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FDA reveals graphic new cigarette warning labels

"Nearly a half-century after U.S. cigarette packs were emblazoned with their first, modest warning, 'Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health,' the Food and Drug Administration - at Congress' behest - is … requiring tobacco companies to print painful images, such as that of a man smoking through a hole in his throat or of a lip eroded by cancer and a mouthful of rotting teeth, right on their cigarette packs," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

23 Jun 2011

AP: Walgreens, Express Scripts at odds in contract negotiations

The Walgreen Company said on Tuesday that it was willing to walk away from more than $5 billion in annual revenue because the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts did not pay it enough to fill prescriptions.

23 Jun 2011

Studies: Health law aids employer health coverage

Research released yesterday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute offered a very different view of the impact the health law would have on employer-based health coverage than a controversial survey released last week by McKinsey and Co.

23 Jun 2011

Defining the meaning of human rights and health

A blog post on the Global Health Council's "Blog 4 Global Health" discusses the meaning of language linking health and human rights.

23 Jun 2011

CPDC, UHN to advance use of medical isotopes for cancer treatment and diagnosis

CanProbe, a unique, not-for-profit joint venture to advance the use of medical isotopes for diagnosing and treating cancer and other serious diseases, was announced today by the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) and the University Health Network.

23 Jun 2011

Restaurant chains work to respond to health law's calorie disclaimer rules

A]s part of the recent federal health care overhaul, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to roll out national rules by year-end requiring any chain with 20 or more locations to post calorie counts for every item they sell.

23 Jun 2011

Policy news: Speculation surrounds soon-to-be released exchange regs

Meanwhile, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick takes a message about accountable care organizations on the road, selling the model in Minneapolis to nurses, doctors and other health professionals.

23 Jun 2011

More frequent use of ultrasound recommended in twin pregnancies

Featured in the June edition of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada is a new clinical practice guideline which suggests that carrying twins requires greater monitoring and, therefore, the more frequent use of ultrasound technology to conduct the ongoing assessment of twin pregnancies.

23 Jun 2011

G20 agriculture ministers to discuss curbing volatile food prices as World Bank launches food price hedging tool

"G20 farm ministers meet in Paris on Wednesday to review steps to curb food price volatility amid doubts France will win unanimous backing for a cornerstone proposal to tighten regulation for commodity markets," Reuters reports.

23 Jun 2011

India looking to supply generic drugs to Japan

After serving as "a lifeline to poor countries, supplying HIV drugs that have saved millions of lives … now India is aiming to become a drugs factory for rich countries such as Japan," which is looking to use more generic drugs in an effort to slow rising health care costs, Nature News reports.

23 Jun 2011

Sanofi Pasteur establishes new vaccine research and development facility in Canada

Mark Lievonen, President of Sanofi Pasteur Limited, and Premier Dalton McGuinty today opened a $101 million dollar vaccine research and development facility at Sanofi Pasteur's Connaught Campus in north Toronto. This new facility establishes the Connaught Campus as the North American Centre of Excellence in analytical and bioprocessing R&D for Sanofi Pasteur globally.

23 Jun 2011

'Global Pulse' examines balancing need for emergency and sustainable health care in fragile states

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog examines USAID and other organizations' efforts to balance "the need for emergency health care and sustainable, quality health care" in fragile states, including South Sudan and Haiti.

23 Jun 2011

Debt-reduction package continues to take shape

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the goal of trimming $2 trillion from the federal budget in the next 10 years will not be enough to change the rate of growth of the nation's debt. In the background, negotiators continue to "bear down" on the remaining "serious" issues.

23 Jun 2011

Eradicating malaria is a 'realistic possibility'

Eliminating malaria in endemic countries is a "realistic possibility if those countries keep expanding malaria prevention and treatment at the pace set in recent years," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's blog.

23 Jun 2011

State roundup: Okla. caps 'non-economic damages' in lawsuits

With Republicans in control of the Oklahoma governorship and the Legislature for the first time ever, they swiftly passed a series of changes to the civil justice system. Lawmakers put a cap of $350,000 on the amount of money that plaintiffs can recoup for so-called "non-economic damages," such as the pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice, faulty products or other forms of professional negligence.

23 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Medicare and politics; concerns about AARP; Medicaid's future

Leading Republicans — after proposing to gut Medicare — are still trying to pose as the program's saviors. How cynical can they get? At the recent Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota warned that health care reform will take $500 billion out of Medicare and harm "senior citizens who have the most to lose."

23 Jun 2011

New open access journal dedicated to collaborations and cutting-edge research in parasitology

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, in association with the Australian Society for Parasitology, is pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance. The new electronic open access journal is closely affiliated with the leading parasitology journal, International Journal for Parasitology, and will address a critical area of research, covering anti-parasite drug identification, development and evaluation, and parasite drug resistance. The journal's remit also includes research into natural products as anti-parasitic agents, and bioactive parasite products.

22 Jun 2011