The Daily Telegraph - 22.08.2019

Court backs

anti-protest

buffer zone at

abortion clinic

By Jessica Carpani

A BUFFER zone around an abortion
clinic is legal the Court of Appeal has
said in a landmark ruling.
Anti-abortion campaigners yester-
day lost a legal challenge against a High
Court ruling that had backed the coun-
try’s first protest-free zone set up by
Ealing council in west London outside
a Marie Stopes clinic.
Three judges said the conditions im-
posed by Ealing council to keep pro-
testers 100m (328ft) away from the
clinic were “justified”.
The council became the first in the
country to create a buffer zone in April
2018 with a public spaces protection
order following reports of “intimida-
tion, harassment and distress” for
women using the facility.
The court ruling may now encour-
age other councils to do the same.
Alina Dulgheriu and Andrea Or-
thova, who attend a vigil run by the
Good Counsel Network, brought the
challenge to the Court of Appeal.
It was argued on their behalf that the
buffer zone interfered with their rights
under the European Convention on
Human Rights to freedom of expres-
sion, freedom of religion or belief and
freedom of assembly and association.
Arguing for the zone, the council
said some users of the clinic who had
had abortions many years ago were still
“significantly affected by their encoun-
ters with the activists”.
The appeal was unanimously dis-
missed by Sir Terence Etherton; the
Master of the Rolls, Lady Justice King
and Lady Justice Nicola Davies.
Julian Bell, the leader of Ealing
council, said there had been a dramatic
reduction in “activities having a

detrimental effect” since the introduc-

tion of the buffer and called on Priti Pa-

tel, the Home Secretary, to introduce

similar safe zones across the country.

Representatives for Ms Dulgheriu

and Ms Orthova said they would appeal

the decision to the Supreme Court.

After the decision was announced,

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader,

said: “A woman’s right to choose, free

from intimidation or harassment, must

be protected.”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London,

said: “Whilst the right to peaceful pro-

test must be respected, behaviour that

seeks to deliberately target women for

harassment and intimidation should

not be tolerated.”

Richard Bentley, Marie Stopes UK’s

managing director, hailed the judg-

ment as “a victory for common sense,

compassion and women’s right to make

decisions about their own bodies free

from harassment”.

However, he said that protection or-

ders were not an “adequate response to

what is a national problem, leaving

most clinics across the country de-

fenceless”, adding: “It is time for the

Government to end the postcode lot-

tery of harassment and legislate for

safe access zones outside all registered

abortion care providers in the UK.”

Clare Murphy, director of external

affairs at the British Pregnancy Advi-

sory Service (BPAS), said the ruling

“confirms that buffer zones are legal,

proportionate and necessary”.

In September 2018, Sajid Javid, the

then home secretary, rejected calls for

buffer zone legislation.

The BPAS said there have been anti-

abortion protests at 32 clinics and hos-

pitals, including four new campaigns,

since then, with one vigil set to last six

weeks.

Ms Murphy said that it was “unreal-

istic” to expect individual councils, al-

ready “under immense budgetary

pressure” to pursue local protection

orders and urged Ms Patel to consider

national legislation.

Over-diagnosis

‘could mean we

are all classed as

being autistic’

By Sarah Knapton Science editor

AUTISM is now so over-diagnosed that

within 10 years there will be no separa-

tion between someone with the condi-

tion and the average non-autistic

person, experts have warned.

Rates of autism are rising, with be-

tween 1 and 2 per cent of Western pop-

ulations diagnosed with the disorder.

One in 100 Britons is now considered

to be autistic, an estimated 20-fold in-

crease from the Sixties, and some sci-

entists are investigating whether the

rigours of modern life are to blame.

But a new study by the universities

of Montreal, in Canada, and Copenha-

gen, in Denmark, has found that the

bar for diagnosing autism has become

progressively lower in the past 50

years.

If the trend continues, those with the

condition will become indistinguisha-

ble from people without it by 2029, the

researchers estimate.

Prof Laurent Mottron, of the Univer-

sity of Montreal’s department of psy-

chiatry, said: “If this trend holds, the

objective difference between people

with autism and the general population

will disappear in less than 10 years.

“The definition of autism may get

too blurry to be meaningful – trivialis-

ing the condition – because we are ap-

plying the diagnosis to people whose

differences from the general popula-

tion are less pronounced.”

The study looked at the diagnostic

criteria for 23,000 French, Canadian

and Danish people with autism from

1966 to 2019.

