Poverty in the UK jeopardising children’s health, warns landmark report

Children’s health in the UK is in jeopardy, with higher child death rates, obesity and ill-health than in much of Europe, according to a landmark report.

“The bottom line is that the UK could do far more to improve child health and wellbeing. UK performance on several measures, though better than the United States, is worse than many European countries,” says Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), in the report.

“Particularly troubling are the stark inequalities in child health that have widened in the last five years.”

The report, published on Thursday, shows that:

• The UK has the 15th highest mortality rate for babies under the age of one year out of 19 European countries and one of the highest rates for older children and young people. There are around 130 more deaths of one to nine-year-olds in the UK every year than there would be if it met the European average. The leading causes are cancer, injuries and poisonings, congenital conditions and neurological and developmental disorders.

• Smoking in pregnancy, which increases the risk of deaths in babies and disease in later life, is 11% in England and 15% in Northern Ireland, higher than in many European countries and strongly associated with deprivation. The rate is 5% in Lithuania and Sweden.

• Breastfeeding rates are low – only 34% of babies are breastfed at all by six months, compared with 71% in Norway.

• In England’s most deprived areas, 40% of children were overweight or obese in the last year, compared to 27% in the most affluent.

“We are terribly concerned,” Modi told the Guardian. “What is particularly shocking is that although we’ve known these things for a long time, we are still in a situation where there is such wide health disparity between the most advantaged and the least advantaged.

“The shocking thing is that we know what’s wrong, we know where we stand, we’ve known this for some time but we seem to be absolutely stuck.

“Children are a low priority. In this country children are still not seen. They are not visible. But as a scientist I would say the other reason we’re lagging behind is because the link between child health and adult health and everything that follows downstream from that in terms of the economic prosperity of nations is not adequately recognised.”

Infant mortality in Europe

Children living in the most deprived areas are much more likely to be in poor health, be overweight or obese, suffer from asthma, have poorly managed diabetes, experience mental health problems, and die early, the report shows.

“Poor health in infancy, childhood, and young adult life will ultimately mean poor adult health, and this in turn will mean a blighted life and poor economic productivity. The UK is one of the richest countries in the world; we can and must do better, for the sake for each individual, and that of the nation as a whole,” said Modi.

Sarah Toule, head of health information at World Cancer Research Fund, agrees:“We strongly support RCPCH’s call on the government to close the poverty gap and improve our children’s health and future.”

The report calls for child health to be pushed high up the government’s agenda, as a cross-departmental issue. Each government – Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England – should develop a child health and wellbeing strategy and consider children’s health in all policymaking.

The college also calls for a broadcasting ban on adverts for high fat, sugar and salt foods before 9pm, support for breastfeeding and minimum unit pricing of alcohol – which would help make strong drinks unaffordable for children and young people. In addition, the college want the public smoking ban extended to schools, playgrounds and hospitals.

The call for action was backed by the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of over 35 leading charities, Royal Medical Colleges and campaign groups, who said: “We must take bold action now by bringing in measures like the soft drinks industry levy, reducing the sugar, saturated fat, and salt from everyday foods and restricting junk food marketing to children to give us a fighting chance to help make our children healthier now, and in the future.”

The Child Poverty Action Group also applauded the report’s recommendations. “The Royal College’s report demonstrates all too clearly how poverty in the UK is jeopardising children’s health,” said Alison Garnham, chief executive.

“We are nowhere near where we should be on children’s wellbeing and health given our relative wealth. In the face of a projected 50% increase in child poverty by 2020, this report should sound alarms. It is saying that unless we act, the price will be high – for our children, our economy and our overstretched NHS which will take the knock-on effects.”

A cross-governmental approach, considering child health in every policy, was the right one, Garnham said. “But the overall question the report raises for our prime minister is will she continue with the deep social security and public service cuts she inherited – to the detriment of our children’s health – or will she act to ensure that families have enough to live on so that all children get a good start? If other comparable countries can produce results that put them in the top ranks for child health, why not us?”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are determined to tackle health inequalities and help children and families lead healthier lives. To help, over the next five years we will invest more than £16bn in local government public health services.”

Poverty in the UK jeopardising children’s health, warns landmark report

More powerful Genetic Basis For Schizophrenia, Landmark Study Finds

Far more than 80 newly identified genes could area people at danger for developing schizophrenia, strengthening the evidence for a biologic basis for a disorder that has an effect on nearly 24 million people or 1 % globally, according to the benefits of a new research.

