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Legislation introduced to help improve heart disease, stroke prevention efforts among women

A group of female lawmakers -- including Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Reps. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) and Lois Capps (D-Calif.) -- earlier this month introduced legislation (S 573, HR 1014) that aims to improve heart disease education among women, bolster gender-specific research and increase women's access to heart disease screening, CQ HealthBeat reports.

28 Feb 2007

Lawmakers discuss plans for SCHIP reauthorization

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on Monday at a forum co-sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said that Congress likely will have the ability to authorize the $50 billion over five years needed to enroll all children eligible for SCHIP but "hedged on whether it would do so this year or over the next several years," CQ HealthBeat reports.

28 Feb 2007

Restaurants guilty of sponsoring "extreme eating" say food police

According to a consumer group in the U.S., chain restaurants are guilty of promoting "extreme eating" by offering patrons dishes loaded with calories.

27 Feb 2007

High blood glucose levels may signal an increased risk for cancer in women

The March journal also includes a study that found a link between high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in a person's bloodstream and insulin resistance, a precursor for type 2 diabetes.

27 Feb 2007

'Complicated' statements from Romney, Giuliani on abortion rights are 'welcome,' opinion piece says

Although it is "easy to hoot with derision" at the "awfully complicated positions" on abortion rights taken by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), the two possible Republican presidential candidates "make sense" when listened to "with a decent sympathy," Ann Althouse, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

27 Feb 2007

Arkansas House Panel endorses bill requiring inmates to receive HIV test before release

The Arkansas House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Thursday endorsed an amended version of a bill (HB 1444) that would require inmates in the state's prisons to receive an HIV test before their release, the Arkansas News Bureau reports.

27 Feb 2007

Enrollment in Medicaid, other public programs increases after enactment of 1996 welfare reform law

The number of U.S. residents who receive cash payments from welfare has decreased since the enactment of a reform law in 1996, but enrollment in other public programs for low-income residents, such as Medicaid, has increased over the same period, according to a recent analysis by the Associated Press, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.

27 Feb 2007

Governors criticize provisions on SCHIP in fiscal year 2008 budget request from President Bush

A bipartisan group of governors at the National Governors Association winter meeting on Sunday asked Congress to provide $765 million in supplemental funds for SCHIP, the Bergen Record reports (Jackson, Bergen Record, 2/26).

27 Feb 2007

Genetically caused deafness may be reversible by compensating for a missing protein

Emory University researchers have found that in mice, increasing the amount of the protein connexin26 in the ear's cochlea compensates for an absence of another protein, connexin30.

26 Feb 2007

Ohio Gov. Strickland to remove name from effort to back law that would limit use of Mifepristone

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) has filed a brief with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requesting that his name be removed from a lawsuit defending an Ohio law (HB 126) that would restrict how Danco Laboratories' Mifeprex is used to induce a medical abortion, the AP/Coshocton Tribune reports.

25 Feb 2007

State actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals

The following highlights recent news of state actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals. Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

25 Feb 2007

Texas Gov. Perry says Merck campaign contribution had no effect on decision to mandate Gardasil

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Thursday said that contributions made by a Merck political action committee to his campaign had no influence on his decision to issue an executive order requiring that all girls entering the sixth grade receive a human papillomavirus vaccine, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports

25 Feb 2007

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rules against authorities for prolonged detention of abortion-rights opponents

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled against law enforcement authorities from Springboro, Ohio, and the FBI for detaining abortion-rights opponents for three hours after they protested in the city, the AP/Zanesville Times Recorder reports.

25 Feb 2007

CDC says Gardasil's side effects minor

CDC officials on Thursday plan to present data at a meeting in Atlanta showing that 542 adverse health complaints have been reported about Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, but agency officials said the side effects of the vaccine are minor and that the vaccine does not require additional warning labels, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports .

25 Feb 2007

Federal agencies sued over medical Marijuana statements

The Oakland, Calif.-based advocacy group Americans for Safe Access on Wednesday filed suit in Oakland federal court against HHS and FDA over statements the organizations have made about medical marijuana, citing several studies that found the drug might benefit HIV-positive people, the Los Angeles Times reports.

25 Feb 2007

Pharmaceutical companies overcharging federal health care programs

Pharmaceutical companies have been systematically overcharging federal health care programs, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, according to federal officials, members of Congress and an advocacy group, the Newhouse News/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

25 Feb 2007

Federation of American Hospitals announces near universal health insurance proposal

As expected, the Federation of American Hospitals on Thursday announced a proposal that would require all U.S. residents to obtain health insurance, Reuters/Los Angeles Times reports (Reuters/Los Angeles Times, 2/23).

25 Feb 2007

Alaska Medicare beneficiaries have trouble finding primary care physicians

Alaska Medicare beneficiaries experience greater difficulty than beneficiaries in other states in finding primary care physicians, and "evidence indicates" the problem is "worsening" amid a growing physician shortage and low federal reimbursements rates, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

25 Feb 2007

Medical marijuana advocates take HHS to court

Using the latest research to support their claims, advocates for the medical use of marijuana are heading to court.

25 Feb 2007

Some health experts concerned proponents of mandatory HPV vaccination are acting too soon

Some public health experts recently have expressed concern that proponents of human papillomavirus vaccination legislation -- including Merck, producer of the HPV vaccine Gardasil -- have acted "far too fast" and are "potentially undermining eventual prospects for the broadest possible immunization," the New York Times reports .

22 Feb 2007

Medical Legislation News and Research

Legislation introduced to help improve heart disease, stroke prevention efforts among women

Lawmakers discuss plans for SCHIP reauthorization

Restaurants guilty of sponsoring "extreme eating" say food police

High blood glucose levels may signal an increased risk for cancer in women

'Complicated' statements from Romney, Giuliani on abortion rights are 'welcome,' opinion piece says

Arkansas House Panel endorses bill requiring inmates to receive HIV test before release

Enrollment in Medicaid, other public programs increases after enactment of 1996 welfare reform law

Governors criticize provisions on SCHIP in fiscal year 2008 budget request from President Bush

Genetically caused deafness may be reversible by compensating for a missing protein

Ohio Gov. Strickland to remove name from effort to back law that would limit use of Mifepristone

State actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals

Texas Gov. Perry says Merck campaign contribution had no effect on decision to mandate Gardasil

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rules against authorities for prolonged detention of abortion-rights opponents

CDC says Gardasil's side effects minor

Federal agencies sued over medical Marijuana statements

Pharmaceutical companies overcharging federal health care programs

Federation of American Hospitals announces near universal health insurance proposal

Alaska Medicare beneficiaries have trouble finding primary care physicians

Medical marijuana advocates take HHS to court

Some health experts concerned proponents of mandatory HPV vaccination are acting too soon

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