controls on such facilities over fears that accidental leaks could touch off the next pandemic. 

Here's what you should know. 

59 top facilities 

The Wuhan lab belongs to the most secure class, commonly referred to as biosafety level 4, or BSL4. 

These are built to work safely and securely with the most dangerous bacteria and viruses that can cause serious diseases for which there are no known treatment or vaccines. 

"There are HVAC filtration systems, so that the virus can't escape through exhaust; any waste water that leaves the facility is treated with either chemicals or high temperatures to make sure that there's nothing alive," Gregory Koblentz, director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University, told AFP. 

The researchers themselves are highly trained and wear hazmat suits. 

There are 59 such facilities across the world, according to a report Koblentz co-authored that was released this week. 

"There are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens," the report, called Mapping Maximum Biological Containment Labs Globally, said. 

Accidents do happen 

Accidents can happen, sometimes at the top tier facilities, and much more frequently at lower rung labs of which there are thousands. 

Human H1N1 virus -- the same flu that caused the 1918 pandemic -- leaked in 1977 in the Soviet Union and China and spread worldwide. 

In 2001, a mentally disturbed employee at a US biolab mailed out anthrax spores across the country, killing five people. 

Two Chinese researchers exposed to SARS in 2004 spread the disease to others, killing one. 

In 2014, a handful of smallpox vials were uncovered during an Food and Drug Administration office move. 

Lynn Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, has been sounding the alarm for many years about the public safety threats posed by such facilities. 

"Human errors constitute over 70 percent of the errors in laboratories," he told AFP, adding that US researchers have to rely on data from Freedom of Information requests to learn of these incidents. 

'Gain of function' controversy 

There is disagreement between the US government, which funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan, and some independent scientists, about whether this work was controversial "gain of function" (GOF) research. 

GOF research entails modifying pathogens to make them more transmissible, deadlier, or better able to evade treatment and vaccines -- all to learn how to fight them better. 

This field has long been contentious. Debate reached a fever pitch when two research teams in 2011 showed they could make bird flu transmissible between mammals. 

Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch told AFP he was concerned "that it would create a strain of virus that if it infected a laboratory worker could not just kill that laboratory worker... but also cause a pandemic." 

"The research is not required and does not contribute to the development of drugs or vaccines," added molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, one of the staunchest opponents of this kind of research. 

In 2014 the US government announced a pause in federal funding for such work, which gave way in 2017 to a framework that would consider each application on a case-by-case basis. 

But the process has been criticized as lacking transparency and credibility. 

As late as last year, a nonprofit received funding from the US on research to "predict spillover potential" of bat coronavirus to humans in Wuhan. 

Questioned by Congress this week, Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health denied this amounted to gain of function research, but Ebright said it clearly does. 

The path ahead 

None of this means that Covid-19 definitely leaked from a lab -- in fact there is no hard scientific evidence in favor of natural origin or lab accident scenario, said Ebright. 

But there are certain lines of circumstantial evidence in favor of the latter. For instance, Wuhan is around 1,000 miles north of bat caves that harbor the ancestor virus, well out of the animals' flight range. 

Scientists from Wuhan were however known to be carrying out routine trips to those caves to take samples. 

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist from the Broad Institute, said there were no signs of risky pathogen research dying down in the wake of the pandemic -- in fact "it's possibly expanded." 

Last year, Chan published research showing that, unlike SARS, SARS-CoV-2 was not evolving fast when it was first detected in humans -- another piece of circumstantial evidence that could point to lab origin. 

Chan considers herself a "fence-sitter" on the competing hypotheses, but does not favor banning risky research, fearing it would then go underground. 

One solution "might just be as simple as moving these research institutes out into extremely remote areas...where you have to quarantine for two weeks before we re-enter in human society," she said.

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"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

China asks recovered patients to donate plasma for virus treatment

Yahoo – AFP, February 17, 2020

Although further testing is required, scientists believe plasma donated by patients who
have recovered from the coronavirus could help those seriously ill from it (AFP
Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese health officials Monday urged patients who have recovered from the coronavirus to donate blood so that plasma can be extracted to treat others who are critically ill.

Drugmakers are racing to develop a vaccine and treatment for the epidemic, which has killed 1,770 people and infected over 70,500 people across China.