The examine, as anticipated, confirmed that genes involving dopamine regulation are concerned in schizophrenia, but also found that genes tied to the immune system and also relevant to smoking have been linked as well.

The exact romantic relationship of the newly recognized genes areas relevance on the want for further function to uncover the sudden findings, particularly genes linked with smoking. It unclear whether smoking genuinely increases threat, but if confirmed, smoking cessation could be incorporated as portion of a risk assessment and evaluation.

The findings of the research were published July 22 in the Journal, Nature.

English: Image displaying brain locations much more active in controls than in schizophrenia sufferers throughout a functioning memory task in the course of a fMRI study. Two brain slices are proven. (Photo credit score: Wikipedia)

Schizophrenia, now identified to have a genetic basis, leads to a delusional state characterized by abnormal perceptions, including agitation, paranoia, as well as hearing voices, which can also lead to violent habits.

In the previous, there had been controversy amid professionals about the precise leads to of the mental sickness, with some not recognizing schizophrenia as a illness at all, and others unclear regardless of whether it had its origins from traumatic events and experiences in childhood, or, in reality, was biologically based.  About thirty genes had been imagined to be responsible for the growth of schizophrenia, with suspicion of environmental factors contributing to its onset.

With this landmark study–lasting 7 years, involving far more than 80,000 genetic samples and evaluating men and women with and without the disease–it now turns into evident that there is stronger and far more convincing proof that the presence and activity of distinct genes can account for individuals with the symptoms of schizophrenia.

The historic examine across 35 countries–the biggest to date of people living with schizophrenia–examined the genetic make up of far more than 35,000 folks living with the problem, compared to 110,000 with out the disorder.

The research utilized a method recognized as genome wide association, a method comparing the sequenced genomes of those affected by the situation to individuals unaffected.  The differences in the genomes of those with the illness may well then offer attainable clues to the origins of schizophrenia, which could be potential  targets for drug therapy.

The research identified much more than a hundred genes which place people at a higher risk of building schizophrenia, of which 83 have in no way recognized in the past.  The bulk of the newly identified genes affect the relay of messages by way of chemical signaling as a measure of plasticity, but some have been also mentioned to be integral in the immune system and the potential to battle off condition.

Interestingly, earlier analysis has currently uncovered information indicating individuals with schizophrenia have indications of inflammation based on specific blood markers called cytokines. Of note, one particular report has recommended that relatives of persons with schizophrenia have up to a 45 % increased possibilities of building schizophrenia.  The findings from this examine now confirm and support the connection with the immune method.

Of note, there have not been any groundbreaking advances in the pharmacologic therapy of schizophrenia because the drug thorazine was 1st utilized in the late 1950’s.  The target of thorazine, the dopamine pathway, has been the basis for every single drug  developed for treating the condition.

Dr. Kyle Lapidus, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health-related Center in New York City, explains that pharmacologic advances have not been a major part of  modifications in approach to patients with schizophrenia considering that the 1960s.

“Clozapine is the most distinct of presently approved medicines for schizophrenia,” said Lapidus. “Although other medication have been accepted much more recently, these do not target novel mechanisms or demonstrate superior efficacy.”

With the discovery of additional genes now implicated in the advancement of schizophrenia, numerous scientists are hopeful that there will be further opportunities to determine medicines or biologic agents to intervene in the pathways top to abnormal brain chemistry or signaling as element of the disorder.

More powerful Genetic Basis For Schizophrenia, Landmark Study Finds

"No Such Thing As GMO Contamination" Principles Australian Court in Landmark Selection, Rebuffing Organic Activists

As the Genetic Literacy Project reports, in an endorsement of the co-existence of genetically modified and natural farming, the Western Australian Supreme Court today rejected claims by a farmer who contended that his natural licensed farm was “contaminated” by a neighboring farmer growing GM canola.

“I am not pleased that in 2010 Mr. Baxter breached any (lesser) duty of reasonable care,” Justice Kenneth Martin wrote in his judgment.

Natural farmer Steve Marsh had sued his neighbor and former buddy, Michael Baxter, claiming that GM canola from Baxter’s land had drifted onto his organic oats, rye and sheep farm in Kojonup, Western Australia. The Nationwide Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) temporarily suspended Marsh’s natural certification on about 70 % of his house in late 2010. Marsh sought monetary compensation of $ 85,000 (AU) from Baxter, as effectively as a long lasting court injunction banning Baxter from planting GM crops.

