Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
AARP Endorses Drug Importation Bill
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) announced Wednesday that it endorses and will aggressively work for passage of a bipartisan bill to legalize importation of prescription drugs from other countries, beginning with Canada.
"Though not a complete solution to the problem of high drug costs, safe
and legal importation will help put downward pressure on prices and enable
consumers to secure additional savings," AARP CEO Bill Novelli said in a
prepared statement.
The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and 23 co-sponsors.
It contains safety standards that were urged by the AARP including: a system of registration, inspection and tracking of imported drugs; anti-tampering and anti-counterfeiting technologies; and labeling rules.
The bill also stipulates establishment of a Web site and toll-free
telephone number consumers can use to locate reputable sites that sell
imported drugs.
"The bill meets the challenges of designing an importation program that
protects the integrity of pharmaceuticals and provides a streamlined process
that enables consumers to access lower cost drugs. We will work hard for
enactment this year," Novelli said.
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Nearly 82 Million in U.S. Lacked Insurance in Last Two Years
Close to 82 million people in the United States -- about a third of the
population under age 65 -- were without health insurance at some time during 2002-03, according to a study released Wednesday by Families USA.
Most of those uninsured people were without health insurance for more than nine months. Blacks and Hispanics were disproportionately affected by lack of health insurance, the Associated Press reported.
The study, based on an analysis of census data, found that Texas had the
highest rate of uninsured people in the country. That state had 8.5 million
people (43.4 percent of the non-elderly population) who were without health
insurance at some point in the past two years.
That was followed by: New Mexico, 42.4 percent; California, 37.1 percent; Nevada, 36.8 percent; Louisiana, 36.2 percent; Arizona, 35.7 percent; Mississippi, 35.1 percent; and Okalahoma, 35 percent.
Previous research has found that poorer health, earlier death, delayed and inadequate medical care are associated with a lack of health insurance, the AP reported.
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British Consider First Application to Clone Human Embryos
Britain's first application for a license to clone human embryos for
scientific research is being considered by the country's Human Fertilization
and Embryology Authority.
Newcastle University scientists requested permission to create the human embryos in order to harvest stem cells for their medical research. The stem cells would be used in an attempt to create insulin-producing cells that
could be transplanted into people with diabetes, the Associated Press
reported.
The authority's research committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday to consider the request. There would be no immediate announcement of a decision, the authority said.
In 2001, Britain became the first country to legalize therapeutic human
cloning.
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Surgical Implant to Treat Depression Clears FDA Panel
There soon may be a way other than drugs to treat chronic depression.
The Washington Post reports that an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recommended the agency approve a surgical implant that actually helps ease depression. This is the first time that such a device has been recommended to treat a psychological condition.
The procedure is called vagus nerve stimulation, which uses electrodes implanted in the neck. These then activate areas in the brain that scientists believe regulate a person's mood.
According to the Post, the recommendation didn't come easily. There was some question as to whether there was enough data provided by the device's manufacturer, Cyberonics Inc. of Houston, to allow approval. But basing its decision at least in part on the fact the device is already used to treat people with epilepsy, the panel voted 6-2 to recommend approval.
"We lost four of these individuals in the last 2 1/2 hours," Dr. A. John Rush, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas told the Post as an example of the high suicide rate chronic depression causes.
The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its advisory panels.
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Faulty Procedures Prompt AIDS Tests on Ex-Hospital Patients
A suburban New York City hospital has asked almost 100 former patients to be tested for the AIDS and hepatitis virus, because instruments used in a routine test may not have been properly disinfected.
The New York Times reports that 86 patients have returned for HIV and hepatitis testing after officials at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island, acknowledged that instruments used for endoscopies (inserting a tube with a light source and miniature video camera at its tip into an orifice to examine internal organs) may not have been sterilized before they were reused.
The Times reports that two employees had failed to test a disinfectant bath used to clean the endoscopes, according to a hospital spokesman. Those employees have been fired, according to the report. The New York state Department of Health is conducting its own investigation, the newspaper said.
No cases of either HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- or hepatitis have been found, the newspaper says.
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U.S. Declares Batter-Coated French Fries a Fresh Vegetable
Batter-coated french fries are a fresh vegetable, at least according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The department got a federal judge's ruling last week to back up this seemingly bizarre classification, the Associated Press reported.
The ruling stated that, under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, batter-coated french fries can be considered fresh vegetables. Most other kinds of frozen french fries have been classified that way since 1996.
The USDA explained that this classification applies only to rules of commerce, not nutrition. The department does not actually consider a bunch of garden-fresh carrots and a plate of fries to be like two peas in the same nutrition pod.
Frozen fries, including the battered variety, are considered fresh because they don't meet the criteria to be classified as processed food, the AP reported.
