Miscellaneous News

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Methylmercury contaminating fish - pregnant women warned

According to an international team of scientists pregnant women should be wary of eating some types of fish because of mercury contamination.

11 Mar 2007

EPA releases framework for metals risk assessment

Many EPA programs make decisions on regulation of metals, particularly controlling releases to the environment and establishing acceptable levels in air, water, or land.

8 Mar 2007

Doctors in Zimbabwe end two-month strike

Doctors in Zimbabwe have ended a two-month strike after reaching a deal with the government over their wages, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said on Saturday, Reuters South Africa reports.

8 Mar 2007

FDA warning on mineral water from Armenia

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to drink certain brands of mineral water imported from Armenia due to the risk of exposure to arsenic, a toxic substance and known cause of cancer in humans.

8 Mar 2007

FDA chief speaks out against regulating nicotine content of cigarettes

The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S., Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, says plans by the government to regulate the amount of tobacco in cigarettes runs the risk of backfiring.

6 Mar 2007

How polonium-210 acts as a poison in the body

The Health Protection Agency's radiation protection experts together with colleagues from research laboratories in the USA have published a paper in the Journal of Radiological Protection 1 on how polonium-210 acts as a poison in the body.

6 Mar 2007

Mailing error reveals names of 53 people enrolled in California ADAP

The California Department of Health Services last week inadvertently revealed the names and addresses of up to 53 residents enrolled in the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program by mailing benefit notification letters to the incorrect ADAP members, department officials said Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

5 Mar 2007

Inaugral conference of Society for Acute Medicine to be held in UK

The Society of Acute Medicine has announced that the 1st International Conference for Acute Medicine is to be held at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, on the 1st and 2nd October 2007, and will be officially opened by Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.

5 Mar 2007

U.S. Army fires Commander of Walter Reed over concerns about leadership abilities

Maj. Gen. George Weightman was fired as commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center because the Army said it had lost confidence in his leadership abilities, the Washington Post reports.

4 Mar 2007

Morphine for euthanasia is a myth

Using morphine to end a person's life is a myth, argues a senior doctor in a letter to this week's British Medical Journal.

4 Mar 2007

Peanut Butter scare spreads further

As a result of the recent Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter, an extensive inspection of ConAgra's processing plant in Georgia by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed the presence of Salmonella.

4 Mar 2007

Salty British bread puts 7,000 lives at risk

Health campaigners in Britain say high levels of salt in bread sold in supermarkets is placing 7,000 lives a year at risk.

1 Mar 2007

Fertility rate in Chinese county exempt from one-child policy lower than national average

The Chinese county of Yicheng, which has been exempt for the last 21 years from the country's one-child-per-family policy, has been found to have a lower fertility rate than the national average, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

1 Mar 2007

Federal Appeals Court rules in favor of U.S. policy requiring groups that receive HIV/AIDS funding to condemn commercial sex work

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday ruled that a U.S. policy requiring recipients of federal HIV/AIDS service grants to pledge to oppose commercial sex work does not violate the groups' First Amendment right to free speech, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

1 Mar 2007

Former FDA commissioner Lester Crawford gets three years probation and $90,000 fine

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson on Tuesday sentenced former FDA commissioner Lester Crawford to three years of supervised probation and ordered him to pay fines of about $90,000 for false reporting and conflicts of interest related to ownership of stocks in companies regulated by the agency, the AP/Washington Times reports.

1 Mar 2007

Latest food scare in the U.S. hits Hollywood party scene

Hollywood's celebrities may have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus at one of 13 catered events, in particular a Sports Illustrated's swimsuit party.

28 Feb 2007

Medical workers sentenced to death in Libyan HIV infection case plead not guilty in slander hearing

The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV on Sunday pleaded not guilty to claims that they slandered a police officer and a doctor by accusing them of torture, Reuters/Independent Online reports.

28 Feb 2007