In contrast to the United States, the European Union and Japan, which let trace amounts of GMO crops in natural meals in acknowledgement of cross pollination by wind or pollen transfer, Australia maintains a zero threshold.

Anti-GMO groups have gotten a great deal of traction by branding cross pollination as “contamination.”  Cross pollination occurs naturally but is regarded unacceptable to organic purists, who want natural crops to be entirely cost-free of pollen from GM crops and want individuals demands incorporated into legislation.

Just lately, voters in two southern Oregon counties accepted measures to ban the cultivation of GM crops based on “contamination” issues. The Marsh versus Baxter case has attracted global consideration as it sheds light on how “contamination” claims by organic farmers may be received in other courts.

In the 150-webpage judgment summary, Justice Martin wrote there had been no unreasonable interference with Marsh’s crops. He found that the determination to withdraw natural certification was produced by the Australian organic certifying bodies NASAA/NCO and it was that decision and not natural cross pollination that price Marsh about $ 85,000 (AU) in decreased cash flow.

“Mr. Baxter was not to be held accountable as a broadacre farmer merely for expanding a lawful GM crop and deciding on to adopt a harvest methodology (swathing), which was completely orthodox in its implementation,” he wrote. “Nor could Mr. Baxter be held responsible, in law, for the reactions to the incursion of the Marshes’ organic certification entire body, NCO, which in the conditions presented to be an unjustifiable response to what occurred.” Martin added there was “a really strong physique of proof in this trial to suggest that there was no reputable contractual basis for NCO to decertify” Marsh’s farm.

Natural tolerance requirements challenged

In the course of the eleven-day hearing in February, scientists also testified that Roundup Ready canola swathes have been harmless to animals, people and land even if consumed.

The court case has highlighted contradictions in recent Australian farming and natural certifying regulations. Professor Rick Roush from Melbourne University’s College of Land and Atmosphere stated he believes the situation is exclusive to Australia, simply because the Australian organics industry has a zero tolerance to the presence of any GM materials in certified organic merchandise.

“In other nations, there is a tolerance for quite little levels of legally accepted seeds, or pollen, or no matter what, to be found in a crop, even in organics,” he mentioned. “In the United States, for instance, there are broad-scale examples of GM and natural crops being grown in near proximity. In fact, in some farming operations in the United States the very same farmer will be using both GM and organic production.”

The Australian court ruling has no direct impact upon U.S. law. While related issues and fears of “GMO contamination” are also widespread amid organic farmers in the US, there has been no case in which an organic farmer has misplaced natural certification because of cross pollination. Even so, typical growers have had grain rejected for shipment simply because of the presence of GMO seeds.

The US Department of Agriculture says there is no threshold for the sum of acceptable cross pollination, and handles the concern as such:

As opposed to several pesticides, there aren’t distinct tolerance levels in the USDA organic regulations for GMOs. As this kind of, National Organic Program policy states that trace amounts of GMOs don’t immediately indicate the farm is in violation of the USDA natural regulations. In these instances, the certifying agent will investigate how the inadvertent presence occurred and advocate how it can be much better prevented in the long term.

Decision fallout

Throughout a major overview in 2011-twelve, the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21) endorsed coexistence in between farmers expanding typical, natural and genetically modified crops and rejected calls by natural activists for “zero tolerance”:

Numerous commenters recommended that we set up a “threshold” for the unintended or adventitious presence of items of excluded strategies in natural products. Some commenters argued that a threshold is required because, with no the necessary labeling of biotechnology-derived items, organic operations and certifying agents could not be assured that items of excluded approaches had been not getting utilised. Other folks argued that, without having an established threshold, the laws would constitute a “zero tolerance” for items of excluded techniques, which would be extremely hard to attain.

"No Such Thing As GMO Contamination" Principles Australian Court in Landmark Selection, Rebuffing Organic Activists

Egyptian physician to stand trial for female genital mutilation in landmark case

A medical professional is to stand trial in Egypt on costs of female genital mutilation on Thursday, the 1st case of its kind in a country where FGM is illegal but widely accepted.

Activists warned this week that the landmark case was just one modest stage in the direction of eradicating the practice, as villagers openly promised to uphold the tradition and a neighborhood police chief stated it was near-unattainable to stamp out.

