Health Highlights: Aug. 24, 2005

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Pigs Cloned for Cancer Supplements in S. Korea

South Korean scientists say they have successfully cloned six pigs in an effort to create supplements that can help cancer patients, China''s Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.

According to South Korean news sources, the scientists from Chungnam National University and a local biotech company, MGenbio, said they injected a human GM-CSF gene into somatic cells of a pig to create the clones. Two of the pigs born, however, didn''t have properties that could be used to produce the supplements, Xinhua said.

GM-CSF is a protein that promotes the growth of white blood cells, according to the news agency. Used to treat cases of leukemia and anemia, one gram of the substance can sell for as much as $600,000, Xinhua said.

MGenbio President Park Kwang-wook said it could take up to 15 years to perfect and commercialize the technology used to clone the pigs, the Chinese wire service reported.

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Canada Allows ADHD Drug Back on Market

Canadian health officials have decided to reverse their decision to ban the drug Adderall XR, used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The decision followed an expert panel''s review of the drug, which was triggered by the drug''s manufacturer, Shire Pharmaceuticals, when Health Canada decided to pull Adderall XR from the market in February because of reports of sudden death and stroke among users.

Fourteen of the sudden deaths and two of 12 cases of stroke occurred among children. None of the cases took place in Canada, the AP reported.

The expert panel "came to the conclusion that there was not enough evidence of increased harm from Adderall compared to other therapies available," said a spokesman for Health Canada, the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA conducted its own review of Adderall last summer and decided to allow the drug to remain on the market. But the agency required that the drug''s label be modified to include warnings of the potential problems, the AP said.

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U.S. Reinstates ''Organic'' Seals on Cosmetics

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reversed its decision to remove seals proclaiming "USDA Organic" from lotions and lip balms, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The department created the label three years ago to distinguish products created without pesticides or fertilizers and made with all-natural, chemical-free ingredients. But USDA officials decided in April to remove the labels from lotions and lip balms, saying the department didn''t have the authority to regulate cosmetics, the wire service reported.

An organic soap company sued the USDA, saying without the government seal the word "organic" bore little meaning, the AP said.

The USDA didn''t announce a reason for the reversal. A spokesman for the company that sued the department -- Dr. Bronner''s Magic Soaps -- said he expected the company to drop the suit pending ongoing settlement talks with the USDA, the wire service reported.

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British Scientists Grow Mature Lung Cells

British researchers have announced the successful growth of mature lung cells from embryonic tissue.

The research may move the prospect of growing a set of human lungs in the laboratory for transplant surgery one step closer to reality, The Independent reported.

Scientists from Imperial College London said they have been able to stimulate stem cells from a human embryo to develop in a test tube into some of the highly specialized cells of the lungs that are involved in the exchange of oxygen and waste carbon dioxide.

Prof. Julia Polak, the scientist who led the research team, told the newspaper that the study, published in the journal Tissue Engineering, represented an important development toward the goal of building human organs from stem cells cultured in the laboratory.

There is a huge shortage of organs for transplant medicine and some operations ultimately fail because the body''s immune system rejects "foreign" tissues from an unrelated donor.

However, stem cells offer the prospect of repairing damaged tissues without the need for organ transplants, and if the stem cells can be cloned from the same patient there will be no need to take tissue-rejection drugs.

Stephen Spiro, a spokesman for the British Lung Foundation, cautioned that although the work was very important it was still in its early stages.

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Obesity Report Statistics Disputed

A health advocacy group''s report on the continuing spread of obesity in the United States has come under statistical fire from outside experts.

Trust for America''s Health, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, ranked 49 states -- except Hawaii, for which figures were not presented -- on percentage of obese adults in its report Tuesday. It found that obesity rates have risen in every state but Oregon.

But government and other statistical experts take issue with the methods used to compile the ranking, USA Today reported.

The group averaged three years of data (2002-2004) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention''s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a state-by-state telephone system in which participants report their own weight and height.

Because people are believed to underestimate weight and overestimate height, some experts say actual obesity rates are higher than data suggest in self-reported surveys of this kind, the newspaper reported.

CDC officials say the ranking is misleading for a more technical reason. "This is not a valid statistical comparison," said Michael Link, a senior survey methodologist at the agency. Because the sample size varies from state to state, each one has a different margin of error, and therefore the percentage of obese adults in each state actually could be several points higher or lower than the numbers indicate, Link said.

Shelley Hearne, executive director of Trust for America''s Health, said the group consulted with government experts on the methodology. "This is the best picture we have on what''s happening with our states."