Plasma from patients who have recovered from a spell of pneumonia triggered by COVID-19 contains antibodies that can help reduce the virus load in critically ill patients, an official from China's National Health Commission told a press briefing Monday.

"I would like to make a call to all cured patients to donate their plasma so that they can bring hope to critically ill patients," said Guo Yanhong, who heads the NHC's medical administration department.

Eleven patients at a hospital in Wuhan -- the epicentre of the disease -- received plasma infusions last week, said Sun Yanrong, of the Biological Center at the Ministry of Science and Technology.

"One patient (among them) has already been discharged, one is able to get off the bed and walk and the others are all recovering," she said.

The call comes days after China's state-owned medical products maker reported successful results from its trial at Wuhan First People's Hospital.

China National Biotec Group Co. said in a post on its official WeChat account that severely ill patients receiving plasma infusions "improved within 24 hours".

The World Health Organization said exploring the use of plasma as a treatment for the novel coronavirus was "important", but cautioned it needed to be done "with safety".

"It is a very important area of discovery," head of WHO's emergencies programme Michael Ryan told reporters in Geneva, pointing out that plasma had proven effective in saving lives when combatting a range of different diseases.

"It is a very valid way to explore therapeutics, especially when we don't have vaccines and we don't have specific anti-virals," he said.

His colleague Sylvie Briand, who heads WHO's Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness division, meanwhile cautioned that plasma-based treatments could be difficult to scale up to reach large numbers of patients, and stressed the need to carefully follow safety protocols.

"With blood products you can also transmit other diseases, so the protocol ... is very important," she told reporters.

Sun stressed that "clinical studies have shown that infusing plasma (from recovered patients) is safe and effective."

Blood donors will undergo a test to ensure that they are not carrying the virus, said Wang Guiqiang, chief physician at Peking University First Hospital.

"Only plasma is taken, not all the blood," he said.

"Other components of the blood including red blood cells and platelets will be infused back into the donors."

Health ministry inspectors to cover alternative medicine

DutchNews, December 14, 2015

Some 40,000 alternative health practitioners will be supervised by the health ministry from January 1 and officials will have the power to fine and shut down clinics, the AD said on Monday.

Under current rules, anyone can set themselves up as an alternative therapist or carry out cosmetic surgery, and patients have no recourse to the inspectorate if things go wrong. 

Health minister Edith Schippers said the change in the law is a boost for patient safety. ‘Many people make use of alternative therapists,’ she told the AD. ‘I consider it to be of vital importance that patients get more rights in law and can make a formal complaint.’ 

However, Cees Renckens of the anti-quack medicine association argued the new law does not go far enough. Patients will be given a false sense of security by the ministry checks, he told the AD. 

Related Article:

"The Biggest Filter" - July 18-19, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“..  The Biggest Filter that Hinders Truth is Your Biased Knowledge

The biggest filter of humanity, the one that keeps Humans from actual truth, believe it or not, is called knowledge. We speak of that which humanity perceives currently as knowledge. That which you do not know is, therefore, future knowledge. Now, every single scientist understands the difference - every single one - for they know what is coming is going to teach them what they don't know yet. This is part of the scientific process. Even so, they take what they know, or think they know, and completely let it temper the experiments for what they don't know. They base the future on what they know or believe, even though they know better!

A medical doctor will look in the past and he'll remember being taught about a time when humans would report to the barbershop for healing. That's when they would actually bleed people for healing. By the way, that's the reason for the barber pole having the red stripe on it - it's the tradition of barbers doing the bleeding. So back then, you went to get healed in the barbershop by being bled! This, of course, led to many deaths because there was no understanding of germs, sterilization or today's common sense. Doctors know this, and they laugh at how far you all have come from this. So doctors absolutely know that what is coming will someday be actually laughable, yet they are also absolutely and completely closed to what it might be. They just think it will be an advancement of what they currently know.  ….”

“..  Medicine - Where It's Going

I want to show you some other areas to consider. There are several categories that we'd like to talk about, but they're not in a specific order except for the last one. So let's talk about medicine. What is future medicine going to look like?