Raslan Fadl, a physician in a Nile delta village, is accused of killing 13-year-old schoolgirl Sohair al-Bata’a in a botched FGM operation last June. Sohair’s father, Mohamed al-Bata’a, will also be charged with complicity in her death.

Fadl denies the costs, and claims Sohair died due to an allergic reaction to penicillin she took for the duration of a process to eliminate genital warts.

“What circumcision? There was no circumcision,” Fadl shouted on Tuesday evening, sitting outside his residence the place Sohair died final summertime. “It is all manufactured up by these dogs’ rights individuals [human rights activists].”

In the subsequent village along, Sohair’s dad and mom had gone into hiding, according to their loved ones. Her grandmother – soon after whom Sohair was named – admitted an FGM operation had taken spot, but disapproved of the court case.

“This is her destiny,” stated the elder Sohair. “What can we do? It really is what God ordered. Practically nothing will assist now.”

According to Unicef, 91% of married Egyptian ladies aged amongst 15 and 49 have been subjected to FGM, 72% of them by medical doctors, even although the practice was created illegal in 2008. Unicef’s research suggests that help for the practice is steadily falling: 63% of girls in the same age bracket supported it in 2008, compared with 82% in 1995.

But in rural locations the place there is a reduced standard of schooling – like Sohair’s village of Diyarb Bektaris – FGM nevertheless attracts instinctive assistance from the neighborhood population, who believe it decreases women’s appetite for adultery.

“We circumcise all our youngsters – they say it is very good for our ladies,” Naga Shawky, a 40-12 months-outdated housewife, informed the Guardian as she walked along streets close to Sohair’s property. “The law will not stop anything at all – the villagers will carry on. Our grandfathers did it and so shall we.”

Nearby, Mostafa, a 65-year-outdated farmer, did not realise that genital mutilation had been banned. “All the women get circumcised. Is that not what’s supposed to occur?” explained Mostafa. “Our two daughters are circumcised. They are married and when they have daughters we will have them circumcised as nicely.”

Nearby help for Fadl, who is also a sheikh [elder] in his village mosque, remains high. “Most people will inform you he is a quite excellent man: will not harm him,” explained Reda el-Danbouki, the founder of the Women’s Centre for Advice and Legal Awareness, a local rights group that was the 1st to get up Sohair’s case. “If you asked folks about who is the greatest person to do this operation, they would even now say: Dr Raslan [Fadl].”

Most villagers said they imagined the practice was prescribed by Islamic law. But female genital mutilation is not described in the Qur’an and has been outlawed by Egypt’s grand mufti, 1 of the country’s most senior Islamic clerics. It is also practised in Egypt’s Christian communities – foremost activists to stress that it is a social issue rather than a religious one.

“It’s not an Islamic concern – it’s cultural,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, regional representative for Equality Now, a rights group that lobbied Egypt to follow through with Fadl’s prosecution. “In Sudan and Egypt the practice is widespread. But in most of the other Arab countries – which are mainly Muslim countries – individuals don’t feel of it as a Muslim issue. In truth, there has been a fatwa that bans FGM.”

Campaigners hope Sohair’s case would discourage other doctors from continuing the practice. But villagers in Diyarb Bektaris stated they could nonetheless easily find physicians prepared to do it in the nearby town of Agga, in which practitioners could earn up to 200 Egyptian lbs (roughly £16.70) an operation. “If you want to ban it properly,” explained Mostafa, the farmer, “you’d have to ban medical professionals as properly.”

Up the road in Agga, no physician would publicly admit to carrying out FGM operations, and mentioned the law acted as a deterrent. But 1 claimed FGM could be morally justified even if it brought on ladies bodily or psychological discomfort.

“It provides the woman far more dignity to get rid of [her clitoris],” mentioned Dr Ahmed al-Mashady, who stressed that he had by no means carried out the operation but claimed it was necessary to cleanse females of a dirty physique part.

“If your nails are dirty,” he explained in comparison, “never you cut them?”

A number of hundred metres away, sitting in his heavily fortified barracks, the local police chief agreed the practice necessary to finish. But Colonel Ahmed el-Dahaby claimed police could not operate proactively on the problem because FGM happened in secret. He also explained they were held back by the nuances of the Egyptian legal system – one thing that would shock individuals who argue police officers have readily contravened due approach in other more politicised cases.

