SECRET SHARED
Microsoft has given the source code for its Windows operating system software to the Russian government, to help it safeguard national security. The deal, which is equivalent to Coca-Cola revealing its secret recipe, will allow Russia to verify security within the Windows system and create secure programs of its own. The only other government to have the code is the US, but Microsoft is in talks with NATO and 20 other countries. Critics say the move is intended to discourage governments from embracing 鈥渙pen-source鈥� software and soften them up for Microsoft鈥檚 next-generation software platform, Palladium.
CHILDREN ON DRUGS
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The number of American children taking psychiatric drugs more than doubled between 1987 and 1996. Prescription records of 900,000 children and adolescents show that 6.2 per cent were taking at least one psychiatric drug in 1996, up from 2.5 per cent in 1987. That is close to the percentage of adults taking such drugs at the time (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, vol 157, p 17). Prescriptions for mood-stabilising and antipsychotic drugs increased most dramatically.
MUDDY WATERS
The US Environmental Protection Agency has adopted a policy of allowing water polluters to buy 鈥渃redits鈥� from others who pollute less. This is similar to existing schemes for reducing air pollution. The EPA has not set pollution targets for water, or given details of how the water credits will work. Some environmentalists applaud the policy, while others say that without targets, it simply allows companies to save money by not cleaning water.