224 banh my eaters stricken with salmonella poisoning

Banh my (Vietnamese bread) contaminated with Salmonella bacteria supplied by a bakery in this central province has been identified as the cause of the poisoning of 224 locals.

The province's food hygiene and safety department yesterday announced that banh my sold by Vuong Tien Thanh Bakery had been contaminated with the bacteria, forcing consumers to rush to hospitals last Wednesday.

Samples taken from the bakery and the contents of the victims' stomachs tested positive for the bacteria. People infected with Salmonella develop symptoms of diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within 72 hours of infection.

This is the biggest case of food poisoning seen in the province, and authorities have shut down the bakery for further inspection.

Of the 224 victims, 61 are now at home, recovering from their symptoms.

Police arrest company directors for trading in gold

Police from the Ministry of Public Security and HCM City today remanded Nguyen Van Ky Chung - the general director of Thien Viet Financial Investment Joint Stock Company, in custody for allegedly trading gold online.

His younger brother, who was also a director in the company, was also arrested.

In initial investigations, it emerged that the company was only permitted to perform stock transactions but it illegally ran an underground gold trading floor by using the software Meta Trade4. 

HCM City confiscates nearly 150,000 cartridges

HCM City People's Committee has decided to confiscate nearly 150,000 plastic blank cartridges, illegally imported into Viet Nam.

In April 2014, as many as 60 cartons with 144,000 bullets were found and seized by the Tan Son Nhat Airport Customs, while being transported on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, via Bangkok to Viet Nam.

Turkish Airlines had sent documents to the customs authorities for permission to re-export the package, explaining that it had sent it on the wrong flight.

However, the city authorities rejected the request, and said Turkish Airlines would have to pay an additional fine of VND30 million (US$1,300).

HCM City Customs Department will co-operate with HCM Police to hand over the entire package to the High Command as regulated.

In late July this year, the Tan Son Nhat Airport Customs also seized 94 revolvers and 472 rounds of ammunition transported by Turkish Airlines from the Czech Republic to Viet Nam. Authorities said this case was serious, risking national defence and social security.

Weapons transport, storage, trade and production are prohibited by the law, but due to the high profits involved, smuggling of weapons still exists. According to Article 230 of Criminal Law 1999, individuals or organisations transporting weapons in or out of Vietnamese territory will be fined VND20-40 million ($890 to $1,780).

70 pangolins yet to be returned to habitat

Seventy pangolins have been kept in net bags at Ninh Binh's Cuc Phuong National Park instead of being released to their habitat after being rescued from wildlife traffickers in August.

The pangolins have not yet been set free because regulations bar their release until after the court has issued a final judgement in the trafficking case, a representative of the Nature Conservation Department said yesterday.

However, the case is still being processed, he said.

In this case, the court needs to issue a circular, or other legal document, granting the release of the pangolins; however, it takes up to 2 years for such a document to be compiled and issued, he said.

The department had worked with the relevant agencies to handle the case within two months but failed to reach a resolution, he said.

Tran Quang Phuong from the national park said the pangolins' health would suffer if they were kept in net bags for too long.

Besides this, the centre also has to bear the cost of feeding the pangolins. It costs nearly VND99 million (US$4,400) to feed them per month, he said.

Nguyen Van Thai, director of Save Viet Nam's Wildlife, said pangolins were often released into their habitat after being saved from wildlife traffickers in all countries across the world.

The centre is making every effort to help the pangolins return to their habitat soon, he added. 

MAUR mulls different colors for trains

The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) plans to use distinctively different colors for trains on eight planned metro lines and three tramways in the city to make it easy for commuters to recognize.

MAUR has joined hands with consultants and contractors to do research on colors for urban trains. The authority said it is easy for people, even color-blinded ones, to distinguish colors.

The authority plans to use the sky-blue color for trains on Metro Line No. 1 between Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Park in District 9, red for trains on Metro Line No. 2 between Ben Thanh Market and Tham Luong in District 12, orange for trains on Metro Line No. 3A between Ben Thanh Market and Tan Kien in Binh Chanh District, orange-white for trains on Metro Line No. 3B between Cong Hoa Intersection and Hiep Binh Phuoc in Thu Duc District, fresh green for trains on Metro Line No. 4 between Ben Cat Bridge and Nguyen Van Linh Parkway, fresh green-white for trains on Metro Line No. 4B between Gia Dinh Park Station and Lang Cha Ca Station, lotus pink for trains on Metro Line No. 5 between Saigon Bridge and Can Giuoc Bus Station and earth brown for trains on Metro Line No. 6 between Ba Queo and Phu Lam Roundabout.

