Public Health
U.S., Altria appeal tobacco ruling to high court
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The government and the nation’s biggest cigarette maker separately asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review a racketeering verdict against major cigarette makers that was upheld by an appeals court last year.
Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris USA unit wants to overturn the verdict, while the government argues the appeals court wrongly denied the disgorgement of billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains by the tobacco industry.
In May, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a trial judge’s verdict against the cigarette makers, finding they violated federal anti-racketeering laws by conspiring to lie about the dangers of smoking.
Democratic US Sen Lautenberg diagnosed with cancer
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Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, 86, has been diagnosed with lymphoma of the stomach and will undergo chemotherapy over the next few months, his office said on Friday.
“We expect a full and complete recovery for Senator Lautenberg,” said one of his doctors, James Holland, at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
The five-term liberal New Jersey senator is not up for re-election until 2014. He serves on committees including those overseeing federal spending and the environment.
WHO may declare post-peak pandemic phase next week
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Flu experts will advise next week whether the world is in a post-peak phase of the H1N1 pandemic, signalling infections are falling in most countries but new waves may still occur, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
The U.N. agency declared last June that the new virus was causing the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years and raised the alert level to the maximum 6.
The WHO’s emergency committee, comprising 15 experts, will review the situation by teleconference on Tuesday but will not declare an end to the pandemic, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
Obesity ‘tipping point before age 2
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The “tipping point” in obesity often occurs before age 2 and sometimes as early as 3 months, U.S. researchers found.
Principal investigator Dr. John Harrington, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and of Eastern Virginia Medical School, and colleagues examined records from a pediatric practice of 111 children whose body mass index exceeded 85 percent of that of the general population.
Researchers determined that these children had started gaining weight in infancy at an average rate of .08 excess body mass index units per month. On average, the progression began when the children were 3 months old.
China sets up national food safety commission
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China has set up a national food safety commission, headed by a powerful vice premier, who at the watchdog’s first meeting set his sights on the persistent problem of dangerously tainted milk, state media said on Wednesday.
Li Keqiang, tipped to take Premier Wen Jiabao’s place in three years, ordered inspectors to trace and destroy all milk products tainted with melamine, an industrial compound that killed at least six children in 2008, the People’s Daily said.
A number of cases of milk contaminated with melamine have surfaced in the past few months, some apparently old batches of tainted powder slated for destruction but hoarded away instead by dairy firms and later repackaged.
Costs of obesity too high to ignore
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If improving your physical and mental well being isn’t enough to motivate you to get healthy, consider a financial motivation.
Recently, Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, reported that the United States spends nearly $150 billion a year fighting obesity. That’s more than this nation spends on fighting cancer, and double what it spent to fight obesity 10 years ago.
In fact, $650 million of economic stimulus money is earmarked on programs to fight obesity and smoking.
Jackson doctor negotiating surrender - lawyers
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Lawyers for Michael Jackson’s doctor said on Thursday they were negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, amid reports he could face an involuntary manslaughter charge within a day.
Dr. Conrad Murray, who has admitted giving the late pop singer a dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, is expected to be formally charged on Friday with involuntary manslaughter, celebrity website TMZ.com reported.
Murray’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, declined comment on specifics but said in a statement on his legal firm’s website: “We are presently negotiating with the District Attorneys’ office the surrender of Dr. Murray. The specifics have not yet been agreed to and when the agreement is complete we will report further on this website.”
Medicare cuts damage cancer care, group finds
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Changes to Medicare, the federal health plan for the elderly, may be damaging important aspects of cancer care in the United States, according to a study released on Thursday.
They found that many centers offering cancer care are losing money on patients and predicted that some may be forced out of business.
The Community Oncology Alliance, which commissioned the report, said the findings have implications for healthcare reform in Congress but also require immediate attention from Medicare.
More People Buying Prescription Drugs to Treat Digestive Conditions
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The number of Americans buying prescription drugs to treat digestive conditions climbed over 50 percent, rising from 18.1 million to 29 million people between 1997 and 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Total annual spending for these drugs increased from $7 billion to nearly $19 billion from from 1997 to 2007 ( in 2007 dollars).
Other findings include:
• The proportion of children ages 17 and younger who had at least one prescription drug for a digestive condition purchased rose from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. This trend held true for seniors - increasing from 18.6 percent to 26.6 percent - and for 18 to 64 year olds - rising from 6.4 percent to 8.9 percent.
China investigates as melamine-tainted milk reappears
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China has launched nationwide checks for melamine-tainted milk products after the industrial compound, which killed at least six children in 2008, reappeared on shop shelves, an official newspaper said on Tuesday.
Leftovers of milk powder laced with melamine, which can give a fake positive on protein tests, have been reused as raw materials for dairy products despite an earlier crackdown, the People’s Daily said, citing a conference held by the State Food and Drug Administration.
Batches of dairy products made by three Chinese companies were forced off market shelves in the southwestern province of Guizhou last month after testing positive for melamine.
Michelle Obama makes obesity campaign personal
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First lady Michelle Obama framed her national campaign against childhood obesity in intensely personal terms Thursday, relating that her own daughters were starting to get off-track before the family’s pediatrician gave her a wake-up call and warned her to watch it.
“In my eyes, I thought my children were perfect,” the first lady said. “I didn’t see the changes.”
But the family’s pediatrician, she said, kept a close eye on trends in African-American children and “warned that he was concerned that something was getting off-balance.” The doctor “cautioned me that I had to take a look at my own children’s BMI,” or body mass index, the first lady said.
Can intervention prevent adult obesity for overweight teens?
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Paris Woods is hardly a poster child for the obesity epidemic. Lining up dripping wet with kids on her swim team, she’s a blend of girlish chunkiness and womanly curves.
In street clothes — roomy pink sweats or skimpy tank tops revealing broad, brown swimmers’ shoulders — the teen blends in with her friends, a fresh-faced, robust-looking All-American girl.
That’s the problem.
Like nearly one-third of American teens, Paris Woods is overweight. Her doctor worries her weight will creep up into the obesity range. One out of four black girls her age is obese.
Michelle Obama asks mayors to help reduce obesity
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First lady Michelle Obama is asking mayors to help reduce childhood obesity.
In a speech Wednesday to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, Mrs. Obama said mayors are among the first to see what’s happening to the people they serve.
Government figures show that almost one in three children are overweight, and 17 percent are obese.
Michelle Obama makes obesity campaign personal
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Campaigning against childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama says she knows firsthand how tough it can be for stressed parents to fix their kids’ bad eating and exercise habits.
The first lady said her own daughters were starting to get off-track before their pediatrician warned her to watch it. She says the family turned things around by cutting out weekday TV time, paying more attention to portion sizes and sneaking more fruits and vegetables onto the table.
Childhood Obesity a Growing Problem
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Mrs. Obama has chosen childhood obesity as the focus of her first major project as the First Lady along with continuing her work to expand programs for military families. Healthy eating and healthy families is an extension of Mrs. Obama’s efforts to show Americans how grow fruits and vegetables and use them in a nutritious diet. Mrs. Obama began this effort with her much publicized White House garden.
Program to Educate Parents and Children
In early 2010, Mrs. Obama will announce a comprehensive initiative which will involve many departments and agencies in the federal government to help educate children and parents about ending this epidemic and encourage a change in behavior and habits. The Mayo Clinic advises that one of the best strategies is to improve the nutrition and exercise status of the entire family.
Obesity in general, has become an epidemic in the western world. Among children, obesity is a growing issue and a huge medical concern. This is a serious problem which affects children and adolescents and puts them at risk for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and eating disorders. These diseases can cause severe disabilities and lead to early mortality.
