Medical group rejects link between gum disease and heart problems. The American Heart Association issued a rare “scientific statement,” based on a three-year analysis, declaring that gum disease has not been shown to raise the risk of cardiovascular illness. The new position was endorsed by an arm of the American Dental Association. It follows two decades of reports associating gum disease with heart attacks or stroke. ”There is a lot of confusion and misinformation, with many in dentistry and cardiology developing a strong opinion that there was a connection,” said a co-chair of the panel that evaluated the issue. “That’s a distortion of the facts.” Reuters
German veterinarians profit from over-prescribing antibiotics for farm animals. Critics fault a system that economically rewards veterinarians that prescribe drugs in large quantities, along with the nation’s lax laws and penalties for abuses. In some cases, fake diagnoses are used to justify the use of antibiotics. Or, when veterinarians find a sick chick among 20,000 other birds, one critic said, they sometimes use the discovery as justification to treat the entire flock with antibiotics. Recent revelations have prompted the German agriculture minister to push for a tightening of the nation’s Pharmaceutical Products Act and a “careful review” of veterinarians’ right to dispense drugs. Spiegel Online International
U.S. authorities seize ultrasound gel in New Jersey after discovering potentially deadly bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration said the gel posed “serious health risks” after testing samples and detecting two bacteria strains. The agency began investigating after a hospital reported that 16 patients were infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa following heart valve replacement surgery. In such surgeries, ultrasound probes are inserted into the esophagus to get a clear image of the heart, and the gel helps improve transmission of sound waves. The product, Other-Sonic Generic Ultrasound Transmission Gel, is made by Pharmaceutical Innovations in Newark, N.J. Reuters, The Washington Post
New federal rule takes aim at air pollution from fracking. The rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency will require oil and gas companies to capture toxic and climate-changing gases from wells, storage sites and pipelines. It is the first federal effort to address air pollution associated with the natural gas drilling process known as fracking, which releases toxic and cancer-causing chemicals like benzene and hexane, as well as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The standards were developed in response to complaints from citizens and environmental groups about gases escaping from the 13,000 wells drilled each year by fracking. The New York Times
Regulators ignored warnings about shuttered lead smelters. After a researcher in 2001 provided the Environmental Protection Agency with a list of more than 400 old smelter sites possibly still contaminated with lead, federal and state authorities left thousands of families in harm’s way. People who live nearby — sometimes directly on top of — old smelters were not warned, left unaware in many cases of the factories’ existence and the continuing dangers. Even when state and federal regulators tested soil and found high levels of lead, as they did around sites in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Portland, Ore., they failed for years to alert neighbors or order cleanups. USA Today
Study identifies 10 types of breast cancer, raising hopes of better-targeted treatments. The findings by United Kingdom scientists counter the notion that breast cancer is a single disease. The research, in which scientists examined 2,000 tumors in the largest ever genetic study of breast cancer tissue, could help predict patients’ chances of survival more accurately and lead to development of more effective drugs for each cancer type. “This is a landmark study that really changes the way we think about breast cancer,” said the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, the charity that funded the research. The Guardian, BBC
Recalls: Digital Concepts compact travel chargers, Miflex scuba diving hoses, Anytime Deli, Sandwich Central and Dandee sandwiches, Peacock preserved apricots
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