For the three tramways or monorails, Monorail No. 2 (M2) would be painted purple, Monorail No. 3 (M3) light gray and trams light blue.

The tentative colors need approval from the city government.

Last month, MAUR selected the logo for the city’s mass rapid transit trains featuring a lotus bud shape with the letter M which stands for metro.

Currently, Metro Line No. 1 and Metro Line No. 2 are under construction and scheduled to be put into operation by 2020. The city is calling for investments in other lines.

Man saved from anaphylactic shock due to bee sting

Doctors of a hospital in district 2 in Ho Chi Minh City has saved a man from anaphylactic shock due to bee sting, the hospital announced yesterday.

The 41 year old man from the southern province of Dong Nai was taken to the hospital when he had difficulty in breathing, low blood pressure. There are more than 50 bee stings in his body.

He had anaphylactic shock and it is highly likely that he will die without proper treatment. Doctor teams were quick to give him fluids intravenously and medications.

After three hours of intensive treatment, the man’s condition improved much yet his blood pressure is still low and he needs to use drug. He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit for further treatment.

NAT technique shortens virus detection time

Using nucleic acid testing (NAT) in blood screening helped to reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitus infections, and enhance blood safety, according to Doctor Phu Chi Dung, director of the HCM City Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital.

The hospital was the first in Viet Nam to successfully implement NAT techniques for blood screening, said Dung during a talkshow themed "Blood screening procedures and techniques".

Blood screening helped to detect HIV, HBV and HCV viruses during the time between when a patient has been infected and when they showed positive by antibody tests, said Dung.

Viet Nam's hospitals received more than one million units of blood from donors every year. However, the rate of infection through blood transfusion including HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C was high in Viet Nam, according to Dung.

The NAT technique helps to detect HCV virus after 23 days of exposure (down from 59 days), and the time for HBV and HIV detection is 34 days and 11 days, (saving 25 days and 11 days).

NAT testing is part of the Health Ministry's roadmap towards standard blood transfusions at all health facilities nationwide.

A person can donate up to 500ml of blood each time every three months. 

Vietnam strives to implement sustainable poverty reduction solutions

The Government is implementing a line-up of policies to support impoverished citizens in land for production, capital, education, health insurance and others, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen.

Besides, essential infrastructure including irrigation systems, transport systems and many other indispensable facilities have been built to increase the livelihoods of low-income residents under Resolution No. 30, a programme that funds fast and sustainable poverty reduction in 64 districts across the country.

The Government also invested in infrastructure in an additional 30 deprived districts to facilitate production activities while helping the localities escape poverty.

Minister Chuyen said the income used to judge poverty rates for 2006 to 2010 was 200,000 VND (8.96 USD) per person per month for rural areas and 260,000 VND (11.65 USD) for urban areas. The line will rise to 400,000 VND (17.92 USD) in rural areas and 500,000 VND (22.4 USD) in urban areas starting in 2016.

The Government also asked the Ministry to build multidimensional poverty standards for the 2016-2020 period that include evaluation of income, as well as access to basic services like healthcare, education, fresh water and information.

Chuyen said that instead of 16 National Target Programmes, the Government will focus on two programmes: building new-style rural areas and reducing poverty in a sustainable manner.

In his recent speech at the UN General Assembly, President Truong Tan Sang affirmed that Vietnam has completed its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in poverty alleviation two years ahead of its international commitment.

Vietnam slashed the rate of impoverished households from 58 percent in 1993 to 5.97 percent by late 2014, becoming an outstanding example of poverty eradication as recognised by the UN and the international community. 

During the first nine months of 2015, more than 572 billion VND (25.67 million USD) was donated to the Fund for the Poor, helping the organisation build and repair nearly 19,600 houses for low-income earners, assist 204,800 deprived families with their agricultural activities, and provide medical check-ups and examinations to more than 1.5 million people.

Water security vital to Vietnam development

Ensuring water security is believed to be not only imperative but also a long-term mission for the sustainable development of Vietnam.

It was also a challenge, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said at the international conference of "water security in a changing era" held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment yesterday in Hanoi.

Hai said that the impact of climate change and shortcomings in policies for sustainable development were blamed for threatening national water security.

