Health Glance
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that two members of an expert panel reviewing the global body's response to the swine flu outbreak have resigned over concerns about perceived conflict of interest.
John MacKenzie and Tony Evans stepped down because their close association with the UN health organization during the outbreak could be seen as conflicting with the panel's ability to remain independent, WHO said.
2 experts resign from WHO swine flu review panel
More Companies Knew About Tainted Drywall but Stayed Quiet—and Kept Selling It
At least a half-dozen homebuilders, installers and environmental consultants knew as early as 2006 that foul smells were coming from drywall imported from China – but they didn’t share their early concerns with the public, even when homeowners began complaining about the drywall in 2008.
ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported last month that two U.S. companies – WCI Communities, a major Florida homebuilder, and Banner Supply, a Miami-based distributor – knew about the problem in 2006. But according to recently released sworn depositions by current and former executives at Banner, other companies also were aware of the problem.
San Francisco Approves Cell Phone Radiation Disclosure Law
San Francisco is close to becoming the first city in the nation to require retailers to post next to cell phones the amount of radiation emitted by the devices.
The city's Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 Tuesday to give preliminary approval to the proposal. The board is expected to give final approval next week, and Mayor Gavin Newsom, an early proponent, is expected to sign the proposal into law.
A Dirt-Poor Nation, With a Health Plan
Rwanda has had national health insurance for 11 years now; 92 percent of the nation is covered, and the premiums are $2 a year.
Sunny Ntayomba, an editorial writer for The New Times, a newspaper based in the capital, Kigali, is aware of the paradox: his nation, one of the world’s poorest, insures more of its citizens than the world’s richest does.
Cheap drug could save tens of thousands of accident victims by stopping bleeding
An inexpensive drug could save tens of thousands of lives lost in accidents and war every year by minimizing excessive bleeding, British researchers reported Monday. The drug, called tranexamic acid, is already used during surgeries in many developed countries to prevent unwanted bleeding, but the results from a massive clinical trial reported in the journal Lancet indicate that it could be used on an everyday basis even in the poorest countries.
Physicians had feared that such widespread use of the drug might lead to heart attacks, embolisms or other problems resulting from clot formation, but the new study showed an excellent safety profile for the drug.
Millions of cancer survivors skip care over cost, study finds
Millions of cancer survivors have put off receiving medical care because they could not afford it, according to a new study.
More than 2 million of 12 million U.S. adult cancer survivors did not get one or more needed medical services, the researchers estimate.
Big Pharma lies about statin drugs finally exposed in British Medical Journal
To hear Big Pharma tell it, statin drugs are "miracle" medicines that have prevented millions of heart attacks and strokes. But a recent study published in the British Medical Journal tells a completely different story: For every heart attack prevented by the drug, two or more people suffered liver damage, kidney failure, cataracts or extreme muscle weakness as a result of taking the drug.
Statin drugs, in other words, harm far more people than they help.
More Articles...
Page 151 of 233
