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Unclear Fate of Biologics

A piece by Thomas A.

Pharmaguy To the Rescue According to the New York Times, “In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, many Americans are reaching for their cellphones to make a donation via text message. And plenty of them are then spreading the word to others on sites like Twitter and Facebook.”

This piece first appeared in the New York Post on February 4, 2010 and was excerpted in the February 1

NYC’s Reduced Sodium Diet
According to the New York Times, “On Monday, the Bloomberg administration plans to unveil a broad new health initiative aimed at encouraging food manufacturers and restaurant chains across the country to curtail the amount of salt in their products.”

Dispatch: Burn for Greens, Smoke for Kids, Rise for Thinness, Die without Shots

ACS on PSA
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is urging doctors to talk frankly with their patients about the risks and limitations of the PSA blood test used to screen for prostate cancer.

A study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience determined that when rats consume high-fat, high-calorie foods in great quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction.
In addition to the fact that this is a rat study, it does not reflect the way that humans eat, says ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. In fact, this study doesn t even reflect the eating habits of rats, so there s no way it could be a realistic model of human eating habits.

The European Chemicals Agency will expand its list of Substances of Very High Concern from the current 29 to a total of 135 by the year 2012, in accordance with Europe’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.

Science News reports, Two chemicals that are becoming widely used replacements for potentially toxic flame retardants in household products such as televisions and furniture have shown up in peregrine falcon eggs in California.

The FDA has assembled a panel to study mentholated cigarettes and advise on how the government should regulate them. The panel’s recommendations are expected by next March.
“The menthol issue is very complex, both economically and medically,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “A few months ago, I thought it was a slam dunk that the FDA would ban it because of the members of the committee, but the more I’ve read on the issue, the more I believe that there’s no scientific evidence for banning menthol.”

A research review published in the journal Pediatrics examined twenty-eight studies involving 3,500 children undergoing treatment for cancer and found that many of them use herbal remedies, vitamins, or other types of alternative therapies.

ACSH Trustee and Hoover Institution Fellow Dr. Henry Miller, a former FDA official, argues on Forbes.com that many dietary supplements are “complex, highly variable, and impure,” and that they should be more closely scrutinized.”

The CDC reported yesterday that the rate of Cesarean births reached 32% in 2007, the country s highest rate ever. The New York Times reports, When needed, a Caesarean can save the mother and her child from injury or death, but most experts doubt that one in three women need surgery to give birth.

•In March 2010, venues noting ACSH included Christian Science Monitor ( http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0301/Obama-still-lighting-up-but-anti-... ), New York Times (a Dr. Ross comment on one of their blogs, about smokeless tobacco), Forbes.com (a Dr. Ross comment on BPA), Wall Street Journal online (a Dr.

It used to be that when the Federal government wanted to encourage states and cities to adhere to certain policies, they'd offer grants with strings attached. Highway funds, for example, are available only if states enforce federally mandated blood alcohol levels, as well as a drinking age of twenty-one.
Today, however, all pretenses are out the window, and the Obama administration is taking taxpayer money and sending it directly to local governments and non-profits to lobby on behalf of nanny-state policies.

A research study and editorial published today in the journal Pediatrics suggests that R.J. Reynolds Camel Orbs and similar dissolvable tobacco products will appeal to young children because they resemble candy. The study s lead researcher, Dr.

The Washington Post reports that the Food and Drug Administration is planning an "unprecedented effort" to reduce Americans' salt intake by mandating that food manufacturers use less sodium. The FDA claims it needs no additional authority from Congress to gradually "phase-down" sodium levels in nearly every type of processed food.

According to the New York Post, The controversial fat tax Gov. Paterson hopes to resurrect in budget talks this week could hike the price of powdered drink mixes such as Kool-Aid, Gatorade, and iced tea by nearly double.

A study published in the journal Archives of Neurology suggests that a diet rich in olive oil, nuts, fish, poultry, and certain fruits and vegetables may help stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the voluntary recall of several models of hockey sticks that have paint containing lead levels in excess of the federal standard.

A study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology based on data for over 2.4 million Canadians shows that for every 1% increase in colonoscopy use, the risk of death from colon cancer dropped 3%.

The Washington State Senate is expected to pass a tax package that includes a sales tax on candy.

Retired military officers say school lunches have put the nation's security at risk because they've left so many young Americans too fat to join the military. We're not making this up, folks.

A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute investigated the claim that eating fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer, concluding, A very small inverse association between intake of total fruits and vegetables and cancer risk was observed in this study. Given the small magnitude of the observed associations, caution should be applied in their interpretation.