Public Health
House majority seeks vote on drug importation
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A bipartisan majority of House members has signed a letter made public on Thursday urging a vote on legislation that would allow Americans to save money by importing drugs from foreign countries.
The bill passed the House by a wide margin two years ago but died in the Senate. Sponsors say support has grown to well over the 221 signatures on the letter. A majority is 218 votes.
The backers of the legislation told a news conference they do not currently plan to take aggressive procedural measures to force a vote - but didn’t rule out that option down the road.
Danish tax may drain world’s top sperm bank
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The source of the world’s biggest sperm bank may soon run dry if Danish authorities decide to tax donors, Cryos International Sperm Bank said on Wednesday.
Denmark, with the world’s highest income tax levels, wants sperm donors to pay tax on the 500 crown ($84.59) reimbursement men receive for their services.
WHO launches study on harmful use of alcohol
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The World Health Organisation (WHO), already campaigning against obesity and smoking, launched a probe on Wednesday into alcohol, which is estimated to kill 1.8 million people each year.
A resolution, initiated by Nordic countries, was adopted by ministers from the WHO’s 192 member states on the final day of their annual 10-day assembly.
It expressed alarm at “trends in hazardous consumption”, or binge drinking, particularly among young people, and cited a growing risk in developing countries.
Indiana executes man who wanted to donate liver
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Indiana on Wednesday executed a convicted murderer who had sought a reprieve so he could donate part of his liver to an ailing sister.
Gregory Johnson, 40, was pronounced dead at 12:28 a.m. CDT (0528 GMT) after an injection of lethal chemicals, officials at the Indiana State Prison said.
Embryo clone scientist urges women to donate eggs
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Women having fertility treatment should be given the option to donate for research any extra eggs they do not use, the head of the first European team to clone a human embryo believes.
Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, of Newcastle University in northern England, told Reuters one of the greatest obstacles to stem cell research - which could lead to cures for conditions such as diabetes, cancer and Parkinson’s - was obtaining fresh eggs.
“What we are using are eggs which are usually discarded. The development potential is not the same as fresh eggs,” said Stojkovic, a stem cell expert from Serbia who has also worked in Germany.
U.N. adopts new rules to curb disease spread
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Possible travel and trade restrictions to help prevent deadly diseases such as bird flu or SARS crossing borders were among new rules approved by member states of the World Health Organization on Monday.
The regulations, adopted by the U.N. agency’s 192 member states after two years of negotiations, oblige countries to tighten up disease detection and set guidelines for international measures to be taken.
Computers no cure-all for drug errors
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Even with computerized systems for ordering and checking medications, a high rate of adverse drug events (ADEs) occurs, according to a report released today.
Several reports have shown that computerized ordering is useful in reducing medication errors, but the impact such systems have on adverse drug events was unclear, investigators explain in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Bush would veto House bill on stem cells
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President Bush said on Friday he would veto legislation that would loosen restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and expressed concern about human cloning research in South Korea.
In the House of Representatives, supporters of embryonic research sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware and Democratic Rep. Diane DeGette of Colorado hope for a vote next week and believe it will be close.
Bush said the bill would violate his principles.
Bird flu virus mutating, posing bigger threat-WHO
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The spate of human bird flu cases in Vietnam this year suggests the deadly virus may be mutating in ways that are making it more capable of being passed between humans, according to a World Health Organization report.
The finding points to the greatest fear of health experts that the H5N1 virus could unleash a pandemic and kill millions around the globe if ever it gained the ability to be transmitted among humans efficiently.
Study shows worrying trend of child abuse in China
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A landmark survey on violence against children in China shows abuse is more widespread than previously believed and has a lasting effect on mental health.
China has implemented an urban one-child policy for the past quarter of a century, leading to a popular perception that an only child is more likely to be indulged than abused.
But the survey of more than 3,500 adolescents undertaken by the All-China Women’s Federation, Peking University and UNICEF showed more than 50 percent of males taking part and one-third of females had been hit or kicked as children.
US pro sports resist steroid bill
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The commissioners of professional baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey on Wednesday told the U.S. Congress the leagues would prefer to police themselves rather than have a law governing drug testing in sports.
But members of a panel examining the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs said the problem required a more unified approach, greater transparency and significant third-party involvement for players, management and fans to be confident their game was clean.
WHO confirms Ebola outbreak in Congo, nine dead
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Ebola has returned to the Republic of Congo, killing nine people since the end of April, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday after tests confirmed the presence of the deadly virus.
“The results (of laboratory tests) came in yesterday… It is indeed a case of Ebola,” said Adamou Yada, WHO’s representative in Congo, which has faced serious outbreaks of the disease in the past. Nearly 150 people died in 2003.
“Since the beginning (of the outbreak), we have registered 11 cases, including nine deaths,” Yada said in the capital Brazzaville.
Cellphone risk may be higher in countryside: study
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Mobile phones could pose a higher health risk to rural dwellers, because the phones emit stronger signals in the countryside, Swedish scientists reported Tuesday.
Base stations tend to be further apart in more remote areas so the phones compensate with stronger signals.
“We found that the risk of brain tumour was higher for people living in rural areas than in towns,” said Professor Lennart Hardell, of University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden. “The stronger the signal, the higher the risk,” he told.
Makers of drug-test fakes silent before U.S. panel
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Marketers of detoxifying drinks, prosthetic penises and other products to thwart drug tests refused to answer questions on Tuesday from U.S. lawmakers threatening legislation to crack down on an industry that investigators said is booming on the Internet.
Owners of three companies, including one that sells a fake penis called “The Whizzinator,” appeared at a congressional hearing under subpoena but exercised their constitutional right not to testify.
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton stressed the executives still must respond to requests to supply congressional investigators with documents about the business.
U.N. food agency warns of looming aid shortage
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The United Nations food agency warned on Tuesday that it would soon have to reduce rations to refugees in Africa unless donors came up quickly with the $315 million it needed.
The World Food Programme (WFP), which aids some 2.2 million people worldwide, said it had received only $460 million of the $775 million sought in funding for 2005, of which 75 percent is spent in Africa.
“Many of the refugees rely almost entirely on food aid for their survival,” said WFP deputy executive director John Powell.
