Other News
Health news and comment from around the world.
July 22, 2003
EU plan
to fight diseases
The European Union is to set up an institute to fight SARS and other
serious diseases. The proposed European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)
would also coordinate efforts in the event of a bio-terrorist attack.
Read article at BBC News
July 22, 2003
USDA
AWARDS OVER $4 MILLION IN NUTRITION TRAINING GRANTS
US Department of Agriculture awards over $4 million in nutrition training
grants
Read article at USDA News Release
July 12, 2003
Italian EU presidency brings ambitious health
targets
The Italian government has set itself an ambitious public health agenda
as it presides over European Union business for the next six months.
Heading the list are moves to establish a European centre for disease
prevention and control and to increase information to the public on
the importance of healthy lifestyles.
Read article at Bmj.com
July 12, 2003
Women need better information about routine mammography
Although mammographic screening is well established in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere, its value continues to be debated. Most of the data
on mammographic screening come from a group of clinical trials completed
over a decade ago. These are subject to constant reworking, reanalyses,
and wrangling between the screening zealots and the screening sceptics.
New data are unlikely to emerge, as it is improbable that new screening
trials, with a control group that is "left to nature" will
be conducted.
Read article at Bmj.com
July 8, 2003
Many Doctors Withhold Info From Patients
Nearly one in three US doctors reports withholding information from
patients about useful medical services that aren't covered by their
health insurance companies, and the number may be on the rise, a study
reports
Read article at ABC News
July 2, 2003
New Proteins Could Aid Cancer, Heart Treatments
California cancer researchers have discovered a new class of proteins
that spurs the development of blood vessels -- a finding that could
aid in the treatment of cancer, heart disease and more.
Read article at Healthday.com
June 19, 2003
Half of HIV patients choose alternative medicine
US study of HIV patients finds that those who believed that the risks
of antiretroviral therapy were "definitely not worth taking" were
eight times more likely to substitute alternative medicine
Read article at Eurekalert.org
June 14, 2003
Lord Baldwin, chairman of the parliamentary group for CAM until 2002,
discusses the placebo effect
Lord Baldwin—who chaired the British Acupuncture Accreditation
Board 1990-9, was joint chairman of the Parliamentary Group for Alternative
and Complementary Medicine 1992-2002, and served on the House of Lords
Science and Technology Select Committee inquiry into complementary and
alternative medicine in 2000—asks that both complementary and conventional
practitioners keep an open mind
Read article at Bmj.com
June 7, 2003
Bush legislates for $15bn to be spent on AIDS
Bush’s 15 billion
dollar Aids programme may be just pie in the sky. Although the law
envisages subsidies worth $3bn a
year through to 2008, it is uncertain how much will actually be spent.
The congressional appropriations process for next year is in the
early stages, and members of both parties have cautioned that it
could be difficult to fit that sum within the limits on foreign aid
that Congress has approved
Read article at Bmj.com
May 22, 2003
SARS scare stories continue – this one
from the USA says a major outbreak could overwhelm the US health system
The U-S health system has a lot of know-how when it comes to containing
infectious diseases -- but experts say if SARS gets out of hand, it could
overwhelm the nation's resources.
Read article at Wokr13.tv
May 20, 2003
Research points to link between beef cattle growth hormone and increased rates
of breast cancer
In feed lots across the country, beef cattle are given growth hormones to make
them fatter faster, to save money. Now questions are being raised about one of
the most widely-used hormones, Zeranol, a synthetic estrogen implanted in cattle.
A series of tests done for the Pentagon show a possible link between breast cancer
and Zeranol.
Read article at CBS News
May 20, 2003
US keeps up SARS pressure – Tommy Thompson US Health Secretary
says ‘SARS will be a global killer’
People in Europe and the US are likely to die from infection by the Sars
virus, the US Health Secretary has predicted.
The respiratory virus has killed hundreds and infected thousands - but
the vast majority of deaths so far have been in China and Hong Kong.
As yet, no deaths from the virus have been reported in the US, or any
European country.
Read article at BBC News
May 15, 2003
China Threatens to Execute SARS Spreaders
Fear over SARS reaches new high as China threatens to execute anyone
intentionally spreading the disease by ignoring quarantine rules
Read article at Abcnews.com
May 3, 2003
Aids vaccine testing begins in India, Switzerland and UK
Clinical trials of a new vaccine against HIV, which has infected more
than 40 million people worldwide, start in Switzerland and the United
Kingdom in June.
Read article at Bmj.com
April 24, 2003
'Genetic shield' may beat cancer
Nobel Prize winning genetic researcher says human beings could and should
be allowed to alter their genetic inheritance to prevent diseases like
cancer
Read article at Guardian.co.uk
April 23, 2003
US scientists say they have cured
mice of diabetes with gene therapy
New research into diabetes holds out hope of a cure from the disabling
condition which affects around 1.4m people in Britain. Experimental
gene therapy has cured mice of diabetes, and although work is at a very
early stage, scientists hope the technique will
one day free people from its effects.
