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(A) The United States Senate has unanimously passed legislation banning discrimination on the basis of people's genetic details. The proposal, which passed 95-0, still needs approval from the House of Representatives before it becomes law. It would allow only patients and their doctors to access data obtained through genetic testing. Employers, unions and health insurance companies would be forbidden from discrimination via genetic information. The Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy called it the he first new civil rights bill of the new century. He added: Discrimination based on a person's genetic identity is just as unacceptable as discrimination on the basis of race or religion. The bill would forbid health insurers from refusing coverage, or raising premiums, for healthy people based on genetic information. Insurers would also not be allowed to require people to take tests which might show a predisposition to a disease. And employers would be prohibited from using genetic information in decisions over hiring, firing, promoting or compensating employees. The bill is supported by the White House and by health insurers, but opposed by some business interests, including the US Chamber of Commerce. Scientists hope the legislation will encourage more people to come forward and take genetic tests that might save their lives. Such tests can lead to therapy for a wide range of diseases with hereditary links, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. With the mapping of the human genome in 2003, far more information is available about people's disposition to illnesses. The Republican sponsor of the bill, Senator Olympia Snowe, said that for the first time steps were being taken o prevent discrimination before it has taken hold.
That's why this legislation is unique and groundbreaking, she added. The genetic tests currently available were absolutely useless, she said, if people were not taking them for fear of discrimination. Employers had previously expressed concern that a bill of this kind would lead to inappropriate claims, but one consolation for insurance companies is that they will still be able to charge higher premiums if someone is already ill when they apply for cover. The vote in the House of Representatives is expected early next week, after which the bill will go to President George W Bush to be signed into law. Complete the following: 1. The underlined word “unanimously” means______________. 2. The underlined word “consolation” means_______________. 3. No one will be allowed to have access to personal information by taking genetic tests after the bill comes into effect. Is that true? __________________________________________________________________. 4. In terms of medicine, what benefits can taking genetic tests bring about？ ___________________________________________________________________. 5. The bill will forbid health insurers from refusing coverage, or raising premiums in any case. Right ? ___________________________________________________________________. (B) TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan plans to vaccinate 6,000 medical workers and quarantine officers with stockpiled bird flu vaccines to check their effectiveness and possible side-effects, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The plan, which follows suggestions made by some lawmakers and experts that vaccinations take place before a feared flu pandemic, will be submitted to a panel of experts for approval on Wednesday, an official said. If approved, vaccination will take place before the end of the fiscal year in March 2009, and mark the first case in the world in which the vaccines -- based on strains of the H5N1 virus from China and Indonesia -- have been given to such a large group of people prior to a possible pandemic. Japan has stockpiled vaccines for 10 million people using strains of the H5N1 virus from China, Indonesia and Vietnam. So far the government's stance has been to use them only after a breakout. If the first vaccination is deemed effective, the ministry will consider vaccinating an additional 10 million people, mainly those involved in maintaining social infrastructure such as gas and electricity networks, the official said. While it is impossible to predict what strain of the virus could trigger a pandemic, the main suspect is the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than 200 globally. The government estimates that in a case of a pandemic, a quarter of the population could be infected with the virus and that up to 640,000 people would die. The stockpiled vaccines have already been approved in Japan and have been produced by the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University and the Kitasato Institute, the ministry said. There have been 238 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain since 2003, with Vietnam and Indonesia accounting for most fatalities, the WHO said. Complete the following: 1. Why will Japan vaccinate so many medical workers and quarantine officers with stockpiled bird flu vaccines? _________________________________________________________________________. 2. Only under what circumstance does the Japanese government use the stockpiled vaccines? _________________________________________________________________________. 3. If the first vaccination proves effective, all the Japanese will be involved in the vaccination at once, won’t they? _________________________________________________________________________. (C) LONDON (Reuters) - Cyber-criminals are behind a dramatic rise in stealthy programs called rojans （木马病毒）that infect computers to sell rogue software, send unwanted email or steal personal data, a study has found. In a report released in London, Microsoft said the number of trojans removed from computers around the world in the second half of 2007 rose by 300 percent from the first half. The figure has risen so sharply because more computers are fitted with software that detects malicious programs and because criminals had come to see trojans as their ool of choice, the report said. The numbers have simply exploded, it's huge, said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. There is a lot of criminal intent there. Trojans can log keystrokes to gather passwords, send spam from private computers or harvest email addresses or personal information for criminal purpo