The most elegant predictions of medicine fall short of what's really coming. What you have today is a high-tech approach to designer chemistry. Now, since the body is made up of chemistry, it makes sense to look at this chemistry and work with it. It makes total sense to discover how it reacts to disease and then design cures with more chemistry. It's absolutely normal what you have done, but it's going to reach an end very soon. Because the future of medicine is physics, dear ones, not chemistry.

You're going to start understanding and developing new medical physics. You will discover that medi-physics is going to literally speak to cellular structure and give it instructions, without one chemical involved. There's always a reaction to chemistry, isn't there? There's always a side effect. When you push one thing, something else reacts, doesn't it? How do you like it so far? Your most elegant chemical designs, the ones that are helping with the worst diseases on the planet, all have side effects - and some of those side effects are death! I say to you, how do you like it so far?

Does it really seem elegant to you? Or perhaps it's just a more sophisticated way of bleeding in the barbershop? Dear ones, that's how you're going to look at it someday! You're going to slap your heads and say, "Remember the day when we did everything with chemistry and drugs?"

Right now, these kinds of changes have already started in several areas. There are discoveries being made that are healing some of the most heart-breaking diseases you have. I reveal one, because it's not a secret. I will always give you information that is either being worked on or has been postulated through free choice on this planet. That is the guideline of channelling. We can't give it to you. You've got to develop it yourself. However, we can put you in an energy that has a faster discovery potential - that is to say, discoveries become more obvious.

Alzheimer's is heart breaking. There are millions on this planet who develop this condition, more all the time. You're living longer and a plaque-like material that literally obfuscates your memory within the brain is becoming more common. It clings to certain parts of your brain, encrusting and restricting it, imprisoning the Human's ability to remember and eventually process information at all. The result is death, slow death. It's caused by your environment, a fact which will be discovered eventually. Your long-lived Ancients didn't have it.

It's going to be cured with physics. Your science is starting to find out that the plaque-like substance has a resonance that allows it to be weakened with sound. High-frequency sound, tuned to a certain frequency and amplitude, will cause the sheaths to weaken, dissolve, and come off. There's a lot of research to do yet, but it's a Eureka! moment - realizing that physics alone, without chemistry, can change the structure of biology. This is with no side effects whatsoever. It's coming, it's coming.

There are those working with fresh umbilical cord stem cells right now who are using pure physics to guide the stem cells to a specific destination in the body in order to repair failing systems. Dear ones, the future of health and healing is not through better chemistry, yet medicine is still waiting for better pills! Did you connect the dots and realize that all biology is physics based? There is magnetics, leverage, the energy of consciousness, electricity and much more within cellular structure. With physics alone, you can "tune in" to disease and destroy it! You can fine-tune your system with cooperative resonances and extend life with benevolent, physical assistance. Sixteen years ago, I told you this when I spoke of the Temple of Rejuvenation. I described the super-cooling needed to do it and the temperatures needed to work with it (-55C). This is physics!

Now, the false expectation of greater chemistry for the future is totally caused from the filter of knowledge. What you have and know then gives you your expectation of what is going to take place. It literally blocks you from seeing some of the potentials that you may have.  ….”

Consumer Group Slams Ministry of Health Over Chlorine-Tainted Sanitary Pads

Jakarta Globe, Jul 09, 2015

Chlorine can cause side effects from skin irritation to infertility. (AFP Photo/
Nicolas Asfouri)

Jakarta. An Indonesian consumer group has slammed the Ministry of Health for downplaying reports that some popular brands of sanitary pads were found to have used chlorine in their products, prompting public fears of health risks.

“The statement that the sanitary pad using chlorine is safe to use is contradictory with a regulation issued by the Ministry of Health itself,” said Tulus Abadi, the operational manager at the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI).

“The Ministry is being inconsistent and violating a rule it created.”

On Monday, YLKI reported nine brands of menstrual pads sold in Indonesia, including popular brands like Charm, Laurier and Softex, were found to contain chlorine in their products. Charm topped the list with 54,73 ppm (parts per million) in its products.

The announcement was made after YLKI conducted a series of tests in accredited laboratories. The tests also found that several panty liners produced by the same companies contained chlorine.

YLKI stated that chlorine in the menstrual pads could cause skin rashes, irritation and infertility and in the long-run it could cause cancer.

