This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

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DEVELOPMENT REPORT - July 28, 2003: Solar Cookers
By Jill Moss
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Millions of people around the world cook their food over a smoky fire every day. It is often difficult to find wood for the fire. People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun.

Solar cookers, or ovens, have been used for centuries. A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in 1767. Today, people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world. People use solar ovens to cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.

There are three kinds of solar ovens. The first is a box cooker. It is designed with a special wall that shines or reflects sunlight into the box. Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top of the cooker. A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amounts of food.

The second kind of solar oven is a panel cooker. It includes several flat walls, or panels, that directly reflect the sun's light onto the food. The food is inside a separate container of plastic or glass that traps heat energy. People can build panel cookers quickly and with very few supplies. They do not cost much. In Kenya, for example, panel cookers are being manufactured for just two dollars.

The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic cooker. It has rounded walls that aim sunlight directly into the bottom of the oven. Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens. However, these cookers are hard to make. They must be re-aimed often to follow the sun. Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and eye injuries if they are not used correctly.

You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper. They will not catch fire. Paper burns at two-hundred-thirty-two degrees Celsius. A solar cooker never gets that hot. Solar ovens cook food at low temperatures over long periods of time. This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other things.

To learn more about solar cooking, you can write to Solar Cookers International. The address is nineteen-nineteen Twenty-First Street, Sacramento, California, nine-five-eight-one-four, U-S-A. Or you can visit the group's Internet Web site. The address is www.solarcooking.org.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

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ENVIRONMENT REPORT - July 25, 2003: Fuel Cell Cost-Cutting
By Caty Weaver
This is the VOA Special English Environment Report.

Researchers say they have found a way to reduce the cost of some fuel cell production. The researchers are from Tufts University in the American state of Massachusetts.

Fuel cells create heat and electric power without pollution. Fuel cell technology uses hydrogen to create electricity. Hydrogen gas passes over a metal, like platinum or gold. Electrons from the hydrogen separate to form electricity. Proton particles that remain in the atom combine with oxygen to form water.

Some fuel cells require a lot of metal. And platinum costs even more than gold. Prices went up at the beginning of this year. That was after President Bush said the government would spend more than one-thousand-million dollars on fuel cell research.

But the scientists from Tufts say their findings could save millions of dollars. Their work involved the agent that causes the chemical reaction used to make hydrogen. Normally that agent is about ten percent gold or other costly metal.

The researchers used a chemical to slowly remove the gold from the agent. They discovered that the agent remained effective even after they removed ninety percent of the metal.

Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos is a professor of chemical and biological engineering who led the work. She says it will help researchers find a way to produce clean energy from fuel cells in a cost effective way. Another scientist says they must continue research to learn if smaller amounts of costly metals will work in other fuel cell processes.

The National Science Foundation provided money for the research. The findings appear in Science.

That publication also reported about a new, less costly agent for making hydrogen. The report says scientists at the University of Wisconsin made the agent from tin, aluminum and nickel. They say the process works as well with these as it does with platinum and other metals that cost much more.

Some automobile makers have tested hydrogen-powered vehicles. The American space agency has used fuel cells to produce electricity since the nineteen-sixties. But cost is an issue. Currently, hydrogen costs four times more to produce than gasoline. And fuel cells cost ten times more than traditional gasoline-burning engines.

This VOA Special English Environment Report was written by Caty Weaver.

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EDUCATION REPORT - July 24, 2003: Vocational Education
By Jerilyn Watson
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

American educational experts are debating the future of vocational training. This kind of training provides job skills for high school students who often have no plans to go to college.

The federal government first began to pay for this training in high schools in nineteen-seventeen. Skills like machine operation and wood-working helped many young people learn to support themselves.

But over time, critics began to say that vocational training did not place enough importance on subjects like mathematics and reading. They said boys and girls -- including a lot from poor and minority families -- were sometimes directed toward such training unfairly.

Critics said this denied the students the chances for more education and better paying jobs. In recent years, federal money for vocational education -- and student interest in it -- have both decreased.

The United States Department of Education now says high schools should prepare every student for college -- even if the student chooses not to attend. The Bush administration budget for next year calls for cuts in money for vocational education.

