Rape spurs call to amend French law
| Original article Rape spurs call to amend French law
PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Monday for a halt to early prison release for some pedophiles after a 5-year-old boy was allegedly raped by a repeat sex offender who had been prescribed Viagra while behind bars.
The boy was kidnapped from his home in the northern town of Roubaix on Wednesday and allegedly molested by convicted pedophile Francis Evrard. The 61-year-old, convicted three times, was released from prison in July.
Sarkozy, on his first day back from a two-week vacation in the United States, drew attention to the case Monday by hosting the boy’s father and meeting with ministers about amending prison laws to prevent early release for some convicted pedophiles.
Sarkozy said the French were “very shocked” at the case and expressed his own anger.
“Everything must be put in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he told reporters.
“What happened? A person who over his career committed several rapes of minors was sentenced to 27 years in prison — he served 18,” said Sarkozy, referring to Evrard. “I don’t understand why.”
Working off a new kidnapping alert system that quickly went into effect, authorities found Evrard and the boy in a Roubaix garage about 12 hours after the child went missing, officials said.
Police and prison officials in the Normandy city of Caen, where Evrard served his sentence, said a prison doctor had acknowledged generic viagra bulk him Viagra a month before his release, but that the doctor did not know why he was behind bars.
The doctor turned himself in to Caen police Sunday and was being held for questioning, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Evrard faces dosage tadalafil charges related to the kidnap and rape of a minor.
France’s justice minister said Sunday that a judicial investigation had been opened into how Evrard had obtained the erectile dysfunction erectile symptom drug.
Sarkozy said sex offenders who could still be considered dangerous should not benefit from early release.
After his meeting with several top ministers, the president said he had asked Justice Minister Rachida Dati to include a measure preventing early release of some pedophiles in a set of prisons laws to be presented in parliament in November.
Sarkozy also said the new bill should include funds for the construction of prison hospitals where sex offenders such as Evrard could be held. Panels of medical experts would examine how dangerous outgoing sex offenders were before they would be granted release.
The conservative Sarkozy, a former interior minister, has made cracking down on repeat offenders a priority since taking office in May.
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Associated Press writer Frederic Veille in Caen contributed to this report.
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Alternatives to HRT
Women are having second thoughts about hormone replacement
therapy — but what are the options? How can women protect heart, brain,
breasts, and bones from the ravages of age sans estrogen? And what about hot
flashes, night sweats, lost libido, vaginal dryness?
Well, there definitely are options — some more effective than
others. Here’s a capsule version of the latest findings:
Heart Disease and Stroke
A powerful class of drugs called statins reduce the
amount of cholesterol in the blood — especially LDL, the so-called
“bad” cholesterol. Statins have also been found to reduce stroke, may
reduce osteoporosis, could be an adjunct treatment for cancer.
Risk of heart-related deaths in 20,000 men and women (ages
40-80) was reduced by 18% among those who received statins. People who took
statins were also 25% less likely to suffer a nonfatal heart attack or stroke
or require bypass surgery. That study appeared in the July 6 issue of
TheLancet.
Statin use was linked with 22% reduction of all strokes and 25%
reduction in nonfatal strokes in another study published in the Jan. 23 issue
of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Studies of soy protein show varying results in reducing
blood pressure and LDL cholesterol in postmenopausal women. Though at least one
small study found reductions when patients ate natural soy, other studies did
not show improvements from soy extracts. Researchers conclude that different
proteins found in natural soy appear to interact with phytoestrogens — plant
estrogens — to increase their cholesterol-lowering activity. Those studies
were discussed at last year’s Endocrinology Society meeting.
Limiting salt in the diet — and walking 30 minutes a
day — can also lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women by a surprising
amount, according to a study published in the August 2001 Journal of the
American College of Cardiology. In the study, those who ate only a teaspoon
of salt a day plus walked lowered their blood pressure by 16 points. To lower
sodium in diet, cook with less salt, use herbs and lemon juice to flavor foods,
check packed food labels for sodium, and limit salty snack foods.
Osteoporosis
Fosamax and similar bisphosphonate medications are
designed to prevent or treat osteoporosis; they slow bone thinning and increase
thickness of the bones of the spine and hip. This reduces the risk of broken
bones. The drugs are so successful that researchers are now looking at
administering the drug through annual intravenous infusions — so women don’t
have to take pills every day.
Evista, which belongs in a separate class of drugs, also
is prescribed to prevent and treat osteoporosis. Evista has another plus — it
has a favorable effect on cholesterol but does not increase the risk of breast
or uterine cancer.
Calcium and vitamin D
supplements — to the tune
of 1,500 mg a day — are recommended for older women and men. Dietary sources
of calcium include fat-free milk, yogurt, and cheese.
Also, eating more protein could help the body to more
effectively absorb calcium/vitamin D supplements, according to one recent study
at Tufts University in Boston. Elderly people who took 500 mg supplements in
addition to dietary calcium — and ate about 80 grams of protein a day — had
better bone mass than those in the control group.
And remember, 30 minutes of weight-bearing and
strength-trainingexercise — even for women in their 70s, 80s, 90s,
and older — can build bone.
However, the nutritional supplement ipriflavone — a synthetic
isoflavone derivative — does not have an effect on bone density, according to
a study in the March 21, 2001, issue of TheJournal of the American
Medical Association. Isoflavones are found in soy products.
Original article Alternatives to HRT
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