Miscellaneous News

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Higher rate of cancer in meat industry

A study of over 6600 meat industry workers around New Zealand has found a significantly high rate of cancers, particularly lung cancer, which may be caused by exposure to cancer causing agents carried by animals.

31 May 2004

Vermont announces free or discounted nicotine patches and gum

Free or discounted nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) - nicotine patches and gum - will be provided for a limited time to all adult Vermonters who want to quit smoking cigarettes, thanks to a significant expansion of the Vermont Department of Health's NRT program announced.

31 May 2004

Autodesk engineering solution addresses healthcare design challenges

Autodesk, Inc., a leading design software and digital content company, has announced that engineering firms are increasingly using Autodesk(R) Building Systems to create, manage and share critical building design information for healthcare, biomedical research and biopharmaceutical projects.

31 May 2004

NHS 24 appears to have improved out-of-hours medical care in Scotland

Patient satisfaction with out-of-hours medical care in Scotland has risen since the introduction of NHS 24 - but it is still too early to judge the long term success of the service. Integrating NHS 24 with existing health services has been more difficult than predicted.

31 May 2004

Most Americans are not meeting their dietary needs for calcium

According to government surveys, 70 percent of girls and 60 percent of boys ages 6-11 do not meet current calcium recommendations.

31 May 2004

BMA calls for action to safeguard the health of air passengers

The British Medical Association is calling for national and international action to safeguard the health of air passengers, in a new report published on Monday (31st May). Despite numbering two billion a year, air travellers are not protected by regulated standards of healthcare or medical advice.

31 May 2004

Call for Western Australian government to introduce tough legislation to discourage smoking

The Western Australian government should follow the lead of South Australia and introduce tough legislation to discourage smoking, the AMA (WA) said today.

31 May 2004

England has witnessed the fastest growth in obesity in Europe

Health Committee urges comprehensive raft of measures to combat the devastating threat to the nation’s health posed by obesity

30 May 2004

Smoking a lot more harmful than previously thought

The U.S. Surgeon General has released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. Published 40 years after the surgeon general's first report on smoking -- which concluded that smoking was a definite cause of three serious diseases -- this newest report finds that cigarette smoking is conclusively linked to diseases such as leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach.

30 May 2004

New assistance grants to help people with disabilities

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced five new demonstration grants aimed at helping recruit, train and retain direct service workers who provide personal assistance to people with disabilities who need help with eating, bathing, dressing and other activities of daily living.

30 May 2004

Fruit pies have been found to contain mould

The Food Standards Agency is today advising consumers that some pies in batches of three brands of fruit pies have been found to contain mould.

30 May 2004

AMA call for Australian government to stop playing politics with health

The first limited after hours GP clinic will open at Royal Perth Hospital this weekend spelling the end for suburban after hours clinics and increasing pressure on hospital emergency departments.

30 May 2004

New Australian after hours bulk billing medical centres

Two new after hours bulk billing medical centres have been opened as part of a joint Commonwealth-State initiative to improve access to doctors outside of working hours.

30 May 2004

Australian government programs help improve Indigenous eye health

The Australian Government today released the Review of the Implementation of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Program as well as its response.

28 May 2004

Global warming will increase malnutrition and outbreaks of infectious diseases

Global warming is a real concern to health experts, according to a senior scientist in this week's BMJ. His comments come as global warming gets the Hollywood treatment in the disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow.

27 May 2004

Concealment by British American tobacco industries

Leading public-health scientists writing in this week's issue of THE LANCET are calling for changes in the management of British American Tobacco's (BATs) UK information depository. This follows a detailed investigation which has highlighted how public access to industry records has been hampered by tight surveillance and inadequate search facilities at the depository in Guildford, UK.

27 May 2004

Tobacco-related illnesses costs Ilinois $6.7 billion annually

Tobacco-related illnesses take the lives of more than 16,500 Illinois residents each year and cost the state $6.7 billion annually in medical care and lost productivity, according to Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director.

27 May 2004

A third of U.S. adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine

According to a new nationwide government survey, 36 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 years and over use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

27 May 2004

FDA final ruling on Bioterrorism Act

The Food and Drug Administration today announced the final rule establishing procedures for administrative detention of food under the authority of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act). This new authority applies to food for which the agency has credible evidence or information that it presents a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.

27 May 2004

Training in chronic care medicine is poor

In a national survey of practicing family physicians, pediatricians, internists and surgeons, the majority reported that their training in chronic care medicine was too thin overall to meet the demands of their practices.

27 May 2004