Medical Legislation News and Research

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Healthcare reform

Faced with a barrage of pressing issues, the Obama administration has placed health-care reform high on its agenda.

8 Feb 2009

Medicines sold in Sweden cause serious environmental harm in India

Many of the substances in our most common medicines are manufactured in India and China.

8 Feb 2009

Research looks at smokeless tobacco products

Each year, two thirds of smokers in the US say they want to quit smoking but less than 3% of those who try to quit are successful.

5 Feb 2009

HIPAA privacy rule fails to adequately protect patient privacy and hampers health research

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule does not adequately protect the privacy of people's personal health information and hinders important health research discoveries, concludes a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

5 Feb 2009

Study shows restrictive law fails to limit number of abortions

Despite abortion being severely legally restricted - and potentially unsafe - in Peru, the incidence of abortion is as high as or higher than the incidence in many countries where it is legal and safe, found researchers from Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States in an article published in CMAJ.

2 Feb 2009

Social and ethical issues concerning nanotechnology

Recent action in Congress to reauthorize the U.S. federal nanotechnology research program offers the chance to address the social and ethical issues concerning the emerging scientific field, experts say.

29 Jan 2009

Healthcare will be a headache for Obama

Among industrialised nations, the US spends well over twice the per capita average on health care and soaring health costs are expected to reach 20 per cent of Gross Domestic Product by 2015.

23 Jan 2009

Chemo boosts survival rates for pancreatic cancer

The use of chemotherapy following surgery reduces the risk of death from operable pancreatic cancer by around 30 per cent, says new research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

21 Jan 2009

Victims of intimate partner violence display distinct patterns of facial injury

Women who are victims of intimate partner violence tend to have different patterns of facial injury than women who experience facial trauma from other causes, according to a report in the January/February issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2009

Aribex awarded patents for NOMAD handheld X-ray system

Aribex, Inc. has announced that it has been allowed a second U.S. patent for its NOMAD Handheld X-ray System.

19 Jan 2009

SCHIP Bill passes Senate Finance Committee

By a 12-7 vote, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved SCHIP reauthorization and expansion legislation that could add four million children to the program, the AP/Boston Globe reports (AP/Boston Globe, 1/16).

19 Jan 2009

House passes SCHIP reauthorization, expansion bill; Senate to act soon

The House on Wednesday voted 289-139 to approve a bill (HR 2) renewing and expanding SCHIP to about four million additional children, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 1/15).

19 Jan 2009

Gambling addict wins 3 years jail sentence

A 55-year-old travel agent's gambling addiction has won her a three year jail sentence after she stole $52,558 from her Brisbane employer.

19 Jan 2009

Calorie info on menus for Brits in battle of the bulge

A scheme to provide diners in Britain with calorie information on menus is set to be introduced there this summer.

19 Jan 2009

Warning systems can prevent suicide among young men with substance abuse

If suicide among young men living with substance abuse is to be prevented it is not enough to focus on the individual client.

19 Jan 2009

Taser study finds serious injuries rare after Taser use

An emergency medicine researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has just published the first large, independent study of injuries from conducted electrical weapon (CEW) or Taser use, finding that serious injuries occurred in fewer than 1 percent of 1,201 Taser uses by law enforcement officers.

19 Jan 2009

Nanotechnology safety high on Congress' priority list

The House Science and Technology Committee has introduced legislation that highlights the growing attention on Capitol Hill to the need to strengthen federal efforts to learn more about the potential environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks posed by engineered nanomaterials.

19 Jan 2009

FDA issues final guidance on genetically engineered animal regulation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a final guidance for industry on the regulation of genetically engineered (GE) animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

19 Jan 2009

Eli Lilly to pay $1.415 billion for off-label promotion of Zyprexa

American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company today agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.415 billion for promoting its drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Justice announced today.

19 Jan 2009

Tax on alcohol has a clear effect on drinking

With many local and national governments currently debating proposals to raise alcohol taxes, a timely new study published online in the February edition of Addiction journal finds that the more alcoholic beverages cost, the less likely people are to drink.

19 Jan 2009