Climate change has caused a decline of river water and underground water. In the first months of this year, a severe drought has hit the central region. As forecast, drought is predicted to be more severe in 2016, he said.

Tong Ngoc Thanh, head of the National Centre for Water Resources Planning and Investigation said on the sideline of the conference that underground water in both the deltas of Red (Hong) River and Mekong (Cuu Long) River were rapidly declining now partly due to over-exploitation.

And the quality of surface water in international rivers that we share with other countries in the region also showed symptoms of degrading, he said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment figured out Vietnam now has around 840 billion cubic metres of surface water, up to 60% of which originates in foreign countries upstream.

"Thus, it really poses a threat of lacking surface water for our country," he said.

Thanh said the centre planned to conduct surveys to assessing water resources throughout the country, especially in the Red and Mekong river basins.

Based on the surveys, a master plan for monitoring water resources exploitation would be compiled, he said.

To reach the target of ensuring water security for national sustainable development in the near future, Deputy Prime Minister Hai assigned relevant agencies several tasks.

He said it should perfect the policy system related to water resources, strengthen international co-operations with the countries sharing the same water resources, apply advanced technologies in water resource management as well as educate people to economically use water. 

Construction work begins on Binh Ca Bridge

The People's Committee in this northern province, together with the Transport Ministry, yesterday broke ground for the construction of Binh Ca Bridge linking the province to Ho Chi Minh Highway.

The 543m-long Binh Ca Bridge is part of a linking road that is 13km long.

Work began at the junction of Yen Son District's Phu Tinh Commune and will extend to Thai Long Commune of Tuyen Quang City.

With an investment of some VND1 trillion (US$45.4 million) in government bonds, Binh Ca Bridge is expected to be completed in 2018.

The bridge will contribute to improving the road traffic network, boosting the province's social and economic development and consolidating defence and security in the region, Chau Van Lam, the provincial Party Committee Secretary, said.

As part of plans to improve the transport infrastructure in rural areas during the period 2010-15, the province has built some 2,700km of rural roads, boosting local economic development and improving living conditions for residents in these areas. 

Electric buses planned for ‘backpacker area’ in Ho Chi Minh City

One of the two routes of electric buses will run through an area dubbed the “backpacker area” in Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Transport said in a plan submitted to local authorities for consideration.

The area is located in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, often called the “backpacker area” because of the community of foreigners who stay there when they visit the city as tourists.

In its plan, the department said every passenger would pay VND6,000-12,000 (US$0.27-0.54) per ticket for their trip on electric buses.

Of the two routes, the first one would take in the “backpacker area,” Thai Binh Market, Cao Thang School, Cu Market, the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, some trade centers and administrative agencies located on the main thoroughfares in the downtown area.   

Meanwhile, Route 2 would operate along the west corridor of the downtown area, running past 23/9 Park and other main streets including Pham Ngu Lao, Cong Quynh, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Le Duan, Nguyen Binh Khiem, Truong Dinh, Tran Quoc Thao, and others.

It would also include a stop at the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, according to the department.

If the plan is approved, 11 electric buses with 12 seats each will operate on a pilot basis from 5:00 am to 6:30 pm every day, the department said.

The electric buses would run at up to 30kph and at an interval of 10 or 15 minutes.

Tickets would cost VND6,000-VND12,000, but the handicapped, the elderly and children under 1.3 meters tall would be exempt, the department said.

The department has asked officials to allow it to launch Route 1 before running Route 2.

Forty-five days after the People’s Committee approves the plan, Route 1, the first electric bus line in the city, will be put into operation, the department said.

Balancing the gender gap

Vietnam has once again been called on to pay more attention to ensuring social welfare and social protection for residents and promoting gender equality as the key solution to addressing gender-biased sex selection.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalance has become more serious in Vietnam. It has increased from a ratio of 106.2 boys per 100 girls in 2000 to 113.8 boys per 100 girls in 2013. The trend is set to continue in the coming years.

Together with India and China, the SRB imbalance has remained a matter of special concern for years in both the urban and rural areas of Vietnam, although it is not a new issue.

“Like China, which has been suffering grave consequences due to SRB imbalance, as its men were struggling to find women to marry, Vietnam’s imbalanced SRB results from the year-long policy on small-scale family and traditional culture, where most families want a son to maintain lineage and worship ancestors. Moreover, together with around 70 per cent of the population in rural areas do not have social insurance, the male kinship system causes people to look for sons to secure them in their old age,” explained Phan Thi Thu Hien, programme specialist and gender team leader at the UNFPA.

