BtN: Episode 14 Transcripts 02/06/09
On this week's Behind the News:
- Schools in shut-down because of swine flu
- Is farming cruel for pigs?
- And why devils are in danger.
Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News.
Also on the show today, how your old TV is a serious problem for the environment.
Those items later, but first to our stop story.
Flu Quarantine
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: In the last week or so swine flu has become a much bigger issue in Australia.
The number of people diagnosed with the virus has skyrocketed and a lot of the cases have been kids.
That's led to schools being shut down and students being told to stay at home - even though they weren't sick!
Why is that? Here's Sarah to explain why they are taking such drastic measures.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: This is Alex. She's in year 12 and she's very friendly but she's not letting me in! Ok, this is weird.
ALEX: A girl at our school has swine flu so our principal has recommended that we don't go out or see anyone.
Alex isn't alone. Other schools have been closed, footy matches have been cancelled. Families of people with swine flu have also been asked to stay in their homes. All of these people have been quarantined. That's a really old trick used to stop diseases spreading. It happens all the time in hospitals. If someone's got an infectious disease, you keep them away from other people so the germs don't spread.
REPORTER: Say I was sick. I've just passed my germs to these two. Now they could pass it on to other people, who could pass it on to even more. So you can see how one sick person could very quickly turn into hundreds or even thousands.
To try to stop the virus you have to try to predict what people it might spread to and get them quarantined as soon as possible. But wait, Alex isn't sick.
ALEX: No, I feel fine.
The danger is people could spread the virus before they know they're sick. There's a period after you catch the virus before you start coughing and sneezing when you can pass it on. So that's why kids like Alex have been asked to stay at home for a week just in case they get sick. And this is why:
When we first told you about Swine Flu people were really worried. The Virus's real name is H1N1 influenza. It was a strain that scientists hadn't seen before and it made lots of people in Mexico very sick. Over there more than 100 people died. Health organisations warned that the world could be facing a pandemic, which is when a disease spreads quickly throughout the world. We've had pandemics before and they've killed millions of people so you can see why authorities are being careful. But now it doesn't look like Swine Flu will be anywhere near that bad. It hasn't killed anyone in Australia and for most people it's just like getting the normal flu. Because of that, some scientists are saying quarantining people who aren't sick is an over-reaction.
PETER COLLIGNON, MICROBIOLOGIST: We usually save those measures for a really serious aggressive disease. This appears to be quite a mild.
The biggest danger is to people who are old, very young, or have an existing medical condition but the same goes for the normal flu. We don't quarantine people with the normal flu. But there are still reasons to be careful. One worry is once winter hits the Swine Flu could mix with normal flu to create a new virus. The good news for Alex is she didn't get the flu but authorities say until we know more it’s better to play it safe.
Presenter: And there’s more info about how the flu works in a feature on our website.
Poll Results
Last week we asked you if schools should shut down if a student catches the flu - and a whopping 91 percent of you said yes! Hope you didn't say that just because you wanted a holiday!
But with so many schools still shutting down, we thought we'd leave that as our poll for another week. If you want to vote go to our website.
Quiz
Now we’re going to look at farming, but first let’s do a quiz.
What is Australia’s largest earning farm export?
- Wheat
- Beef
- Lamb
Answer: Beef
It goes beef, wheat, wine, wool, milk then lamb.
Intensive Farming
Reporter: Catherine Ellis
INTRO: Now another important rural industry is pig farming, but that's been caught up in a bit of controversy.
In Tasmania, a pig farmer is in trouble with police because of the way he's been treating his animals.
An animal rights activist says she found some of his pigs living in terrible conditions and he's been charged by police with breaking animal protection laws.
Catherine checks out what the rules are for looking after pigs.
CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: According to some, pigs are smarter than most dogs. They're curious, love to explore and are quite social animals.
There are different ways of farming them and the most common is known as 'intensive farming' that's when pigs are kept in pens like these.
It's been around since the 1960s.
NEWS REEL: The 50 breeding sows and their offspring never leave the air-conditioned environment of the totally enclosed piggery. The pens might look overcrowded, but the experts say pigs appreciate company and they grow faster when there's not much space in which to run around.