Responding to the report, the ministry said that sanitary pads in the Indonesian market were safe to use despite the chlorine.

“The fear that chlorine could cause cancer is unreasonable, all those sanitary pads have the license and have passed the safety and quality tests,” said Maura Linda Sitanggang, the ministry’s director general of pharmaceutical and health equipment.

Tulus claimed that by not specifying the maximum level of chlorine contained in sanitary pads, the ministry has sided with the industry instead of consumers.

He said the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the United States regulated that chlorine in sanitary pads should not exceed 0.1 ppm.

YLKI also demanded the National Standardization Agency (BSN) revise the regulation for sanitary pads and ban chlorine use.

YLKI has estimated Indonesian women use 1.4 billion sanitary pads annually.

Responding to the request, BSN said it would immediately review the regulation on the sanitary pads.

“In our Indonesian National Standard [SNI] we did not mention anything about chlorine in the sanitary pads and we will revise it to protect the consumers, producers, laborers and the public,” BSN chairman, Bambang Prasetya said.

Related Article:

US consumer giant seeks to smash India menstruation taboos

Agency Terminates Buvanest Drug Permit After Deaths

Jakarta Globe, Investor Daily, Mar 06, 2015

Workers of Kalbe Farma factory sort out medicine tablets in Cikarang,
Indonesia West Java province August 5, 2013. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, known as BPOM, has terminated the distribution permit for the drug Buvanest Spinal by state-controlled pharmaceutical firm Kalbe Farma due to non-compliance with good manufacturing practices.

“[Kalbe Farma’s] investigation report did not adequately depict the problem roots, that there can be a potential mix-up,” said Togi Junice Hutadjulu, director of therapeutic products monitoring at the agency, on Thursday.

Preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation suggest Kalbe Farma incorrectly labelled tranexamic acid as Buvanest Spinal, which resulted in the deaths of two women undergoing Caesarian section and cystoscopy procedures at Siloam Hospital in Tangerang last month.

Investor Daily

Related Article:

Investigation Into Deadly Drug Mix-Up Continues

US health chief admits 'pattern' of safety failures

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, 16 Juky 2014

Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden testifies before

 the House Energy and Commerce Committee - Oversight and Investigations

 Subcommittee on July 16, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/

Mandel Ngan)

Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee - Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on July 16, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC

Washington (AFP) - The chief of the US government's top public health agency on Wednesday admitted to a pattern of safety errors after dangerous mixups in the handling of influenza and anthrax.

"I think we missed a critical pattern," said Tom Frieden, who leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during two hours of questioning from the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

"The pattern is an insufficient culture of safety."

Chairman of the House Energy and

Commerce Committee Congressman 

Tim Murphy listens to during a hearing on

Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 1,

2014 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Last week, the CDC admitted to five incidents over the past decade -- two of them in recent months -- in which workers shipped anthrax, flu, botulism and a bacteria known as brucella to other labs without following proper de-activation and safety procedures.

No one was believed to have been hurt by the mishaps, but they exposed a major lapse of protocol within the CDC, which is viewed globally as a leading scientific and health agency.

The discoveries included the mistaken contamination of a mild flu strain with a dangerous H5N1 bird flu that was shipped to a US Department of Agriculture poultry lab. The incident happened six weeks before it was made known to CDC leadership.

Other problems included the potential exposure of dozens of workers at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters to anthrax in early June, when samples were not properly handled and deactivated before shipment.

The CDC issued a report Friday that detailed three other lab mistakes -- two in 2006 involving live anthrax and botulism, and one in 2009 involving brucella, a strain of bacteria that can cause the infectious disease Brucellosis.

The discovery earlier this month of six forgotten vials of smallpox at a separate US government lab at the National Institutes of Health also raised alarm over the potential for the release of dangerous biological agents that could be used as weapons of terror.

Anthrax in food storage bags

Since then, a separate investigation by the USDA has revealed more problems at the CDC, according to a memo about the report released by lawmakers earlier this week.

The probe found there were missing containers of anthrax that had to be tracked down by inspectors, that some materials were transported using only food storage bags, and that anthrax was stored in unlocked refrigerators in a hallway where workers passed through freely.