A diagnosis of autism is based on a

series of psychological and neurologi-

cal tests that look at how well someone

can recognise emotions and intentions,

their ability to shift from one task to an-

other, activity planning, inhibition,

brain volume and their responses to

sensory stimulation.

However, the team found that in re-

cent decades the measurable differ-

ence between people with and without

autism had fallen by as much as 80 per

cent. Although the diagnostic criteria

remained the same, the way they were

interpreted by clinicians has changed,

the study discovered.

“Fifty years ago, one sign of autism

was a lack of apparent interest in oth-

ers,” added Prof Mottron

“Nowadays, it’s simply having fewer

friends than others. Interest in others

can be measured in various ways, such

as making eye contact. But shyness, not

autism, can prevent some people from

looking at others.

“Autism is a natural category at one

end of the socialisation continuum.

And we need to focus on this extreme if

we want to make progress.”

Over-diagnosis also leads to people

being included in studies for new

drugs and therapies when they do not

have the condition, the authors warn.

The research was published in the

journal Jama Psychiatry.

In the bag

Fleabag creator

and star Phoebe

Waller-Bridge

leaves the

Wyndham

Theatre in

London after the

first night of the

latest production

of her one-woman

show, which she

developed into

the hit TV series.

Waller-Bridge

spent half an hour

talking to crowds

outside. Earlier,

hopeful fans had

queued at the

theatre from the

early hours to buy

the remaining 33

standing tickets,

after the show

sold out in May.

There is a weekly

lottery to win £

tickets for

Fleabag, which

will run until

September 14 and

follows sold-out

performances on

Broadway. This

has been billed as

the last time

Waller-Bridge will

perform the work,

which she last

staged in London

in 2013, when she

was a relative

unknown.

WILL/GOFFPHOTOS.COM

News

Sitting around is waiting for an early death Old phones using up metals

By Sarah Knapton Science editor

MIDDLE-AGED adults who sit for
more than nine hours a day are dou-
bling their risk of early death, but walk-
ing briskly for 24 minutes can help
extend life, a study suggests.
Previous research has found that
sedentary behaviour is bad and physi-
cal activity is good for health. But a
team from the University of Leicester
and the Norwegian School of Sport
Sciences in Oslo wanted to determine
how lazy behaviour impacts early
death, and analysed eight large
studies.
During the follow-up period of
more than five years, 5.9 per cent of

the 36,000 subjects had died. Deaths

fell steeply as the amount of physical

activity increased to a plateau of

around 300 minutes (five hours) per

day of light-intensity physical activity,

such as walking, or 24 minutes per day

of moderate-intensity activity, which

includes jogging, tennis or heavy

gardening.

However, the risk of dying early

more than doubled for those who spent

more than nine-and-a-half hours sit-

ting down.

Prof Tom Yates, the study’s co-au-

thor and a physical activity and health

expert at the University of Leicester,

said: “This study suggests health may

be optimised with just 24 minutes per

day of brisk walking or other forms of

moderate-intensity physical activity.

“Another important finding was

that spending 9.5 hours or more each

day sedentary – essentially sitting –

was associated with a statistically sig-

nificant increased risk of death, with

each hour more above this threshold

increasing the risk of death further.”

The results of the study were pub-

lished in the BMJ.

By Hannah Boland

BRITAIN risks running out of pace-

makers and hearing aids because the

metals used to make them are also used

in gadgets that people stockpile.

Elements such as tantalum, which

helps power pacemakers, and yttrium,

which can treat some cancers, are used

in smartphones, tens of millions of

which are languishing unused.

Mindy Dulai, the senior policy ad-

viser for the Royal Society of Chemis-

try, warned that a number of elements

in countries including Australia, China

and Brazil were “finite”, and could run

out within the next 100 years.

“We mine them and as they sit in our

phones and devices, if we lock them

away in cupboards and attics, then un-

fortunately we can’t get back those

precious elements,” she told BBC Radio

4’s Today programme.

In a survey of more than 2,300 peo-

ple for the society, 51 per cent said they

were holding on to at least one unused

electronic device, while 45 per cent –

mostly people aged between 16 and 24

• said they had between two and five
  old gadgets in drawers and cupboards.
  The society called for action from
  the Government, manufacturers and
  retailers to make it easier for people to
  recycle their old electronic items.

Inside phone recycling: Page 33

Campaigners lose appeal

against order that forbids

them from holding vigils

near Marie Stopes facility

2029

The year in which people with autism will

be indistinguishable from those without

the condition, experts estimate

‘Health may be optimised

with just 24 minutes per day

of brisk walking or other

moderate-intensity activity’

The Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 *** 11

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