Health Highlights: Aug. 31, 2005

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

FDA Official Resigns Over Plan B Delay

The director of the Food and Drug Administration''s Office of Women''s Health resigned Wednesday to protest the agency''s delay in allowing over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Susan Wood, who was also assistant commissioner for women''s health, announced her resignation in an e-mail to colleagues at the agency, which was then forwarded by a number of organizations to media outlets.

The FDA on Friday announced that it was delaying for 60 days its long-awaited decision on whether to allow over-the-counter sales of the Plan B contraceptive pill. Plan B, often called the "morning-after" pill, can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

In delaying its decision, which was contrary to the advice of its own scientific advisers, the FDA said it was comfortable allowing over-the-counter sales to adults 18 and older, but wanted more time to decide how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers.

In her email resignation, Wood said, "I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled."

She added, "The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women''s access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women''s health."

Plan B''s maker has been trying for two years to begin nonprescription sales, and the FDA''s latest postponement of its fate was a surprise: Commissioner Lester Crawford won Senate confirmation to take his job only after promising members of Congress to make a final decision by Sept. 1, the Associated Press reported.

The Society for Women''s Health Research issued a statement calling Wood''s resignation, "a severe loss to the advancement of women''s health."

"When the director of the office that ''serves as a champion for women''s health'' is not involved in decisions critical to women''s health, the immediate consequences for America''s women are tremendous," the statement added.

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New Treatment Approved for Short Children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the Tercica drug Increlex to treat children of short stature whose bodies don''t properly process growth hormone.

An estimated 6,000 children in the United States have a severe form of a condition in which they produce antibodies that neutralize growth hormone. These children are not growth-hormone deficient and therefore aren''t likely to respond to standard growth hormone replacement therapy, Tercica said in a statement.

Children with severe IGF-1 deficiency lack a body chemical called insulin-like growth factor-1, which is needed for the normal growth of bones, cartilage and organs, said Tercica, a Brisbane, Calif., biotech company.

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No Cell Phone Link to Cancer, U.K. Researchers Say

Using a cell phone even for 10 years does not increase the risk of brain cancer, U.K. researchers report.

The scientists, who conducted the largest study so far on the subject, said they could not rule out a higher risk over a longer period, however, the Independent reported.

"The results of our study suggest there is no substantial risk in the first decade after starting use," said Anthony Swerdlow, of the Institute of Cancer Research in London. "Whether there are longer-term risks remains unknown, reflecting the fact that this is a relatively recent technology."

The research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, focused on the risk of acoustic neuroma, benign tumors that grow in the nerve connecting the ear and inner ear to the brain, close to where handsets are held.

The institute''s analysis pooled studies conducted in Britain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, all countries where cell phones were introduced early.

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Teen Drivers Are Risky With Other Teens as Passengers: Study

Teenage drivers tend to take more risks behind the wheel when other teens -- notably boys -- are in the passenger seat, U.S. government researchers have found.

The riskiest driving occurred among drivers of either sex when a teen male was a passenger, according to researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Ironically, teen boy drivers actually became somewhat safer when a female companion was in the passenger seat, The New York Times reported of the study published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.

Of 471 teenage drivers tracked, 14.9 percent of boys and 13.1 of girls practiced dangerous habits including speeding and tailgating, the scientists said.

Lead researcher Bruce Simons-Morton speculated that drivers felt they had to show off with boy passengers in the car, although he said the issue would have to be confirmed in future studies.

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Feds Can''t Pinpoint Source of Mad Cow Case

While tainted feed was the most likely source of a recent mad cow case involving a Texas bovine, the U.S. government on Tuesday closed its investigation without pinpointing an exact source, the Associated Press reported.

The first domestic case of mad cow involved a 12-year-old Brahma cross cow. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokesman said the cow most likely ate contaminated food before a 1997 ban prevented the use of ground-up cattle remains in cattle feed, the wire service said.

The FDA studied more than 400 of the diseased animal''s herd mates without finding another case of the brain-wasting disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The diseased cow was already dead when it arrived at a Champion Pet Foods plant on Nov. 15, so no part of it was used to make dog food, the Houston Chronicle reported in June when the case was announced.

The nation''s first-ever confirmed case of mad cow, announced in December 2003, involved an imported animal believed to have been infected in Canada, the AP said.