“It truly is extremely hard to arrest a medical doctor,” said Dahaby. “Why? You do not know when precisely he is going to do this operation. In purchase to arrest him legally you have to have the papers from the prosecutor, and only then can you go. But you never know when the operations will get place, so you have to catch them in the act or it has to be reported by the father. And that is challenging simply because the father will deny what happened.”

In Sohair’s situation, her family members did initially testify that she died following an FGM operation but then changed their testimony a few days later, top the situation to be closed. It was only reopened following a triple-pronged stress campaign led by Reda el-Danbouki, Equality Now and Egypt’s state-run Nationwide Population Council.

Thursday’s hearing will most likely be short and procedural. In subsequent sessions, Sohair’s loved ones is anticipated to waive the manslaughter charges towards Fadl, soon after Dahaby said the two sides reached a substantial out-of-court compensation agreement.

But the family members has no say above the FGM fees levelled at the two Fadl and Sohair’s father – and the state will carry on to seek a conviction against them each. But whether or not such a result will serve as a main deterrent against FGM remains to be observed.

For Equality Now’s Suad Abu-Dayyeh, the solution is a systematic educational programme that would see campaigners usually visit Egypt’s countryside to begin a conversation about a topic that has previously never been questioned. “You need to have to go continuously into the communities. We need to locate a way of actually debating these issues with the villagers, the physicians and the midwives.”

And for the victims themselves, says Abu-Dayyeh, this method can not start quickly sufficient. “They ought to get pleasure from their sexual relations with their long term husbands. They are human beings.”

Additional reporting by Manu Abdo

Egyptian physician to stand trial for female genital mutilation in landmark case

NHS whistleblower wins landmark dismissal case

A hospital consultant who was “hounded mercilessly” out of his job soon after raising considerations about patient safety has won a landmark legal victory for unfair dismissal after the longest-operating and most high-priced whistleblowing situation in NHS background.

Dr Raj Mattu, a cardiologist, was suspended for eight years, then sacked, soon after warning that patients were dying due to the fact of expense-cutting practices introduced by a Coventry hospital.

NHS bosses employed private investigators in an apparent attempt to discredit him, paying an estimated £6 million in pursuit of the case towards him. Colleagues stated he had been “hounded mercilessly” by hospital managers following speaking out.

On Thursday night MPs stated the employment tribunal ruling, which located the whistleblower had been unfairly dismissed, shone a light on a “sinister and dystopian” culture of cover-up within the NHS, which destroyed the lives of those who attempted to communicate up for patients. Experts believe Dr Mattu, now 54, could be in line for damages of as a lot as £10 million.

The medical doctor explained on Thursday night that he was “relieved” by the ruling but mentioned his lifestyle had been ruined by the actions of overall health chiefs given that his warning in 2002 that patients’ lives were currently being put at chance by price-cutting selections becoming taken at Walsgrave hospital, in Coventry.

Dr Mattu stated: “My remedy by the believe in above the previous 13 years has damaged my wellness, my expert status and my livelihood and its results on my personalized and private life have been devastating.” He mentioned he hoped that the health support would understand from the case and commence listening to whistleblowers.

Charlotte Leslie, a Conservative member of the Commons health select committee, said: “This shows just how far the NHS was prepared to go, spending millions trying to protect its popularity by taking on a person who was simply fighting for good patient care.”

She added: “This is a pattern, a dystopian world in which the priority is to hush up inconvenient truths and pursue sinister and aggressive policies to ruin those who talk out.”

A spokesman for University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS trust said it was disappointed by the employment tribunal’s choice “given that the method followed by the believe in was reviewed by the Court of Appeal in March 2012, when it located in the trust’s favour”. He explained the trust would think about its grounds for appeal.

NHS whistleblower wins landmark dismissal case

Clinical Trial Data At Heart Of Landmark Wall Street Insider Trading Scandal

Yesterday, Manhattan U.S. Lawyer Preet Bharara issued this statement shortly after the jury conviction of Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors.

