Public Health
Unborn babies soaked in chemicals, survey finds
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Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report to be released on Thursday.
Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.
Church says Mexico’s Fox traitor on day-after pill
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President Vicente Fox, the first devout Roman Catholic to lead Mexico in decades, has been labeled a traitor by the church after his government put “morning-after” contraceptive pills in public clinics this week.
A senior church official said Fox has ignored its concerns that the pill is tantamount to abortion, which is illegal in Mexico. The morning-after pill has been available at pharmacies in Mexico for several years and was added this week to a list of drugs required to be available at public health centers.
UK doctor’s baby death evidence ruled misleading
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A British doctor who testified at the trials of several women wrongly convicted of murdering their babies was found at a medical tribunal on Wednesday to have given “misleading” evidence in one of the cases.
Paediatrician Sir Roy Meadow could be banned from practising if the decision by the General Medical Council in London leads to him being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.
Spain to allow therapeutic cloning, minister says
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Spain plans to introduce legislation allowing therapeutic cloning, its Health Minister said on Monday, a decision likely to bring a new clash between the governing Socialists and the Roman Catholic Church.
In an interview in newspaper El Mundo, Elena Salgado said the legislation could be effective by next year.
Australia’s “Dr. Death” had acceptable record
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An Indian-born surgeon, dubbed “Dr. Death” in Australia after being linked to the deaths of 87 patients, had an acceptable medical record but still contributed to eight deaths, a review of the doctor’s patients said.
Jayant Patel, who was banned from surgery in two U.S. states, left Australia in March after he was linked to the 87 deaths at Bundaberg Hospital in Queensland state in 2003-04, when he was head of surgery at the hospital.
UK ambulance changes mean more treated at home
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Up to a million people calling emergency services could be treated at home rather than at hospital under a reorganisation of England’s ambulance service, Health Minister Lord Warner said on Thursday.
“We are going to develop and enhance the care that is available in our communities from the NHS by using ambulance services to take healthcare to the patient, to become a mobile healthcare system,” he said in a statement.
UK airline calls in sleep doctor to cure jet lag
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British Airways has called in a specialist to find a cure for jet-lag, potentially a dream come true for sleep-deprived frequent flyers.
Sleep researcher Dr. Chris Idzikowski will spend the next six months studying the best way to snooze at 30,000 feet as well as tricking passengers’ body clocks to cope with time zone changes.
Whistle blower says drug industry cheated Medicaid
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Settlements of cases involving prescription drug price manipulation in both the U.S. Medicaid and Medicare health programs provide “evidence of systemic, industry-wide problems that need to be addressed,” U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday.
At the second of 2 days of hearings on fraud in the Medicaid program, the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony from both state and federal officials detailing the more than $2 billion in recoveries from drug price manipulation over the past 4 years.
Portugal Socialists seek 2005 abortion referendum
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Portugal’s ruling Socialists introduced legislation on Tuesday to allow a referendum to ease strict abortion laws to be held this year, a party spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Socialists had promised a referendum during their campaign ahead of February elections. A spokesman for the Socialist parliamentary bloc said the legislation was filed on Tuesday and a vote is set for July 8.
S. Africa acts on illegal circumcision after deaths
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South African authorities are taking action against illegal circumcision rituals but were too late to save six youths who died after botched operations, a regional health official said on Tuesday.
At least 10 traditional surgeons and nurses had been arrested for unlicensed circumcisions involving young men and teenage boys in the Eastern Cape this month, provincial health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.
EU sets 2011 deadline to ban mercury exports
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Environment ministers from the European Union, the world’s largest producer of mercury, called on Friday for exports of the toxic substance to be banned by 2011.
Europe also wants to phase out the use of the metal in thermometers and improve global efforts to stop the dumping of the dangerous liquid metal.
Mercury poisoning can harm the nervous system, brain and kidneys and even cause death. Pregnant women are advised to limit intake of some fish due to mercury pollution in the sea.
Medicare to test paying for elderly home day care
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Medicare will test the possibility of paying for day-care services for disabled elderly people, the agency said on Thursday.
“This demonstration will permit Medicare to assess whether providing medical adult day-care services through the home health benefit will improve patient outcomes and provide the opportunity for some respite for beneficiaries’ caregivers,” Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a statement.
South Asia heat wave kills at least 375
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At least 375 people have died from sunstroke and dehydration in a month-long heat wave sweeping India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as South Asia endures one of its hottest summers on record, authorities said.
Temperatures hit 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some parts of South Asia this week, parching fields, emptying dams and drying riverbeds ahead of the annual monsoon.
Freak weather extended as far as northern China, where the heat set off explosives at a chemical plant in Shanxi province that injured hundreds. In central Chongqing city, authorities opened old bomb shelters so people can cool off.
Cellphones take up driver attention
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Using a cellphone - even with a hands-free device - may distract drivers because the brain cannot handle both tasks, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Imaging tests show the brain directs its resources to either visual input or auditory input, but cannot fully activate both at the same time, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.
“Our research helps explain why talking on a cell phone can impair driving performance, even when the driver is using a hands-free device,” said Steven Yantis, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who led the study.
More than 40 dead in Pakistani heat wave
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More than 40 people have been killed across Pakistan by extremely hot weather and the searing temperatures are expected to last at least a couple more days, officials said on Tuesday.
Most of the fatalities have come in the central province of Punjab, the country’s most populous province, where temperatures soared to 48 degree Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) on Monday. Tuesday might get even hotter, a weather official said.
