Researchers say frequent dental X-rays could raise the risk for the most common type of brain tumors. A study, published in the journal Cancer, focused on meningiomas, a type of tumor that usually is non-cancerous although it can cause severe problems in some patients. But the study’s authors cautioned against overreacting to the findings. While most people in the study were diagnosed in recent years, their dental X-ray histories stretched back a decade or more, to a time when ionizing radiation levels were much higher in dental X-rays. NBC News, Time
Maryland is set to become the first state to ban additives with arsenic in chicken feed. The measure, banning a practice already prohibited by Canada and the European Union, recently was approved by the state legislature and is expected to be signed into law. Last year federal researchers, in a test, gave feed containing roxarsone, an arsenic-based drug used to fight parasites, to 100 chickens. Half the chickens later showed trace amounts of inorganic arsenic in their livers. “We know arsenic causes cancer, heart disease and diabetes,” said Tom Hucker, a Democrat who sponsored the law in the Maryland House. “We’ll never know how much is caused by arsenic in chicken, but we do know it’s highly avoidable.” The Washington Post
Study questions environmental benefits of natural gas. The study, by scientists at several universities and the Environmental Defense Fund, said gas production leads to methane leaking into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change and limits the environmental advantages of the fuel. Methane, the primary component in natural gas, is more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas although it decomposes more quickly in the atmosphere. The research comes as President Obama and other U.S. lawmakers are hailing natural gas, which is in abundant supply in this country, as a fuel of the future, capable of replacing coal in power plants and gasoline in cars. The Wall Street Journal, Time
Federal authorities plan improved safety monitoring program for medical devices. The program, due to be unveiled this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, could lead to the swifter withdrawal of faulty products from the market. A medical journal report last month linked 20 deaths to flawed wires in St. Jude Medical implantable defibrillators, spurring calls by doctors for stronger safety rules. Doctors say the FDA’s current system has failed to gauge the risks of faulty heart-defibrillator wires, and they want the FDA to ensure that hospitals report when such devices malfunction, instead of continuing to rely on voluntary reports. The Wall Street Journal
Combustible dust explosion that burned two workers leads to proposed fines of $231,000 against Illinois food manufacturer. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Workplace accused Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. of six violations at its Steeleville, Ill., pasta plant, where the October explosion occurred. The charges include three willful violations, the agency’s most serious offenses. OSHA said the company failed to ensure the safety of electrical equipment in areas exposed to combustible dust. The agency placed Gilster-Mary Lee in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which focuses on recalcitrant employers. In the last few years, OSHA has cited 46 violations at the company’s plants. OSHA
Study blames common ingredient in Chinese herbal remedies for urinary tract cancers. The scientists who carried out the research attributed more than half of upper urinary tract cancers among Taiwanese patients to aristolochic acid. The compound, a human carcinogen, is found in Aristolochia plants, or birthwort. The findings may explain why Taiwan, where the compound often is used, has the world’s highest incidence of upper urinary tract cancers. Although the U.S. bans imports of aristolochic acid, one of the researchers said the study underscores the possibility that other, unrestricted herbal remedies that Americans take also may be dangerous. “Natural is not necessarily safe,” he said. MyHealthNewsDaily
Recalls: Viking dishwashers, Club Car vehicles, Enesco wine goblets, Knott’s Berry Farm cookies, vegetable biryani, Food Lion taco dinners
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