“As the jury unanimously identified, Mathew Martoma cultivated and bought the self confidence of medical professionals with secret information of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug, and utilized it to engage in unlawful insider trading. Martoma bought the response sheet prior to the examination – more than after – netting a quarter billion bucks in revenue and losses avoided for SAC, as properly as a $ 9 million bonus for him. In the brief run, cheating may possibly have been profitable for Martoma, but in the end, it made him a convicted felon, and probably will consequence in the forfeiture of his unlawful windfall and the reduction of his liberty. Mathew Martoma gets to be the 79th man or woman convicted of insider trading following trial or by guilty plea in this District in the last 4 years.” Statement of Manhattan U.S. Lawyer Preet Bharara (here)

A synopsis of the case was also supplied late yesterday by Over the Law (right here):

* The income produced and losses avoided by SAC Capital as a result of Martoma’s insider trading: $ 275 million.
* The win/loss record of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the S.D.N.Y. in insider-trading circumstances: 79-.
* How prolonged the Mathew Martoma trial lasted: 4+ weeks.
* How extended the jury deliberated: 15 hrs.
* Gender breakdown of the jury: 7 women, five males.
* Counts of conviction: two counts of securities fraud, 1 count of conspiracy.
* Penalties paid by SAC Capital back in November 2013: $ 1.two billion.
* Recent or former workers of SAC Capital (such as Martoma) who have been convicted of criminal insider-trading fees (no matter whether by guilty plea or trial): eight.
* Number of “A” grades on Mathew Martoma’s fake Harvard Law School transcript: four (out of 7 grades).
* Number of D.C. Circuit judges that Martoma acquired clerkship interviews with: three.
* Age of Mathew Martoma: 39.
* How numerous youthful children Martoma has: three.
* The length of Martoma’s most likely prison sentence (pursuant to the non-binding federal sentencing recommendations): seven-ten many years.

Forbes has extensive coverage (here and here) on the Wall Street insider trading aspect – but the implications for the healthcare industry are equally crucial. Why? Because numerous believe the income to SAC Capital Adivsors – a substantial flying hedge fund with an equally substantial flying track record of achievement – were the result of the “most profitable within tip of all time” (PBS Frontline right here). That tip was within information offered by Dr. Sidney Gilman – a best Alzheimer investigation scientist who was earning $ 258,000 a 12 months as a professor at the University of Michigan (in which he was for decades).

The Frontline episode (“To Catch A Trader” right here) just aired last month. Central to Frontline’s claim of the “largest insider trading situation in history” was comprehensive clinical trial data provided by Dr. Gilman in a sequence that allowed SAC Capital to very first revenue from constructive trial data – and then keep away from large losses when subsequent trial data was adverse. The profit on each the excellent and undesirable clinical trial news was about $ 275 million.

In December of 2012, the New York Times profiled Dr. Gilman and his background of providing inside info to a selection of financial companies with the headline: Quiet Medical doctor, Lavish Insider: A Parallel Existence (right here).

What struck me wasn’t the normal Wall Street insider plot since there had been lots of publicly traded firms referenced in the Frontline section. A lot of were bellwether silicon valley chip producers with easily recognizable brand names. What struck me was how a single doctor – with within clinical trial details – could be at the very heart of one of the greatest – if not the largest – insider trading scandal in U.S. historical past. By assisting the Feds with their case towards Mathew Martoma it’s conceivable if not very likely that he will steer clear of criminal prosecution himself. It also highlights the enormous value of clinical trial information for one drug and 1 issue. The relative ease by which the details was provided (the inference was an early release of a presentation – likely by email) was noteworthy.

Mr. Martoma’s fate is now in the hands of sentencing – and then (really potentially) subsequent negotiations. He’s not the biggest fish the Feds are right after in their ongoing investigation. That would be Steven A. Cohen – the billionaire founder of SAC Capital Advisors. According to the Frontline section, Mr. Cohen’s fate might well escape any criminal prosecution. Even even though his insider trading record is an astonishing 79-, Mr. Preet Bharara ended the Frontline section with this sober legal assessment.

Narrator: As it stands, the criminal negligence laws that apply to some industries do not apply to finance. To alter that, Congress would require to pass a new statute. 

Preet Bharara: We have conspiracy statutes and we have aiding and abetting statutes and we have the criminal capability to carry a situation against an institution … but we really don’t carry criminal cases towards people for negligence.

Correspondent Martin Smith: Do you feel you’ll ever see a case in which negligence rises to the level of criminal liability? …. in the hedge fund planet?

Preet Bharara: I would doubt that.

Clinical Trial Data At Heart Of Landmark Wall Street Insider Trading Scandal