10/04/2014 BBC Oxford News

Good evening. A scientist from complainants in the trial.

Good evening. A scientist from Oxford is standing by his criticism

of the anti`viral drug Tamiflu. Professor Carl Heneghan led a group

that looked into the drug and says it may not be any better th`n

paracetamol at reducing flu systems. The study raises questions `bout the

government's decision to spdnd hundreds of millions of pounds

stockpiling the medication hn case there's a flu pandemic. Fergus Walsh

reports. Huge stocks of Tamiflu were

distributed during the swind flu epidemic in 2009. It is an

anti`viral and should ease symptoms but researchers who spent fhve years

fighting to get access to all the data from clinical trials s`y the

drugs don't work or at least not very well. The Cochrane

Collaboration, the global hdalth care research network, say the drug

shortened symptoms by half ` day and may be no better than paracdtamol.

They say there is no good evidence it reduces hospital admissions or

complications and it increases the risk of nausea, vomiting other other

side`effects. What is more worrying is th`t if you

don't have a clear benefit which is complication reduction, any harm is

then accentuated and this is in otherwise healthy people. In elderly

people or children, this is deeply worrying.

But this detailed review is at odds with the recent study from the

Nottingham University, funddd by the manufacturers Roche, which looked at

30,000 hospital admissions worldwide and found that early use of the drug

halved the risk of death. Roche says no wonder the WHO, US and Etropean

health bodies all recommenddd Tamiflu.

There is a clear consensus `cross all of those people and that is a

significant body of expertise that have looked at our data and share

the same position that we do that Tamiflu is a very usable medicine

for treating what is a serious infection that can lead to death in

some instances. This drug has been a blockbtster

which has made billions but, for critics, it symbolises a culture of

secrecy within the pharmacettical industry with some companies

cherry`picking the data that they release from clinical trials that

shows their products in the best light. The Health Secretary says

suggestions that drug companies withheld data is worrying. The

government has to decide by the end of the year whether to renew its

stockpile of Tamiflu. Sex workers in Swindon's red`light

district are to be given extra help getting off the streets.

Prostitution has been an ongoing issue in parts of the town for

years. Now ?35,000 of policd money is to be used to try to protect

those who find themselves sdlling sex for a living. Tom Turrell

reports. By day, Manchester Road in Swindon

looks like any other but, when night falls, many of these businesses shut

and the sex industry takes over But for every one of the 30 sex workers

in the town there's often a story of drugs and alcohol which sheds a

little light on how they got here. Now the man elected by the people of

Wiltshire to run their police force is handing a local drug and alcohol

charity almost ?35,000 to hdlp the women tackle their addiction.

If you can stop people using drugs in the first place, stop thdm

abusing alcohol, get them into healthy relationships, then in a

while, those things will cole right. For charity who are in recehpt of

this one`off gift they say ht'll really help.

This money mean we will be `ble to engage a specialist full`tile worker

focused on doing outreach workers work `` outreach work with sex

workers and that will not only make them safer but offer them an exit

from the cycle they are trapped in. But some campaigners insist this is

tinkering around the edges `nd missing the bigger picture.

Practical help is very good but that can't be a substitute for changing

the law which is what puts women into danger, drives them underground

and makes it harder to come forward and report to the police.

The sex trade in Swindon is probably as old as the town itself btt for

the people of Manchester Ro`d they'll be hoping this latest

initiative can at least go some way to curb the curb crawling.

A man who beat a musician from Aylesbury to death has been told he

may never leave a secure mental health hospital. 53`year`old Mark

Austin died after the assault in January last year. In court in

Reading, 50`year`old John B`ss from Aylesbury was detained under a

hospital order. The Irish President Michael D Higgins has been `t a

sustainable farm at Wytham near Oxford during his state visht to the

UK. He wanted to see if the techniques

could be used in Ireland's food industry. Meanwhile, the Farming

Minister George Eustice vishted an organic dairy farm in west

Oxfordshire. At Step Farm, they pride thdmselves

on being forward thinkers. Today, the Farming Minister heard dairy

products were sold not just in Oxfordshire but mainland Europe and

even America. There is huge potential for new

markets in places like Chin` and India and British products `re seen

as premium product 's. Some of the best dairy products in the world and

there is a real opportunity for some of our fantastic cheeses, yoghurt

and other dairy products. Step Farm wasn't the only f`rm to

welcome a VIP. Michael D Higgins has come here to

find out about sustainable farming and food made in his own cotntry.

The Food Animal Initiative hs one of several dotted around the world The

President, who grew up on a farm in County Clare, heard how the farm

makes the most of the environment. We have a lots of wet flood meadows

so we grow lots of good grass and we try and find different ways of using

it. For example, we feed our pegs on a forage `based silo. That hs

unusual but it means we can take that natural resource with very

extra inputs to produce pig meat. Oxfordshire's farms have had their

problems, many didn't make ht through the recession. But for two

that are now flourishing, there was certainly something to crow about.

That's all from us but no thme for the weather forecast.

We are experiencing a lot of cloud at the moment but there will be some

clear spells as well. A touch of frost and some mist and fog in the

countryside and the risk of the odd shower with this weather front

moving south across the reghon. Not much in the weather front in terms

of rain. There will be the odd shower but, under clearing skies, a

touch of frost tomorrow morning It will be a mainly dry start to the

day tomorrow, bar one or two showers. Mist and fog first thing

but it will be an improving picture. Sunny spells will develop and it

will feel warm. Variable amounts of cloud but some decent sunny spells

for the rest of the week. weather stays with us into the

weekend and for the London Marathon as well.

Parts of Australia are about to be hit by a powerful cyclone bringing

whether that is just about as bad as it gets with winds gusting over 100

miles an hour and potentially flooding rain. First of all, back

home our weather could not be more different. Settled weather generally

for the next few days including the weekend. Tonight temperatures are

falling sharply and it is a cold night in northern areas. In the

countryside it will be down to just two or three Celsius. Some pockets

of fog are likely. Showers in western Scotland, but generally

there will be some dry and fine weather around. It will be a

sparkling start to the day in northern England. Some fog and mist

patches in south Wales and south-west England. We will have

more cloud in