Education Department official Carol D'Amico says the department recognizes the importance of vocational education. But she says it also disapproves of training programs that are weak in traditional subjects. A federal law called "No Child Left Behind" now requires students across the country to take yearly examinations in these subjects.

Many educators praise vocational training in New York. Frank Carucci is a union official with the United Federation of Teachers and a vocational education expert. Mister Carucci says the city's Career and Technical Education programs offer more than preparation for jobs. He says creative teachers have found ways to teach basic subjects, and that the job skills taught can help students pay for college.

Mister Carucci argues that the proposed cuts in spending would harm vocational programs. He says loss of such programs could mean that more students leave school before they complete their studies.

Whatever happens to the vocational education budget, the debate about what is best for students is sure to continue.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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HEALTH REPORT - July 23, 2003: New Test for West Nile Virus
By Jill Moss
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A medical company in Australia, PanBio, has developed a new test for West Nile virus. The test examines blood for what are called IgM antibodies. These are commonly found within the first few days of infection. Health officials say a second laboratory test is needed to confirm the results if the antibodies are discovered. Antibodies are proteins that the body produces to fight infection.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration in Washington approved the test for use in the United States. The agency based its decision on a study of one thousand patients. Researchers found that the PanBio test correctly identified IgM antibodies in up to ninety-nine percent of patients.

Similar studies are also being done in Canada. The government there is expected to approve the test in the coming weeks. Carl Stubbings is senior vice president of PanBio's offices in the United States. He says the company has also organized a study at a hospital in Israel. And, he says future research is possible in France and Germany.

West Nile virus started in Uganda in1937. Populations in northern Africa have since developed resistance to the infection. However, this is not the case in North America and other parts of the world.

The first cases of West Nile virus appeared in the United States in1999. Last year more than four thousand cases were reported in the country. More than two-hundred-eighty people died. Mexico, southern Europe and Canada are also dealing with the virus. And it has become a concern in Central America.

West Nile virus spreads to humans through mosquito bites. The insects become infected when they feed on birds or other animals that carry the disease. Most people do not get sick from the virus. But children and adults over the age of fifty may develop serious problems. Signs of West Nile virus include head and body pain and fever. Severe cases can lead to coma or death.

PanBio's new test for the disease takes about two hours. This is a huge reduction in the amount of time needed to identify an infected patient. Currently, tests for the disease usually take about two days to administer. Results can take up to two weeks.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jill Moss.

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AGRICULTURE REPORT - July 22, 2003: Composting
By Gary Garriott
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Many farmers around the world are composting to improve their soil so they can produce better crops. Composting is the mixing of plant or animal wastes so they break down and produce simpler substances.

Farmers add compost to their soils instead of burning the plant and animal wastes or throwing them away. Compost is an example of a natural organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers help to make soils rich so that they produce more crops for a longer time.

During the growing season, plants take gases from the air such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They combine these gases with minerals from the soil.

After the growing season ends, many parts of the plant die. Farmers gather a large amount of dead plant materials into small hills called compost piles. They may add animal wastes. They must add water so the materials will break down or decay.

Soon the plants are attacked by insects and organisms including worms and bacteria. Oxygen helps the organisms change the plant materials more rapidly. The plants decay into a mixture that can be spread on the farmland where the crops are growing. The compost returns needed nutrients to the soil.

Some rules need to be followed to produce the best quality compost. Good compost piles need water to speed the process of decay. Yet the piles should not be too wet or the plant material will be ruined. The temperature of the compost pile should not be too high or too low. The best temperature for a compost pile is about thirty to thirty-seven degrees Celsius. You can turn the pile over and over to help cool down the material and add more oxygen to the mixture which helps it decay.

Sometimes small animals such as rats and mice like to eat the composting materials. This can be prevented if you add a thin amount of soil to the top of the compost pile.

Farmers who use compost can increase the amount and quality of their crops. Computer users can find more information about composting from Volunteers in Technical Assistance or VITA.

VITA helps people around the world use science and technology to solve problems. VITA's Internet address is www.vita.org.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott.

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ENVIRONMENT REPORT - July 18, 2003: Study Says Wind Power to Lead Growth in Renewable Energies in US, Canada

ENVIRONMENT REPORT - Study Says Wind Power to Lead Growth in Renewable Energies in US, Canada
By Caty Weaver
This is the VOA Special English Environment Report.

