Following a split vote by an FDA advisory panel in July on whether Avandia was safe to stay on the market after evidence surfaced implicating the diabetes drug with an increased risk of heart attack, the FDA announced yesterday that it will place stringent restrictions on Avandia’s availability. Patients who wish to continue use of Avandia will have to enroll in a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program along with their doctors and pharmacists.
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Even though alcohol has been denied to the 33 miners trapped underground for over a month in a mine near Chile, their request for cigarettes was finally granted, and the miners will now share a ration of two packs per day. Though they were provided with nicotine patches and gum previously, the miners said it did little to alleviate their tobacco cravings.
“Well then why don’t we send them smokeless tobacco or clean nicotine such as e-cigs?” wonders ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
With public hearings on AquaBounty Technologies’ quick-growing genetically modified salmon scheduled for September 19th, the FDA concluded Friday the fish is safe for the environment and consumers.
The silly season in the fight against obesity is spreading, it seems, from the West coast to the East coast. The latest metropolis to join in the battle against soda is Boston, where city officials are considering a ban on selling sugar-sweetened beverages in government buildings. The anti-soda craze was started by Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, and now Boston is following suit.
On Friday, the FDA reversed its decision from two weeks prior to withdraw the drug midodrine from the market following strong protests from patients.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made a push over the weekend to empty our medicine cabinet shelves of the prescription drugs most of us have sitting there, setting up 4,000 points nationwide where people could drop off their expired or unwanted medications. Dr.
A new study suggests that most men do not need frequent prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to screen for prostate cancer after they turn 60, the age at which PSA levels can predict one’s risk of dying from the disease.
The Lancet reports that early drug trial results show great promise for a new antiviral drug combination developed for patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
In her role in the 1997 movie The Beautician and the Beast, actress Fran Drescher plays a New York cosmetologist who is mistakenly thought to be a science teacher. It seems that life imitates art, as Ms. Drescher is embarking on a “scientific” crusade by lending her name to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, an activist organization dedicated to scaring the public about the so-called carcinogens they’ll find in cosmetic products.
The headline of an article in Aquatics International reads “Highly publicized studies link cancer, DBP’s,” which kindly stated, is much ado about nothing. Based upon three studies, researchers found that disinfection by-products (DBPs) — certain byproducts of chlorine sanitizers used in swimming pools — may correlate with respiratory problems and bladder cancer.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be linked to suicide and depression, according to a new study published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
BPA is in the news, yet again. WPFO-TV (Fox 23) reports that Maine s Board of Environmental Protection has postponed plans to ban BPA from baby products until studies prove that the alternatives are safe.
As much as we will it to be, science is often not a simple case of black or white, a point reporter Anthony DePalma makes in a Huffington Post article describing the complexity of measuring 9/11 health effects. Mr. DePalma points out that while there is much known about the World Trade Center dust composition, the knowledge surrounding its health impact is limited; therefore, such legislation as the James Zadroga bill, which aims to reopen the Sept.
Genetically modified crops benefit both farmers (by reducing the need for purchasing expensive pesticides) and consumers (by providing crops that studies have shown are safer and healthier than conventional food, as well as cheaper, given the economic benefits to farmers).
The last time you were at McDonald’s, you may have thought twice about whether or not to indulge in a Big Mac after reading its total calorie content — or maybe you didn’t.
Parents philosophically opposed to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are responsible for hundreds of sickened children in the last few years, government data show.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended that the allowable concentration of atrazine in water be increased to 100 parts per billion, up from its previous two parts per billion standard.
If the thought of abstaining from alcohol for the entire length of pregnancy sounds like a daunting task, moms-to-be can breathe a slight sigh of relief, as a new study from the Journal of Epidemiological and Community Health suggests that having one or two drinks weekly may be safe during pregnancy.
File under, you reap what you sow : Caving to the complaints of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Ben & Jerry s has decided to remove the all-natural label from its ice cream.
The Giants have won the World Series, but it’s unhappy times at a certain Bay Area fast-food chain. By a veto-proof margin (8-3) the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted to ban meals packaged with toys unless the meal contains fruits and vegetables, is less than 600 calories and is low in fat and sodium. Once the ordinance goes into effect next December, McDonald’s restaurants in the city will either be forced to radically reformulate their Happy Meals or charge separately for toys.
When a patient experiences a stroke, time is of the essence in order to qualify for the most effective treatment — but often stroke victims are unable to determine or communicate when their stroke started. MRI scans could be useful in those cases, according to a study published online Tuesday in the journal Radiology.
Your iPhones and BlackBerrys may need some sort of viral “pesticide” because they may be harboring “more germs than a toilet in a subway bathroom,” a new study published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology finds.
As drugs continue to be taken for longer periods of time, unexpected complications may arise that were absent from short-term clinical trials.
Here’s a story that you probably didn’t read in your morning newspaper: An international panel of experts meeting in Canada has rebuked the numerous bodies in recent years that have restricted the common plastic hardening chemical bisphenol A (BPA). The panel has concluded that the levels of BPA circulating in the human body “are very low, indicating that BPA is not accumulated in the body and is rapidly eliminated through urine.”
The panel went on to say:
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is on yet another health crusade — this time against salty soups. Hizzoner is spending $370,000 in city and federal funds on subway ads featuring salt spewing from a can of chicken and rice soup.
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