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Health Canada approves PURE Hard Surface disinfectant

PURE Bioscience, Inc., creator of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, today announced that Health Canada has approved PURE™ Hard Surface disinfectant for use in food premises, hospitals and health care facilities, domestic locations and institutional and industrial premises.

23 Jun 2011

Michelle Obama talks about AIDS, women's rights on Africa trip

First Lady Michelle Obama, who is on a trip to Africa, "urged young Africans on Wednesday to fight for women's rights and battle the stigma of AIDS, using her husband's 'yes, we can' campaign slogan to motivate youth across the continent," Reuters reports.

23 Jun 2011

Funding vaccines in the developing world creates positive allies

Syndicated columnist and ONE senior adviser Michael Gerson, in a CNN opinion piece, reviews the documentary "Voodoo and Vaccines," which he writes "shows how government and health officials have reached out to religious leaders, and how many traditional healers are now carrying a pro-vaccination message.

23 Jun 2011

Silicone gel-filled breast implants: FDA releases updated data

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a report today updating the clinical and scientific information for silicone gel-filled breast implants, including preliminary safety data from studies conducted by the manufacturers as a condition of their November 2006 approval.

23 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 23, 2011

In today's headlines, reports that the Department of Health and Human Services will scale back the health law's rules on patient health care appeals.

23 Jun 2011

Florida officials ask Feds for more time on Medicaid pilot program

News organizations in Florida, Colorado and Louisiana report on developments in state Medicaid issues.

23 Jun 2011

Food price increases create discontent among the poor

A new report published on Tuesday by Oxfam and the Institute of Development Studies on the impact of rising food prices "shows that the overall impact of the 2011 food price spike seems to be a ratcheting up of inequality, producing a pattern of 'weak losers and strong winners,'" Duncan Green, Oxfam GB's head of research, and Naomi Hossain, a research fellow in the Participation, Power and Social Change team at IDS, write in a post on the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

23 Jun 2011

U.N. launches drive to improve basic sanitation by 2015

The U.N. on Tuesday "launched a major push to accelerate progress towards the goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of the population without access to basic sanitation," according to the U.N. News Centre.

23 Jun 2011

The role of pharmaceutical companies in global health

Owen Barder, a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, examines the relationship among aid donors, GAVI and pharmaceutical companies in a post on the center's "Global Health Policy" blog.

23 Jun 2011

Ghanaian, Brazilian leaders awarded World Food Prize

"John Kufuor of Ghana and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil won the $250,000 World Food Prize for cutting hunger in half while serving as president of their nations, the prize organizers announced on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

23 Jun 2011

FDA releases new tobacco warning labels that emphasize "horror factor"

The labels, which represent the first change in these warnings in 25 years, are required under a federal law that was passed in 2009 and must be displayed on cigarette packaging and advertisements by September 2012.

23 Jun 2011

Middle-class early retirees may be eligible for Medicaid in 2014

As a result of the health law, many early retirees may in 2014 be eligible for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. This expansion, which is being termed a "glitch" and is drawing significant Republican reaction, could mean that early retirees with household incomes up to $64,000 would qualify.

23 Jun 2011

Mississauga Halton LHIN's SDL program receives 3M National Award for Health Care Quality

The Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is proud to announce that it is the single systems-level recipient of the prestigious 3M National Award for Health Care Quality at the National Conference of Canadian Health Care Leaders, on June 7th 2011.

23 Jun 2011

Nature News interviews outgoing Gates Foundation global health president

As Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, prepares to leave the foundation this month, Nature News interviewed him about his work at the Gates Foundation and his predictions for global health.

23 Jun 2011

GOP presidential hopefuls carve out positions on key health law issues

Former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has vowed to bring back the term "Obamneycare" while Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor, ambassador to China and the latest to throw his hat into the GOP presidential nomination race, explained his position on the individual mandate.

23 Jun 2011

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