A study says wind power will lead the growth in the use of renewable energy in the United States and Canada over the next ten years. Renewable energy also includes forms like power from the sun. Navigant Consulting in the United States carried out the study. Energy companies helped pay for much of the research.

The use of wind energy has grown in the United States, but remains less than one percent of all the energy produced.

Lisa Frantzis led the study. She says the researchers expect additions of as much as one-thousand-five-hundred megawatts from wind power projects each year. That is about equal to the energy production of one nuclear power station.

The study says there have been major improvements in the performance of all renewable energy technologies in the past twenty years. For example, the study reports a ninety percent drop in the price of electricity produced from wind. In the nineteen-eighties a kilowatt hour of wind power cost about thirty-eight cents. Now, a kilowatt hour is closer to three cents.

The study found that government support must continue and grow to permit renewable energies to compete in the power industry.

However, some renewable energy companies face criticism. In fact, wind energy producers usually have to deal with opposition from communities they try to enter.

Currently, a wind energy company is trying to set up business in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. The Cape Wind company wants to place more than one-hundred windmills in nearby waters. The windmills are hundreds of meters tall. Cape Wind says the project could provide Cape Cod with seventy-five percent of its electricity needs. And, it would not create pollution.

But, a number of people who live on or visit the Cape say they do not want the windmills. They say Cape Cod is a national treasure that should not be open to industry. They argue that building the windmills would hurt fish and birds in the area. And, they say it would hurt tourism. They say the windmills will ruin the beauty of looking out to sea from the coast.

Environmental groups, however, look at the situation differently. They ague that a source of energy that does not cause pollution would protect natural environments like Cape Cod.

This VOA Special English Environment Report was written by Caty Weaver.

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EDUCATION REPORT - July 17, 2003: Alternative Education
By Jerilyn Watson
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Some young people in the United States attend alternative schools. These are schools that offer subject material or teaching methods that are different from traditional public or private schools.

Some parents choose alternative schools because they want an education planned especially for their children's needs and strengths. The Marcus Garvey School, for example, is a private school in Los Angeles. It was established to help black families who were not happy with the schools in a poor area of the city. The school places importance on subject material related to African American culture. Student test scores are often two or more years above grade level.

Music is at the center of studies at an alternative school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Many students at the Girard Academic Music Program Neighborhood School are also from poor families. They study the traditional subjects taught at other high schools. But they also read and write their own music. Almost all finish school. Most plan to go to college.

Some students get an alternative education without leaving home. Online public and private schools offer a chance to learn by computer. For example, physical disabilities prevented a young man in Pennsylvania from attending his local high school. But he recently completed his high school requirements through an Internet school.

Students in alternative schools may also have emotional or other problems that interfere with a traditional education. Many alternative schools that help such young people also provide them with a place to live. Students ages fourteen to seventeen at Rocky Mountain Academy near Sandpoint, Idaho, live in group housing. The college preparatory program includes what is known as adventure-based learning through outdoor education.

In Texas, the Dallas area operates independent public schools for young people who have broken the law. These students are under the control of the Dallas County Juvenile Probation Department. About five-hundred students attend these schools. Officials say that once these young people are released from the criminal justice system, many go on to attend traditional schools.

This VOA Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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HEALTH REPORT - July 15, 2003: New Evidence for Mediterranean Diet

HEALTH REPORT - New Evidence for Mediterranean Diet
By Nancy Steinbach
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A study done in Greece says people can live longer and healthier lives if they eat what is known as the Mediterranean diet. Foods included in this way of eating are vegetables, fruit, beans, fish, whole grains and olive oil. Such a diet generally gets about forty percent of its calories from olive oil and other fats that are considered healthy.

Researchers from the University of Athens and Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts did the study. They published the results in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study involved twenty-two thousand healthy people in Greece. They were between the ages of twenty and eighty-six. The researchers questioned each of them about what they ate and how much they took part in physical activity.

The researchers gave them points for exercise and for each part of the Mediterranean diet they followed. People who ate vegetables, beans, fruit, nuts, whole grains and fish got higher numbers than people who did not eat these foods.

People also received a point for drinking some alcohol -- about one glass of wine a day for women, two glasses for men. They got no points if they drank more or less than that.