"What in heaven's name would go through the minds of some scientists, thinking a 'Ziploc' bag is enough to protect someone from anthrax?" asked Tim Murphy, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and the chair of the House subcommittee that hosted the hearing.

Frieden said anyone who handled anthrax that way would have done so because he or she believed it had been inactivated, and he promised to be directly involved in the investigation and the implementation of safety changes.

"While we have scientists who are the best in the world at what they do, they have not always applied that same rigor that they do to their scientific experiments, to improving safety," said Frieden.

The CDC has shut down two labs and issued a moratorium on the shipment of dangerous agents from its facilities until a thorough review can be completed.

Frieden said he has appointed a single point person to oversee safety and was working to convene an internal review board as well as an external advisory group to offer ways to prevent such dangerous incidents in the future.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, said there have been at least 14 separate reports, letters and lab investigations from various US government branches documenting safety lapses and lack of oversight at CDC high containment labs over the last decade.

"It appears that CDC has not heeded those reports," Castor said.

"It's troubling. I mean, this has gone on for years now."

Related Article:

US health chief faces Congress over flu, anthrax mixups

Pharmas face closure if they fail to meet Beijing's new regulations

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-01-23

Workers package drugs at a pharmaceutical company in Hangzhou.
(Photo/Xinhua)

Drug manufacturers in China that have not passed new regulations under the Good Manufacturing Practice for Pharmaceutical Products (GMP) will face closure until they pass the verification process devised by the new GMP regulations, according to the China Food and Drug Administration.

Chinese pharmaceuticals can be divided into two categories — sterile medical products and non-sterile medical products.

The administration stated that all the sterile drugs manufactured by existing drug manufacturers had to meet the requirements of the new version of GMP before the end of 2013.

As of Dec. 31, 2013, the number of sterile drug producers was pegged at 1,319, with 796 passing the new GMP regulation and 523 trying to meet the new requirements or waiting to be merged with other companies.

The administration stated that those who have not met the requirements of the new GMP regulation could continue operating after they pass, but those who fail to pass the exam would be closed or merged, according to the Shanghai-based Economic Observer.

Most drug makers who passed the new regulation are now facing idle capacity because their capacity had been enhanced to meet standards, said a worker at China Shineway Pharmaceutical Group.

For drug producers, trying to meet the new GMP regulation is exerting mounting pressure as a result of idle capacity, bank loans, development for new drugs and capital flow.

Non-sterile medical products, on the other hand, have to meet the requirements of the new GMP by the end of 2015, said the report.

As of Oct. 2013, only 778 out of the total 3,839 non-sterile drug manufacturers passed the verification process.

An official at the China Association of Pharmaceutical Commerce said that at least 1,000 non-sterile medical producers have to be shut down or merged with other firms after the deadline passes in 2015.

Market observers are of the view that China's pharmaceutical industry should be controlled by large pharmaceutical firms, which could help enhance quality, improve competitiveness and internationalization.

Indonesia Wants to Change Drug Tests for Pilots

Jakarta Globe, February 13, 2012      

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Indonesian authorities want pilots to be tested for drugs just a few hours or days before they fly aircraft.

Lion Air (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal) 

Minister of Transportation Evert Ernest Mangindaan said the current routine of testing them every six months may not be effective. He said the time span would enable drug users to prepare themselves to pass examination.

The ministry is revising regulations for the airline industry.

Mangindaan was speaking Monday in Surabaya, where a pilot with private Lion Air was arrested this month by an anti-drug agency. Authorities said the pilot had a small amount of crystal methamphetamine.

Lion Air has signed the biggest order ever from Boeing — 230 planes with a list price of $21.7 billion last year.

Associated Press

China arrests 2,000 in food safety crackdown

Antara News, Thu, August 4 2011

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Beijing (ANTARA News/AFP) - China has arrested around 2,000 people and closed nearly 5,000 businesses in a major crackdown on illegal food additives, the government said, after a wave of contamination scares.

China launched the campaign in April following a spate of tainted food scandals -- included pork found on the market so loaded with bacteria that it reportedly glowed in the dark.

Nearly six million food businesses have now been investigated and more than 4,900 shut down for "illegal practices", the government`s Food Safety Commission said in a statement.

