December 4
[ 2006-12-04 08:00 ]
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| Steelworkers in Europe
feared the tariffs would cost thousands of
jobs |
| 2003: US pulls back from steel trade
war |
England have
The US President, George W Bush, has withdrawn a punitive tax on
imported steel to avoid a damaging trade war between the United States and
Europe.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) last month turned down a US appeal
against its July ruling that the duties, imposed in March 2002, are
illegal.
Mr Bush justified them by saying foreign steel firms were driving US
firms out of business with unfair competition and government subsidies.
The EU was planning sanctions worth $2.2bn in retaliation against the
move, but says they will now be dropped.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, reading a statement on behalf of
Mr Bush, said: "These safeguard measures have now achieved their purpose
and, as a result of changed economic circumstances, it is time to lift
them."
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the tariff decision had
been made independently of the EU's threat of retaliation.
At no stage did the US administration admit it had acted illegally in
breaching WTO rules.
On hearing the tariffs were being dropped, the EU Trade Minister Pascal
Lamy said: "This is good news for us.... The important thing is that this
sort of thing should not happen again."
It is believed that pressure from the British Prime Minister Tony Blair
during Mr Bush's controversial visit to London last month was instrumental
in convincing him to lift the tariffs.
The tariffs, which added up to 30% to the cost of a range of imported
steel products, were originally imposed to satisfy an election pledge Mr
Bush made to steel bosses and workers.
The US blamed cheap imports for the bankruptcy of 31 steel firms since
1997, with 20,000 job losses.
But the EU - which had also suffered 22,200 job losses over four years
at the time - said it had not resorted to such measures while it was
forced to restructure.
President Bush may now face a backlash from those workers who said he
promised to keep the tariffs in place for three
years. |
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| Dr Wiseman says the
long-term health effects of the pill are not
known |
|
1961: Birth control pill available to
all | Artificially 1969:
The Women who wish
to have oral contraception will now be able to get it on the National
Health Service.
The Health Minister, Enoch Powell, made an announcement in the House of
Commons today but did not give any guidelines as to whom the pill should
be given.
"It is not for me to indicate to doctors when they should decide for
medical reasons to prescribe for their patients," he said.
However some GPs are in a dilemma over whether they can prescribe the
Pill, as it is commonly known, for social as well as medical reasons.
Several companies are busy manufacturing the product in Britain which
will cost the NHS just over one shilling a pill - 17s a month.
And some politicians are anxious that the drug could be a huge
financial burden on the Treasury which currently spends ?0m a year on
drugs provided by the health service.
The oral contraceptive is a combination of a synthetic hormones
oestrogen and progestogen taken to prevent conception by hampering monthly
release of an egg cell from the ovary .
Pills have to be regularly in order to work and some physicians are
concerned about the effects the drug could have on the body's delicate
balance of hormones.
Sir Charles Dodds, Britain's leading expert on the drugs contained in
the Pill and who heads a research institute at Middlesex Hospital, has
said the pills could have long-term side-effects.
He compared a woman's body with a clock mechanism. "Even if you
thoroughly understand the mechanism of a clock, provided it is going well
it is very much better to leave it alone. To interfere with it fi you do
not understand it can be disastrous," he said.
The Family Planning Association, which runs clinics all over Britain,
is still deciding whether or not to gives the go-ahead to its physicians
to issue the Pill to married women.
Two scientists at Birmingham University will carry out basic
experiments on the Pill because it is not fully understood how it works.
In the current issue of the Queen's Medical Magazine, Birmingham
Medical School's journal, they write: "Much careful quantitative work
remains to be done before the biological action of these drugs is
understood and before any recommendations of these drugs for routine use
by the medical profession." |
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| Vocabulary:
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ovary: the organ that bears the ovules of a
flower（卵巢）
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