Tuesday, Nov 18th
Last update09:21:50 AM GMT
Health Glance
Barack Obama's Justice Department have done what top attorneys for former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton could never do -- silenced the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana.
The modest medical cannabis dispensary -- which has operated since 1996, making the Fairfax-based pot club the state's oldest -- quietly shut down over the weekend under heavy pressure from federal prosecutors, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
By the time authorities busted a fake AIDS clinic in Miami, it had bilked Medicare of more than $4.5 million. Still, the man behind the scheme remained far ahead of the agents pursuing him.
Michel De Jesus Huarte, a 40-year-old Cuban-American, hadn't simply avoided arrest. He had hatched a plan to steal millions more from Medicare by forming at least 29 other shell companies - paper-only firms with no real operations. Each time, he would keep his name out of any corporate records. Other people - some paid by Huarte, some whose identities had been stolen - would be listed in incorporation papers.
The US government has asked the scientific journals Nature and Science to censor data on a laboratory-made version of bird flu that could spread more easily to humans, fearing it could be used as a potential weapon.
The journals are objecting to the request, saying it would restrict access to information that might advance the cause of public health.
A substance patented as a flame retardant and banned as a food ingredient throughout Europe and in Japan is present in 10% of all soft drinks in the US. The December 12, 2011 issue of Environmental Health News reviews the history of this toxic ingredient, including the fact that "extreme soda binges - not too far from what many video gamers regularly consume" have resulted in skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders.
Private Equity’s Steward Health unit called “predatory”; Patient care down; “The cupboards are bare” - Kathy Reardon, RN, Steward Norwood Hospital
New York City - Hundreds of nurses and their supporters from across the U.S. will converge outside the offices of Cerberus Capital Management, 299 Park Avenue, on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 12:30 p.m., to protest the practices of the multi-billion dollar private equity firm’s health care unit, Steward Health Care System. Cerberus-Steward now operates 10 hospitals in Massachusetts, has partnered with a number of physician practices here, and is now entering the health insurance market as well. Cerberus-Steward has come under increasing criticism for cornering the market with predatory practices, undercutting patient care with its push for profits.
A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it.
"The fear is that if you create something this deadly and it goes into a global pandemic, the mortality and cost to the world could be massive," a senior scientific adviser to the US Government told The Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Louisiana state health officials are warning patients about potential dangers of using tap water in the sinus-irrigating neti pot after two patients died of Naegleria fowleri infection.
N. fowleri is known as a "brain-eating" amoeba because it can enter a patient's nose, infect the brain, and cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain-tissue destroying condition.
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