Farmers say they use these methods because they're under more and more pressure to produce enough pork to feed the growing population - they have to work out ways of doing things more efficiently.
But this doesn't mean they can treat the pigs badly.
CATHERINE: Pigs and lots of other animals on farms have special protection. There are laws and there's an Australian Code of Practice which outlines how farmers must look after their animals.
Animal activists don't think the rules go far enough.
They're particularly worried about these sort of pens where pregnant sows are kept.
The pens are allowed to be the same size as the animals and activists say the pigs can't turn around or exercise.
Farmers say they're only in the stalls for a short time to protect them during the early stages of pregnancy.
Some people would like to see pigs farmed this way - it's called free range - that means they can move around. Some farmers already do that and you can buy free range pork in shops.
Producers, at the very least, must make sure pigs are fed, have shelter and are kept free from disease, but a farmer in Tassie has recently been charged with breaking that law.
What happened was an animal activist took her camera and filmed inside the piggery and took the vision to police.
She was horrified by what she saw; the pigs were infested with maggots, they couldn't move, there was no water for them to drink.
EMMA: I have never imagined I'd find an animal in this condition.
When Police inspected the site, they charged the operator with animal cruelty offences.
The piggery is one of the biggest in Tasmania and supplies lots of Woolworths supermarkets there.
Woolies weren't happy about what they saw and have told the operators to improve their act.
Of course situations like these are rare.
The industry says the majority of farmers take good care of their animals and do their best to meet everyone's needs.
Animal activists want more farm inspections and better protection for pigs.
But no one wants to see another situation like this one again.
PRESENTER: And that's a very complicated issue, so if you want to know more check our website.
Country Drivers
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: Let's stay in the country for our next story.
Learning to drive rite of passage in Australia, and while you guys are probably a little way off that time just yet, you'd already be well aware of just how important it is.
The frightening fact is young drivers make up a high proportion of crash victims and that is especially true for kids in country areas.
But one program is looking to help break the cycle.
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: We see the same story on the news every night.
Another car crash; another injury; or worse still, a fatality.
But the scariest part of that, is out of all those crashes on the news each night, young people are often the ones behind the wheel.
REPORTER: The problem is, kids often don't have the experience to get out of bad situations. But out here in the country, bad situations are everywhere! Gravel; narrow roads and wildlife can all cause problems. It's no wonder country kids are especially vulnerable to crashes.
So that's why kids from a country town called Dalby, in Queensland, have found themselves in class today.
This is a defensive driving course made specially for country kids!
JOEL NIELSEN, DRIVING INSTRUCTOR: Because of a lack of danger on a road like that, that road's more dangerous. We let our guard down, we're not ready for it.
Kids out here generally find themselves on the roads more than city kids because there isn't any public transport and they often have to travel a long way to get to town.
That's why the course is vital. 400 have already been through it.
Because they know that the consequences of making a mistake all too well.
Car crashes are one of the biggest killers of young people in country areas and in a small community like Dalby that can be devastating.
Most country kids would know someone touched by this kind of tragedy, whether through family or close friends.
And it's this horrible impact they're trying to avoid through the course.
One of the big problems young people encounter behind the wheel is their confidence, or overconfidence, isn't always matched by their abilities; something these kids agree with.
NICHOLAS KELLY, STUDENT: Some of them are real idiots. They just try and go fast and that's their thing, but some are good, they're just sensible, you know, go by the speed limit.
Another one of the big things they're practising here is how to handle the Aussie landscape, including driving on slippery gravel roads, and how to avoid wildlife, like roos.
JOEL NIELSEN: The principle is that you should steer a car with your eyes so you look to where you want to go. And if you look at it you're gonna hit it. So, target fixation is where a driver inadvertently fixates on the front of them, freaks out, locks their arms, locks their legs, locks their brain, locks their vision.
Another hazard which causes carnage on our roads is drink driving.
Here the kids get a chance to experience exactly what effect drunkeness has on your co-ordination, by wearing these special goggles.
JOEL: Do a 360 first.
This is the lowest strength goggle.
STUDENT: You can't walk with that.
JOEL: So would you drive a car wearing the goggles?
STUDENT: No, not really.
