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Obesity may push U.S. health costs above Europe: study


Reuters
Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:20 UTC
Nearly twice as many U.S. adults are obese compared to European, a key factor leading Americans to suffer more often from cancer, diabetes and other chronic ailments, a study released on Tuesday found.

Treatment of these and other chronic diseases adds between $100 billion and $150 billion to the annual health care tab in the United States, according to the report comparing U.S. and European health published online in the journal Health Affairs.
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Attention

Jewish "intactivists" in U.S. stop circumcising

Helen Chernikoff
Reuters
Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:25 UTC
In most respects, Michelle Chernikoff Anderson is a rabbi's dream congregant. She sings in the choir and takes classes at her synagogue.

But, like an increasing number of Jews in the United States, she has decided not to circumcise her son, rejecting the traditional notion that it is a Biblically prescribed sign of the Jewish relationship with God.
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Health

Chocolate 'aids fatigue syndrome'


BBC News
Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:01 UTC
A daily dose of specially-formulated dark chocolate may help cut chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.
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Question

Ex-health officials acquitted in Canada HIV scandal


AFP
Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:11 UTC
OTTAWA - A judge on Monday acquitted four doctors and a US pharmaceutical company who were accused of negligence in the distribution of blood contaminated with HIV in Canada's worst health scandal.

It was the first criminal trial in the case, in which more than 20,000 people contracted human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C in the 1980s and 1990s. At least 3,000 people died, including 800 from AIDS.
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Syringe

Pain Free Injections Coming Soon


Science Daily
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:00 UTC
University researchers have shown that micro-needles are a safer and less painful way of delivering vaccines and other medicines than a conventional hypodermic syringe.

©Cardiff University
The scale of an array of micro-needles shown against a 1p piece.
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X

Tainted-Beef Recall Sparks Consumer Concerns


ABC News
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:29 UTC


©unknown
Topps Meat. Co. is recalling some of its hamburgers after a cluster of illnesses in the Northeast caused by E. coli bacteria.
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X

US: Six die from brain-eating amoeba in lakes

Chris Kahn
Associated Press
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:22 UTC
It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

"This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Coffee

Thou shalt not smoke: Smokers Would Pay for Democrats new Health Bill

Charles Babington
Associated Press
Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:00 UTC
WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children's health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.

The program expansion passed by the House and Senate last week would be financed with a 156 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, taking it to $1 per pack from the current 39 cents. Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.
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Magnify

Report Assails FDA Oversight of Clinical Trials


The New York Times
Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:21 UTC
The Food and Drug Administration does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people who participate in clinical trials, a federal investigator has found.

©Unknown

In a report due to be released Friday, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, said federal health officials did not know how many clinical trials were being conducted, audited fewer than 1 percent of the testing sites and, on the rare occasions when inspectors did appear, generally showed up long after the tests had been completed.
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Syringe

Flashback The alternative reality of FDA and Big Pharma

Mike Adams
News Target
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:01 UTC
As clear-thinking people, natural health consumers sometimes look at the actions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and wonder what planet its decision makers seem to be from. It's like the FDA is living in a completely different world than the rest of us -- a world where nutrients are dangerous, but synthetic chemicals are perfectly safe for human consumption.

In fact, the idea that FDA bureaucrats and modern medicine promoters are living in a different reality is not far from the truth. I my view, FDA decision makers have no connection with reality. They're simply operating on a system of false beliefs and circular reasoning that justifies their efforts to protect Big Pharma profits by exploiting, misleading and directly harming the public.
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