Meanwhile public health minister Tessa Jowell has promised that the white paper itself will be published 'within weeks'. The Institute of Ophthalmology in London is working on a new technique to address the commonest cause of blindness in older people - macular degeneration. The disease affects a third of the over-60s and in many cases progresses over the years to severe visual impairment or complete blindness. Professor Ray Lund told an international conference in Florida that encouraging results were being achieved in rats with the new technique, which involves taking nerve cells from the leg and injecting them into the eye. Sunday Times 6 June Research at the drug safety unit in Southampton has shown that women taking the contraceptive pill are not at increased risk of heart disease.
Researchers conclude that smoking is the biggest risk factor for heart attack in young women.
The largest UK study of drug treatment, spanning a five-year period, has shown that heroin use and criminal behaviour is halved by drug treatment. The National Treatment Outcome Research Study, funded by the Department of Health, was conducted by the National Addiction Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London. It tracks the progress of more than 1000 people who started treatment for drug misuse in residential and community settings during 1995. Dr Jack Cunningham, Minister for Cabinet Office, said, 'We are determined to break the link between drugs and crime, and have put much new money into providing treatment for those who need it. The findings of this study demonstrate that the government's drug strategy is heading in the right direction'.