Kathmandu, December 14, 2007

The seven-party meeting today failed to reach a consensus on the issue of increasing seats on the proportional system of election to the constituent assembly and power-sharing among the three major parties in the to-be-restructured interim government.

The parties, however, principally agreed to declare the country a republic by the interim parliament subject to its endorsement by the first meeting of the constituent assembly.

They also agreed that the Prime Minister would be acting as head of the state until the constituent assembly decides the fate of monarchy.

Although the ruling parties agreed in principle to increase seats on the proportional system, they could not reach understanding on its actual strength. The CPN-UML has proposed 60-40 ratio for the PR and the first-past-the-post. Nepali Congress today came up with a fresh proposal of 55-45 ratio, and the Maoists are insisting on 80-20 ratio if all- out PR was not acceptable to other parties.

A central secretariat meeting of the Maoists held at Buddhanagar in the afternoon, however, “welcomed” the seven parties’ understanding to go for federal democratic system of governance and to declare the country a republic by the interim parliament subject to its endorsement by the CA. “But our position is that CA polls must be held on all-out proportional system,” senior Maoist leader Mohan Baidya aka Kiran told this daily.

Baidya said if the parties were not ready for all-out PR system, a broader roundtable conference must be called by the PM himself to decide on the system of election.

Beware! Meat products are laced with antibiotics

Kathmandu, December 14, 2007

Meat products, mainly poultry products, have become main course in our daily food consumption, but it’s high time to think about their impact on health beside the flavour that appeases our taste buds.

These poultries are fed antibiotics and our bodies become resistant to antibiotics as we consume these products for long. The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) recently conducted a test on antibiotic residue (Tetracycline), which is an antibiotic commonly found in poultry.

Testing of 26 samples in the market revealed that muscles of chicken meat had 46 per cent of the antibiotic residue, skin had 12 per cent, gizzard had 53 per cent, liver had 46 per cent and heart had 15 per cent antibiotic residue.

Antibiotics like Tetracycline, Penicillin, Erythromycin, which are important in human medication, are extensively fed to poultries. “Through the consumption of poultry products laced with these drugs, our body is becoming resistant to antibiotics,” said Dr Meg Raj Bhandari, a food scientist at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC).