HKU Bulletin May 2004 (Vol. 5 No. 3)

11 10 THE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH T he University has managed to turn green into gold thanks to its first environmental report which scooped the Gold Award in the 2003 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards. The University report not only won gold but also represented a landmark and vindication for the University’s Environmental Goal and Policy, which was launched in 2001. There to receive the award, launched by the Environmental Campaign Committee, from the Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Dr the Hon. Sarah Liao was Professor Lee Chack Fan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Also on hand were Henry Wai, Registrar, Professor Peter Hills, leader of the editorial team and team members Dr Marianne Tso, Mandy Lao, Allison Jones and Sheila Stimpson. Professor Hills said: “We were very pleased and delighted to receive this, especially as this is the first report we have entered for competition. “There are not many universities producing this kind of report in the world and we certainly can consider ourselves as taking a leading role with Asia Pacific.” Using the University’s environmental knowledge, expertise and leadership the policy has sought to benefit both the campus environment and the wider community since 2001. Green Turns to Gold This focus has been on electr ici ty conservat ion, food containers, transport, green office practices and biological safety which give some benchmarks of progress. But the team producing the Environmental Report – People, Places and Progress – has sought to move this on a stage by encouraging consultation and discussion among the wider community. Two areas were ident i f ied i n t he repo r t f o r immed i a t e deve l opmen t : a t r anspa r en t management structure with visible support from senior University staff and the establ ishment of an environmental database. The second env i ronmental repor t , which is al ready being p r o d u c e d , w i l l f o c u s o n sustainability. Hi l ls said: “The idea of sustainability is embodied in three elements: economics, social impact, and the environment. We hope that the second report will help make this t ransi t ion to a broader focus.” This 2003 report, which is due out this month (May), includes a survey of interviews from campus users, and more detai l on the University’s energy conservation programme. In a sign of how fast things are moving electricity consumption has already been cut by 3 million kilowatt hours for just the months July to October 2003. Hi l ls, Di rector of the Cent re of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, said: “The idea is that these annual reports will measure progress on our major objectives: so it is a kind of accounting system.” To this end the third report – scheduled for 2005 – wi l l measure community impacts. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui said: “We are very pleased that, at our first attempt, we have produced such a good report. This shows our commitment to environmental protection.” Fight Against Stomach Cancer Heats Up Y ou might struggle to hear the hushed voice of Benjamin Wong but his pioneering medical research has been coming across loud and clear on the global stage. The modest Department of Medicine Associate Professor has grabbed headlines across the world thanks to a study, which showed that antibiotics can prevent stomach cancer. Along wi th the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Professor Lam Shiu Kum, Wong became the focus of international media attention but this ‘flash in the pan’ has taken 10 years in the making. Since the 1980s scientists have known about a strong link between stomach cancer and gastric ulcers with the bacterial infection of the gut from Helicobacter pylori. In 1994, Wong and Lam decided to focus on Fujian province where the combination of poor diet and hygiene meant that a high percentage of people were infected with the bug. Using more than 1,600 patients, the University team was able to focus on two groups: one was given a placebo treatment and the other was given medicine to kill the bacteria. Wong said: “Overall the reduction in cancer with active treatment is 37 per cent. “Although this is not statistically significant the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) said it represents a dramatic reduction in the field of cancer.” Of the 988 patients without stomach lesions at the outset, none on the treatment got stomach cancer, compared with six in the placebo group, after the seven-year-long study. The remaining 642 patients already had pre-cancerous lesions and among this group seven of those who received treatment developed cancer against five who did not receive treatment. Wong believes that these mixed results – published in January – reflect in part the diluting effect of combining two groups for the study: those with and without lesions. He said: “We are still following up with these patients and maybe the reason for not having a significant statistical difference is because it was not long enough.” One of the abiding memories for Wong, however, will be reception they received from the patients. He said: “The local people welcomed us because they realized they had this killer in their midst and we actual ly picked up between 10 and 15 cases of stomach cancer and close to 100 ulce “ rs It . was often hard work in fairly primitive conditions – we would have to take our own electricity generator and equipment to these remote villag “ e T s h . is kind of react ion and exper ience real l y makes i t worthwhile.” This research project comes in the wake of another Wong survey, which revealed that Aspirin may be able to reduce the risk of certain types of stomach cancer by 22 per cent P . ublished in the Journal of the Nat ional Cancer Inst i tute , the Uni versi ty study was based on a comp rehens i ve ana l ys i s o f epidemiological studies publ ished worldwide. Wong’s team compared 2,831 patients with stomach cancer and 21,514 people without cancer from nine published studies. He is now looking to combine the Fujian study with the aspirin rese W arc o h n . g said: “We would like to see whether the group that does not benefit from the first trial in Fujian does benefit from an aspirin trial, and the new study is already underway in Shandong province. “The Fujian study is probably the only study of its kind and it will remain a unique one.” The winning team.