|
|
|
2007-9-3 17:26:20 |
|
Health Highlights: Jan. 31, 2007 * Merck Pushing for Mandatory HPV Vaccination * L.A. Restaurants Urged to Voluntarily Cut Trans Fats * White House Promises $25 Million for Ground Zero Workers * EU Considering Total Ban on Public Smoking * Statins More Effective for Male Heart Attack Patients: Study * Test May Predict Risk of Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: Merck Pushing for Mandatory HPV Vaccination Drug maker Merck & Co. is helping finance campaigns to get states to pass legislation that would make it mandatory for girls as young as 11 or 12 to receive a new vaccine that protects against sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), the Associated Press reported. Merck makes the vaccine, called Gardasil, which guards against strains of HPV that cause most cases of cervical cancer. Currently, at least 18 states are debating whether to make the vaccine mandatory for schoolgirls. The drug company has given money to Women in Government, an advocacy group that includes female state legislators throughout the United States. Many of the state bills advocating the use of Gardasil have been introduced by members of Women in Government, the AP reported. Some parents'-rights and conservative groups charge that Merck is engaging in underhanded lobbying. These groups say making the vaccine mandatory would encourage premarital sex and interfere with how parents raise their children. But Merck said it has been open about the fact that it provides funding to Women in Government, the AP said. Gardasil was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. An FDA advisory panel recommended that all girls get the vaccine at ages 11 or 12, before they are sexually active. ----- L.A. Restaurants Urged to Voluntarily Cut Trans Fats Under a plan released Tuesday, restaurants in Los Angeles and the surrounding county will be urged to voluntarily phase out artery-clogging trans fats over the next 18 months. City and county officials said the plan could include incentives, such as a window decal that restaurants might use to declare their trans fat-free status to customers, the Associated Press reported. The plan comes after local officials learned last week that state law prevented them from banning trans fats, or from forcing restaurants to display nutritional information on their menus. The California Restaurant Association supports the voluntary approach, spokesman Andrew Casana told the AP. In December, New York City became the first American city to pass a law banning all trans fats in all restaurants. The ban takes effect in mid-2008. Similar laws are being discussed by several U.S. cities. A number of major restaurant chains are also taking steps to reduce trans fats in their foods. ----- White House Promises $25 Million for Ground Zero Workers After intense lobbying by New York members of Congress, the White House said Tuesday that it will provide $25 million for the care and treatment of sick World Trade Center rescue workers, The New York Times reported. The total cost of treating all Ground Zero rescue workers who require medical care after being exposed to toxic dust is more than $250 million, according to a preliminary federal government estimate. New York lawmakers say this $25 million will help keep two treatment programs operating through the end of the year. Last month, the two programs warned they were running out of money, the Times reported. Last year, the same group of politicians convinced Congress to provide $75 million to help care for sick World Trade Center rescue workers, but that money is running out. Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, has said a $1.9 billion program is needed to help sick rescue workers. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat who represents parts of Manhattan and Queens, said, "I would have hoped that we would not have had to wait five years and a number of visible deaths before we got the administration to react, but it is an important step forward." ----- EU Considering Total Ban on Public Smoking European Union officials may propose a total smoking ban in public places for all 27 member countries. In a policy paper released Tuesday, EU regulators said they favor a ban that does not include any exemptions for establishments, such as bars serving food, Bloomberg news reported. However, the EU is delaying introducing legislation to guarantee a smoke-free environment across the entire bloc because "the desirable level of EU involvement in promoting smoke-free legislation is an open question." So far, 13 EU nations have drafted rules to restrict smoking in public. However, smoking bans have met strong opposition in some countries, including Germany, which is Europe's biggest tobacco market, Bloomberg reported. Each year in the EU, secondhand smoke is responsible for the deaths of 79,000 adults, according to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. ----- Statins More Effective for Male Heart Attack Patients: Study Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are more effective for men than women in reducing the risk of death after a heart attack, says a study published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Researchers at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal compared the death rates of more than 14,000 heart attack patients treated with statins and more than 23,000 patients who did not receive statins, CBC News reported. They found that the use of statins after a heart attack was associated with a lower death risk in men than in women, whether it was cardiac-related death or death from other causes. The researchers suggested that men and women may process statins differently, CBC News reported. "If corroborated by independent studies on the effects of statins on serum cholesterol levels, these results would suggest a possible need for reappraisal of target daily doses for statins," the researchers wrote. "Women might require a higher dose to achieve preventive effects similar to those observed in men." ----- Test May Predict Risk of Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection A potential method of predicting whether transplants from specific bone marrow donors are likely to be rejected by a recipient has been developed by Canadian researchers. They analyzed 19,000 genes from 50 bone marrow donors and found that the activity of 17 specific genes could help them identify so-called "dangerous donors" whose bone marrow was likely to be rejected, the Canadian Press reported. If this approach is confirmed, it would help doctors plan bone marrow transplants and post-transplant treatments in order to reduce recipients' risk of graft-versus-host disease. It may also be possible for doctors to use this test to determine which recipients are likely to reject different kinds of solid organ transplants (for example, kidneys and livers), the CP reported. The study was published Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine. Last Updated: Jan. 31, 2007 Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved. |