It's a lesson that will hopefully save these guys, and lots of other young people in their communities, a whole lot of pain and suffering further down the road.
PRESENTER: And I grew up there in Dalby so I know just how big an issue it is for country kids.
The Wire
Now let's catch up with some of the week's other headlines - here's Sarah.
It’s not very often you see a car being eaten by the road!
That's what happened in Sydney last week when a water main burst, causing a big hole to open up in the bitumen.
It will probably take months to repair the damage done to the road and the car probably needs a bit of fixing too.
******
And Susan Boyle fans around the world are disappointed after the unlikely singing star was defeated by a dance troupe in the final of Britain's Got Talent.
The 48-year-old church volunteer from Scotland became an international star after her audition on the British tv show.
Her performance floored the judges and the audience and became the fifth most viewed you tube clip ever.
And while she didn't win the final it’s unlikely to be the end of Boyle's showbiz dream. She's hoping to release an album but intends to play it by ear in her new musical career
PRESENTER: Reports say that even though she didn't win, Susan's looking at a 16 million dollar record, book and movie deal. Not a bad payday.
TV Recycling
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: A few weeks ago we told you about a new type of TV called digital TV that is being phased in right now.
The problem is, if you want to see the digital signal you either have to buy a set top box or a new TV and it seems that's an option heaps of people are taking, so they can trade up to a new plasma or LCD.
But have you ever wondered what will happen to the millions of old TV's left over?
TVs have come a long, long way!
These days we have bigger, better and sleeker.
So in many homes, it's a case of 'out with the old; in with the new.'
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: The introduction of Digital TV, and the release of newer model flat screens, has made many of these old things pretty much unwanted. It's estimated around 1.5 million old sets are ending up in dumps each year.
About the same number of computer monitors are chucked in to landfill as well.
Not if these guys have anything to do with it though!
This is a TV and computer monitor recycling plant, where they turn our old sets into materials we can use again.
They are really busy right now getting through all these TVs that need to be recycled, so I decided to test them out!
NATHAN: Well Michelle I've brought my old TV, what's going to happen to it now?
MICHELLE: Well what we will do now is we'll pull it all apart and separate all the materials and components so it can be recycled.
TVs come here from all over Australia because it's the only place in the country that has the equipment needed to recycle the glass in your old set.
It's really valuable because it contains all the right chemicals and minerals needed to produce a great picture.
Their first job is to rip them apart, and separate out all the plastic from the wiring, computer chips and metals.
From there they are left with the tube, which is cut apart, cleaned and separated.
That's then shipped to Malaysia, ready to go straight back into new TVs!
But the glass isn't the only part of the TVs and computer monitors that can be used again.
WORKER: There's plastic, circuit board, the copper yoke, pvc and some copper cord.
The circuit boards also contain gold and silver!
But before you get any ideas about trashing your TV for gold, you'd only get the tiniest amount from each set!
So that's what happens to recycled TVs, but let's rewind a bit. What would happen if those same TVs ended up at the dump?
The short answer is - nothing good!
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Each one of these tubes can contain up to 4kgs of lead, plus other nasty materials like mercury, cadmium and arsenic. Needless to say, it's not a good result for the environment if they end up in landfill.
The sheer size of most electrical waste is causing headaches too.
Because electrical equipment needs to be updated and replaced often, most of it ends up here, taking up heaps of space and stopping the materials they're made from being used again.
To stop that, a national recycling program will be set up for all TV and computer waste.
Because the only place we should see heaps of TVs is here.
Quiz 2
Now a lot of the new TVs people are getting are called LCDs - so we might make that our quiz.
What does LCD stand for?
- Luminescence crystal display
- Liquid crystal display
- Lens clarity display
Answer: Liquid crystal display
And of course the other sort of TVs really popular at the moment are called plasmas.
The Score
Time for some sports news - here's Sarah.
In rugby union, the bulls have thrashed the Waikatoh Chiefs to take out the Super 14 Champions.
Fans were expecting a close game, but it was far from it, the South Africans ran in eight tries to two for a record winning margin of 61 to 17 over the New Zealanders.
******
Former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink has guided Chelsea to a two-one victory over Tim Cahill's team, Everton, in the final of the F-A cup.