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Ban use of bisphenol A in baby bottles

Environmental health groups call for immediate moratorium on bisphenol A in baby bottles, food and beverage containers. Baby bottles leach toxic chemical, according to new U.S. and Canadian Study. – Dozens of state and national environmental health organizations in the U.S. and Canada are calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers, based on the results of a new study that demonstrates the toxic chemical BPA leaches from popular plastic baby bottles when heated.

FDA updates guidance to seafood processors after recent ciguatera poisoning

FDA advises seafood processors about ciguatera fish poisoning in the Northern Gulf of Mexico near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a letter to seafood processors, advising them of recent illnesses linked to consuming fish carrying the ciguatera toxin, which has led to cases of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) in consumers.

Intensive blood glucose lowering treatment proved fatal for diabetes patients

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, USA has stopped one treatment within a large, ongoing North American clinical trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease 18 months early due to safety concerns after review of available data, although the study will continue. – Intensive blood glucose lowering treatment proved fatal for diabetes patients in a US study, and for Safety, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has changed intensive blood sugar treatment strategy in clinical trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers cracking the code of bird flu time bomb

Australian scientists say they have found a safer way to study the bird flu virus, giving researchers a greater chance to solve the H5N1 strain. – Researchers at Griffith University Institute for Glycomics, Queensland led by Professor Mark von Itzstein have developed a technique to ‘crack-the-code’ of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus. It will enable influenza virus specialists and drug researchers to interrogate one of the virus’ key surface proteins without risk of infection.

UK doctors have no confidence in NHS database

Do you have confidence in the UK government?s ability to safeguard patient information on a national NHS database? Do you feel you are in a position to assure patients that their data will be safe? Would you want your own data stored in this way? – Nine out of ten UK doctors have no confidence in the government’s ability to safeguard patient data online, a poll conducted by British Medical Association, BMA News has revealed.

Give your child a smoke-free childhood, says WHO

Second-hand smoke is a health hazard for you and your family. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Give your child a smoke-free childhood.
– This year’s theme on World Cancer Day is “children and second-hand smoke exposure”. Around 700 million children – almost half of the world’s children – breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, particularly at home.

Babies excrete vaccine-mercury quicker

Infants? bodies expel the thimerosal mercury much faster than once thought ? thereby leaving little chance for a progressive building up of the toxic metal. – February’s issue of Pediatrics offers another reason to rethink blaming the spike in autism diagnoses on thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative routinely used in several childhood vaccines until the late ?90s.

Epilepsy drugs may raise suicide risk, warns FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued new information to health care professionals to alert them about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (suicidality) in patients who take drugs called antiepileptics to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder, migraine headaches, and other conditions. – An increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (suicidality) in patients who take drugs called antiepileptics to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder, migraine headaches, and other conditions, reported by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

7000 pediatric emergency visits linked to cough and cold medication

CDC study estimates 7,000 pediatric emergency departments visits linked to cough and cold medication. Unsupervised ingestion accounts for 66 percent of incidents. – An estimated 7,000 children ages 11 and younger are treated in hospital emergency departments each year because of cough and cold medications, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately two-thirds of those incidents were due to unsupervised ingestion (i.e., children taking the medication without a parent’s knowledge).

OTC eardrops may cause hearing loss

Over-the-counter eardrops may cause hearing loss or damage. The Montreal Children?s Hospital of the MUHC recommends these products be used with extreme caution. – A new study, led by researchers at The Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) of the MUHC, has revealed that certain over-the-counter earwax softeners can cause severe inflammation and damage to the eardrum and inner ear. The results of the study, recently published in The Laryngoscope, suggest that use of these medications should be discouraged.