The study lasted for a period of four years. During that time, two-hundred-seventy-five people died. Thirty-five percent of those people died of cancer. Twenty percent died of heart disease.

The researchers found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet were less likely to die than those who did not. Also, the followers of the Mediterranean diet were less likely to die of heart disease and cancer. And the study showed exercise to be important. The people who exercised at least one hour a day had a twenty-eight percent less chance of dying than those who did not exercise.

The study also showed a link between following the Mediterranean diet and living to an old age. And it confirmed earlier studies that had suggested the effectiveness of such a diet.

Researchers say it is not just one or two foods in the Mediterranean diet that make the difference -- it is all the foods together. So they say people should eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, beans and fish. They should use olive oil in their cooking. And they should exercise every day.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

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AGRICULTURE REPORT - July 15, 2003: EU Lifts Ban on Genetically Modified Foods, but Adds Conditions

AGRICULTURE REPORT - EU Lifts Ban on Genetically Modified Foods, but Adds Conditions

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
On July second, the European Parliament agreed to let new genetically changed products enter the European Union. Several E-U nations temporarily halted the import of new genetically changed foods five years ago. The law approved this month makes an end to this action possible. However, it creates new requirements.

Parliament voted in Brussels to expand the requirements to identify genetically changed products. Under the new rules, all foods that contain point-nine percent or more of genetically modified organisms must be labeled. Even foods produced with such material but without any in the final product must be labeled. So must all genetically changed animal feed.

The European Union approved a number of genetically changed products in the nineteen-nineties. But some countries put in place an unofficial ban in1998.

The United States has repeatedly criticized the ban. On June twenty-sixth, Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman spoke to reporters. They said the United States would push forward with a case against the E-U in the World Trade Organization.

Mister Zoellick said the E-U ban has hurt not only American farmers but also hungry people in Africa. He said "irresponsible" statements about food safety have caused some African countries to refuse American food aid. Mister Zoellick said a number of countries are joining the effort to end the E-U policy. He also pointed to studies that show genetically changed foods to be safe.

The vote by the European Parliament has cleared the way to remove the ban. But this is not the end of the issue. The E-U is also requiring that full and complete records be kept on genetically changed products. The E-U calls this "traceablility." It means that documents must show how genetically changed products moved through the food supply.

American suppliers say the new E-U requirements are too costly. They say they are also concerned that Europeans will not want to buy foods labeled as genetically changed. There are no such requirements in the United States.

European Union officials say the issue is not about safety. They say Europeans want to be able to choose what they eat.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter.

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DEVELOPMENT REPORT - July 14, 2003: Oxfam

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Oxfam
By Jill Moss
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

From time to time we examine different organizations involved in development and relief work around the world. This week we tell about Oxfam. Oxfam is an independent British organization. The group works in poor communities with local organizations. It says it tries to find permanent answers to poverty and suffering. It says every human being has the right to self-respect and a chance to succeed.

Oxfam was formed in 1942. The organization was part of an effort in Britain to get food and medical supplies to starving people in Greece. At that time, Nazi Germans occupied the country. Allied forces had ordered a naval blockade in the Mediterranean. Groups formed in Britain to urge the government to let humanitarian aid get through. One of the groups was called the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief.

After World War Two, Oxfam decided to continue on and extend its aid to more than just war victims. It saw a need for humanitarian relief in all parts of the world.

Today, Oxfam has programs in more than seventy developing countries. It says that in each case, it employs local people who know the issues affecting their communities. Oxfam also carries out education campaigns and policy work. It says it wants to make sure governments and international organizations understand the problems that face the world's poor.

Oxfam depends on money from supporters to operate. A committee governs the organization with the help of a lower-level group. The members of the two committees are not paid. A chief executive supervises the daily operations of Oxfam.

Over the past fifty years, Oxfam has carried out numerous projects. It has helped communities to set up schools. The organization will pay for building classrooms and for equipment and teacher-training programs. Oxfam has helped communities improve their health services and water supplies. And it trains local people to teach others in their villages about cleanliness and healthy foods.

Oxfam says poverty is not a fact of life but instead an injustice that must be overcome. For more than half a century, it has been working alongside other international aid organizations to help make this happen.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.