Read article at Sky.com
April 23, 2003
Global flu pandemic 'imminent'
The South African Medinfo organisation warns that, in the wake of SARS,
a global flu pandemic is imminent. If true, this will be good news
for vaccine makers…
Read article at News24.com
April 23, 2003
Ironing out nutrient deficiencies
US scientists and the Nigerian International Institute of Tropical Technology
are testing biofortification to improve availability of iron from traditional
maize crops
Read article at Nutraingredients.com
April 23, 2003
Scientists say SARS virus mutates making
it difficult to find a cure
SCIENTISTS warned yesterday that the SARS super-flu virus is constantly
changing - frustrating the search for a cure.
Read article at Dailyrecord.co.uk
April 8, 2003
HIV/Aids vaccine trial in Uganda fails to attract volunteers
Researchers at the Entebbe-based Uganda Virus Research Institute
(UVRI) are appealing to volunteers to come forward for HIV/AIDS vaccine
trials.
Read article at Irinnews.org
April 2, 2003
Disease outbreaks that have ravaged mankind
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed nearly 80 people
worldwide and infected more than 2 300. The death rate is about four
percent. But far worse outbreaks have plagued the planet before.
Read article at Iol.co.za
March 26, 2003
Chirac calls for European cancer
agency to encourage coherent Community policy
French President Chirac calls for the establishment
of a European agency to fight cancer in a coordinated way across all
EU Member States
Read article at Cordis News
March 22, 2003
Privatisation
of water is high on Kyoto summit agenda
Privatisation of water supplies in developing
countries may risk the lives of up 1 billion people
Read article at Bmj.com
March 06, 2003
US consumer groups to sue Department
of Agriculture over GMO medicine crops
A coalition of U.S. environmental and consumer groups Wednesday threatened
to sue the U.S. Agriculture Department unless it temporarily halts planting
of biotech crops engineered to produce medicinal and industrial products.
Read article at Enn.com
February 23, 2003
US Patriot Act laws are curbing disease
research say scientists
New federal laws meant to control bioterrorism are making it considerably
tougher for researchers to continue work with such agents as anthrax and
the plague, just as the United States reaches the brink of war with the
country that supposedly possesses the greatest bioterrorism threat in
the world.
Read article at The Miami Herald
February 19, 2003
Details of President Bush's agriculture
budget
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today released details of the Bush
Administration’s proposed FY 2004 budget for USDA programs and services,
which includes record spending for important farm conservation measures,
food safety protections, and nutrition and food assistance programs. The
$74 billion request is 2% higher ($1.4 billion) than the previous year
and $5.4 billion higher (or 8% growth) since FY2001.
Read article at USDA News Release
February 15, 2003
US university dean calls for integration
of
gene-based agricultural and bio-medical research
As the links between foods and human health become ever clearer, so does
the necessity of integrating gene-based agricultural and medical sciences
research, according to Charles Muscoplat, dean of the University of Minnesota
College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences.
Read article at Eurekalert.org
February 14, 2003
Is HIV/AIDS a poverty disease? A director
of the Inter Regional Economic Network discusses the real reasons for
the AIDS epidemic in Africa
Nelson Mandela addresses guests at the unveiling of the second series
of his art works on Robben Island last week. The imprint of his left hand,
in the picture on the left, is surrounded by the imprints of the hands
of children affected by HIV to reflect the effects of the disease on the
continent.
Read article at Dispatch.co.za
February 14, 2003
Heart disease declining - but scientists
don't know why
Heart disease death rates have plummeted in recent years, prompting scientists
to question long-held theories about fat consumption
Read article at Independent.co.uk
February 11, 2003
Uganda begins human HIV vaccine trials
Ugandan researchers have begun injecting volunteers with one of the world's
few prototype HIV vaccines targeting the strain of the virus ravaging
east Africa, the research team said on Tuesday.
Read article at Iol.co.za
February 11, 2003
Heart disease threat to UK women more
than 4 times that of breast cancer
Most women are dangerously unaware that heart disease is the greatest
threat to their lives, according to a new report.
Read article at Sky.com
February 7, 2003
New York State Assembly is looking
at the business potential of herbal remedies
The economic and medical potential of herbal supplements and medicines
will be explored by the state Assembly's Republican minority during a
two-hour hearing on Monday, Feb. 10.
Read article at Bizjournals.com
February 7, 2003
US healthworkers refuse government
smallpox vaccinations over safety fears
Health-care professionals are citing medical, political and financial
reasons for not towing the U.S. government line and getting smallpox vaccinations.
Read article at HealthScoutNews.com
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