Police have also destroyed "underground" food production and storage sites, and arrested around 2,000 suspects, it said, adding that anyone found breaking the law would be severely punished.

China pledged to clean up its food industry after milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine -- added to give the appearance of high protein content -- killed at least six babies and sickened 300,000 in 2008.

In 2009 the country passed a food safety law to try to allay public concern.

But authorities have continued to discover bean sprouts laced with cancer-causing nitrates, steamed buns with banned chemical preservatives, and rice laced with heavy metals, prompting the latest crackdown.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Indonesian Society in ‘Crisis,’ Warns Agency as New Child Abuse Figures Released

Jakarta Globe, July 23, 2010

National Commission for Children’s Protection chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait is warning of a "social crisis" in Indonesia after shocking new child abuse statistics were released. (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. The National Commission for Children’s Protection says it had recorded 1,826 cases of violence, sexual assault and incest against children across Indonesia in the first five months of 2010 alone.

“The number of cases of violence against children, especially physical and sexual violence, has increased. In the first five months of 2010 alone, there were 1,826 cases,” Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the commission, Komnas Anak, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Some 68 percent of the sexual abuse cases involved close relatives, he said.

For all of 2009, there were a total of 1,891 cases of violence against children, up from 1,626 cases in 2008, according to the commission’s data.

Sirait said the cases reflected the failure of families to protect their children, citing examples of where a parent had burned their own baby and a mother broke her five-month-old baby’s hand and leg.

“It’s a social crisis and the violence does not make sense. Those who committed the violence were the ones who are supposed to be protecting the children,” he said.

Children who are particularly prone to violence are street children and children from middle- and low-income families, Sirait said.

Antara

City told health centers to tighten security

Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/11/2010 9:45 PM

Governor Fauzi Bowo has urged all community health centers in the city to tighten security following a kidnapping of a newborn boy at Kembangan health center in West Jakarta, on Friday last week.

He regretted that a stranger who claimed she was a nurse kidnapped the baby.

“We have warned all health centers that have birth services to tighten their security to avoid the crime repeating,” he said Monday.

Earlier that morning, deputy governor Prijanto visited Murtanti, the baby's mother, at Kembangan health center.

Happiness in Jakarta Proves Elusive

The Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita

Jakarta’s gleaming skyscrapers and bustling malls are hiding a legion of unhappy residents, a researcher said on Tuesday, citing the results of a recently conducted survey.

Andy Agung, a researcher with Yayasan Indonesia Bahagia (Indonesian Happiness Foundation), told the Jakarta Globe that the conclusion was the result of a two-week survey recently conducted by the foundation.

The survey, which queried 500 randomly-selected residents from a wide range of social classes, showed that Jakarta’s “happiness index” stood at 3.61 on a scale of five.

“This is still considered low because an index of three is average while four is happy,” Andy said.

The survey also indicated that happiness was not significantly dependent on age, gender, religion, social background or economic status, he said, adding that the only independent variable affecting happiness was education.

“This means that Jakartans with higher levels of education tend to have higher levels of happiness,” he said.

Therefore, Andy said, the city administration should provide greater access to higher education for residents.

This was the first-ever survey of its kind in the country, Andy said. He said that starting next year, the foundation would conduct similar surveys in other large cities in the country.

“We should not make material possessions and economic well-being the standard for [judging] people’s welfare; happiness should be the standard,” he said.

Andy said happy people were those who lived positive lifestyles and were not unduly burdened by problems. “The surrounding environment and good public services can contribute happiness to one’s life,” he added.

Radhar Panca Dahana, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Indonesia, told the Globe that both external and internal factors affected happiness.

He said external factors involved the surrounding environment such as weather, traffic and politics, all sources of pressure that could affect internal factors.

“People living in Jakarta are always in a hurry. They always feel worried and are highly competitive,” Radhar said.

The government, he said, should ensure that the basic needs of residents, such as food, housing, health and education, were met, so that they could have a sense of security.

“Although poor and not well educated, if their basic needs are met, people will feel happy,” Radhar said.

Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, a city spokesman, said the administration appreciated the survey’s results but that it remained to be seen whether the method used and the results were valid.