Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Health Highlights: April 6, 2004
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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: Importing Drugs Poses Safety Challenges: Surgeon General The safe importation of prescription drugs into the United States from Canada and other countries presents significant challenges, said U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona. He told the Associated Press that, during a forum Monday, drug manufacturers presented a convincing case that such a move would make it easier for drug counterfeiters to market unsafe products in the United States. "We were not aware of the extremely robust counterfeiting system. I understand that corporate America is going to want to keep their stake in the market. But some of the evidence they presented, irrespective of their stake in the market, was compelling," Carmona told the AP. The Surgeon General is chairman of a U.S. government task force that's examining whether drugs can be imported into the country in a safe and cost-effective manner. Carmona said he's not opposed to finding a way to legalize importation of prescription drugs from other countries, but it would have to be done in a way that guarantees patient safety. During Monday's forum, prescription drug makers said importing cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries would be unsafe, cause price increases in other countries, and reduce incentives to market less-expensive generic drugs. ----- Partial-Birth Abortion Causes Fetus Pain: Testimony A pain expert claims that a form of late-term abortion, banned under a new federal law, would cause a 20-week-old fetus to suffer "severe and excruciating" pain. Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a pediatrician at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, testified as a government witness Tuesday in Lincoln, Neb., during a court challenge against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In his testimony, Anand said fetuses respond to pain with increased heart rate, blood flow and hormone levels, the Associated Press reported. "The physiological responses have been very clearly studied. The fetus cannot talk... so this is the best evidence we can get," Anand said. The federal ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions was signed in November by President Bush. But it hasn't been enforced because it's being challenged in three court cases in Lincoln, New York and San Francisco on the grounds that it violates the Constitution. ----- Gene Therapy Used to Repair Heart Cells Thomas Jefferson University researchers say they've successfully used gene therapy to repair damaged human heart cells in the laboratory. They used a virus to inset a gene into cells taken from people with congestive heart failure. After the gene therapy, the damaged heart cells regained the ability to contract at full strength, BBC News Online reported. This is the first time gene therapy has been successfully used to repair damaged human heart cells, the Philadelphia-based Jefferson team said. The researchers hope it won't be long before this gene therapy treatment can be tested on people with failing hearts. The research was published in the journal Circulation. ----- GIs Back from Iraq Tested for Uranium Exposure The U.S. Army has begun testing members of the New York National Guard returning from Iraq for possible depleted uranium contamination. The move comes after four Guard members showed signs of exposure to the radioactive material, the New York Daily News reported. Nine men formerly stationed in the Iraqi town of Samawah contacted the newspaper after their return from the Persian Gulf late last year, alleging that the Army was ignoring their pleas to be evaluated for unexplained illnesses. Symptoms included insomnia, headaches, shortness of breath, fatigue, and frequent urination. A nuclear medicine expert hired by the newspaper concluded that four of the men "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded depleted uranium (DU) shells fired by U.S. troops, the News reported. Once the Army learned of the newspaper's findings, it reversed course and agreed to test more than a dozen members of the 442nd Military Police Company who had come back from the Gulf, the News said. The rest of the company, comprised largely of New York City police, firefighters, and correction officers, is due to return from Iraq later this month. Medical experts critical of DU weapons have said exposure may cause kidney damage, cancer, and chromosome damage. The Army has said it has no evidence of long-term health problems relating to DU exposure among GIs returning from Iraq, the newspaper reported. ----- TV Carts Recalled After Infant's Death
The products were sold in a kit, to be assembled by consumers. They were available at department, discount, and home electronics stores from January 1993 through December 1999 for about $100. Consumers are urged to remove the television and all contents from the cart and to contact Sauder to order a free repair kit at 1-888-800-4590. ----- New Jersey Senators Seek Mad Cow Probe New Jersey's two U.S. senators are urging the federal government to investigate whether a cluster of deaths among former employees and patrons of a defunct racetrack were linked to eating meat tainted with mad cow disease, the Associated Press reported. The nearly 20 people involved either worked at or frequented the Garden State Racetrack in Cherry Hill between 1988 and 1992. All later died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a human form of mad cow, the AP said. Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine want the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the deaths. The cause of 85 percent of cases of CJD -- a brain-wasting disease -- is unknown. Some experts think it may be an inherited genetic mutation. When a cause is established, it's often use of contaminated instruments or tissue during surgery, the AP said. Another variant of the disease can be contracted from eating tainted beef, although such cases are considered rare. CJD accounts for about 300 deaths a year in the United States, according to government estimates cited by the AP. Last Updated: Apr-06-2004 |
