Health Glance
Every year for two decades, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an annual report on the amount of pesticide residue it detects from samples of fresh fruits and vegetables around the country.
The Environmental Protection Agency uses the data to monitor exposure to pesticides and enforce federal standards designed to protect infants, children and other vulnerable people. But the 200-page annual report has become a target of an unusual lobbying campaign by the produce industry, which worries that the data are being misinterpreted by the public.
Produce industry presses USDA on pesticide report
FDA approves boceprevir, the first new hepatitis C drug in 20 years
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved marketing of the Merck drug boceprevir, the first new drug for hepatitis C in 20 years. The agency is still considering approval of a similar drug, telaprevir, and is expected to approve it soon as well. Both drugs are members of a new class of hepatitis drugs called protease inhibitors, which block a key enzyme required by the virus to replicate.
They are expected to convert hepatitis C from a debilitating disease into a manageable condition for the majority of people infected with the virus. Boceprevir, which will be marketed by Merck under the brand name Victrelis, is approved only for use in conjunction with the current hepatitis C drugs, peginterferon-alpha and ribavirin.
Marijuana cuts lung cancer tumor growth in half, Harvard study shows
The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.
Anti-retroviral drugs 'help reduce' HIV transmission
An HIV-positive person who takes anti-retroviral drugs after diagnosis, rather than when their health declines, can cut the risk of spreading the virus to uninfected partners by 96%, according to a study.
The United States National Institutes of Health sampled 1,763 couples in which one partner was infected by HIV. It was abandoned four years early as the trial was so successful. The World Health Organization said it was a "crucial development".
Thought Bed Bugs Were Bad? Try Bed Bugs With MRSA
The one bright side of having bed bugs — if you wanted to be really optimistic about it — has always been that at least the tormenting critters didn't transmit disease. But now researchers in Vancouver report that they've found bed bugs with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
The scientists studied five bed bugs, taken from three patients treated at St. Paul's Hospital. All three patients were residents of Vancouver's poor Downtown Eastside, where both bed bugs and MRSA have been on the rise in recent years. The researchers wanted to see if there was a connection.
Study Reveals 83 Individuals with Autism Quietly Compensated by Federal Vaccine Injury Court
National Autism Association Calls for Immediate Congressional and Scientific Investigation Into Autism-Vaccine Link
Despite numerous studies cited repeatedly by federal officials as proof that vaccines do not cause autism, a new study released today in the Pace Environmental Law Review revealed that over the last two decades, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has been quietly compensating dozens of vaccine injury cases involving a child with autism. The preliminary findings showed approximately 1300 cases of vaccine injury resulted in childhood brain injury, 83 of which had autism. The National Autism Association (NAA) says the study further underscores the need for Congressional hearings and independent scientific research into the autism-vaccine connection.
Investigators Find Clear Vaccine-Autism Link Based on Government Data
The Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA) held a press conference in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to release a study linking vaccine injury to autism. For over 20 years, the federal government has denied a vaccine-autism link, while at the same time its Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has been awarding damages for vaccine injury to children with brain damage, seizures and autism. Coming out just after the prevalence study of autism in South Korea, this investigation breaks new ground in the controversial vaccine-autism debate.
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