According to the specialist, the heart of the SRB imbalance issue is not sex selection, but inequality and different gender values. Gender-biased sex selection is exacerbated by patriarchal family values, amplified in particular by the male-oriented kinship system, as well as a lack of social and economic autonomy for women. Therefore, the solution is not to focus on the phenomena, but to address the broader context of socio-economic development and the promotion of human rights to dismantle gender inequality, so that the dignity and rights of every woman, young person, and individual are protected.

Hien went on to say that Vietnam was still very focused on the prevention of the problem, but not yet ready to respond to the consequences that SRB imbalance may cause in the near future.

This imbalance sets off a series of falling dominos with grave consequences for everyone - women, men, families, and entire communities. Vietnam is no exception, as less young women means that many more men will be unable to marry, causing a potential rise in forced marriages and human trafficking. Pent up male frustration could fuel social unrest, domestic violence, and the trend of migration for the sole purpose of marrying, which could result in more social and, ultimately, economic instability back home, Hien warned.

According to the UNFPA, Vietnam’s current social protection system, focused on formal sector workers, fails to cover the informal sector. The government pension scheme suffers from inequalities in age, gender, and economic status, and social allowance schemes target only the elderly at the very end of their lives. To date, social protection schemes cover only half of the elderly population.

Moreover, old thoughts remain unchanged, while propaganda programmes aimed at promoting gender equality and raising awareness about the issue have proved less effective.

“It took 20 years for South Korea to successfully balance the SRB. The key to this success is balancing fast economic growth with a good social protection and welfare system for older people, and the improvement of general equality. So the question here is, how long will it take Vietnam to address this problem? It might be 50-100 years or more before the sex ratio at birth is balanced without any intervention,” Hien forecast.

Vietnam is slowly losing its women. And if things don’t change, by 2050, Vietnam will face a terrible scenario - men will far outnumber women by 10 per cent or more. In fact, if the imbalanced SRB remains, there will be a surplus if some 2.3 to 4.3 million men, the UNFPA warned.

Student of HCM City Conservatory of Music wins emcee contest

Le Dinh Minh Ngoc, a student at the HCM City Conservatory of Music, has won the crown of HCM City Television's 2015 Nguoi Dan Chuong Trinh (The Host) contest for emcees and television hosts.

Ngoc won and received the golden prize valued at VND100 million (US$45,000) in cash. The second prize, worth VND30 million in cash, went to Le Thien Dao Duy, 25, from the southern province of Dong Thap. Duy was praised for his "emotional, simple and dear voice."

Dinh Thi Hoai Thu, 22, from Binh Phuoc Province and Hanoian Le Thi Thuy An, 26, won bronze prizes worth VND15 million each.

The jury board included well-known MC Thanh Bach, director Le Hoang, and Miss Hung Temple Giang My.

The challenges in the final round asked four competitors to emcee consecutive musical performances about the national history. 

GMO products good for Vietnam

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) would be a good solution to the problems facing Vietnam’s cereal producers, a conference on food biotechnology held on October 16 by the Center for Vietnam Science and Technology Internationalization Promotion (VISTIP), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC) was told.

Mr. Le Huy Ham, Director of the Agricultural Genetics Institute at the National Center of Natural Science and Technology, told VET that GMO products would partly reduce the dependence on imported animal feed materials such as soybean and maize. “Around 95 per cent of soybean for animal feed is imported,” he said. “Vietnam has 1.1 million ha of maize and produces 5 million tons a year, which is half the productivity seen in the US.”  

Regarding GMO products for the cotton industry, Mr. Ham said almost all of the cotton planted in Vietnam is GMO and brings major profits to farmers because of its insect-resilience and strength.

Concerns were expressed at the conference over GMO products being harmful to human health. Many speakers, however, held the view that there is no scientific evidence of harmful effects. According to Mr. Alan McHughen, Biotechnology Specialist and Geneticist at the University of California, Riverside, there are differences in the definition of GMO among international trading partners that creates misleading perceptions when business is done among their enterprises.

In Vietnam, due to concerns over selecting GMO products, the government carefully considers the issue with advice coming from scientific committees and related ministries. Any GMO planted in Vietnam must have already been planted in at least five developed countries.

In terms of public communication over the pros and cons of GMO products, Ms. Helen Yu from the World Health Organization said that information needs to be delivered by trustworthy organizations to avoid any misunderstandings in the public domain.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri