Regulators approve the first new prescription diet drug in 13 years. The anti-obesity drug cleared today by the Food and Drug Administration — Lorcaserin, which will sold under the name Belviq –comes from San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals. It works on brain chemistry to create a feeling of fullness. Lorcaserin was rejected by an FDA advisory panel in 2010 over safety concerns. But the next time the advisory committee met, the members decided that the benefits of the drug in fighting obesity outweighed the risks. However, Arena will be required to conduct six post-market studies on the risk of major cardiac events such as heart attack and stroke related to the drug. USA Today, Bloomberg
Federal plan to battle invasive lionfish may have backfired. Two years ago, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials launched a campaign to promote culinary interest in the voracious fish as a way to deplete the creatures and stop the damage they do to the reef ecosystems of the U.S. Southeast and Caribbean. As one newsletter put it, “If we can’t beat them, let’s eat them.” But another government agency, the Food and Drug Administration, now frowns on the “Eat Lionfish” campaign after tests of nearly 200 lionfish show that more than a quarter exceed federal levels for a toxin that can cause ciguatera, a potentially dangerous food poisoning. The illness can cause neurological problems. msnbc.com
Women’s lung cancer deaths rise in some states. Deaths from the disease are steady or rising among middle-aged women in the South and Midwest, despite the overall trend of declining lung cancer nationally in recent years. Lung cancer causes one in four U.S. cancer deaths, but cigarette taxes and smoking bans have helped cut the death rate since the 1990s. “In the ’60s and ’70s, there was a sharp increase in the number of girls, not boys, who started to smoke,” said the lead author of the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “These women are now in their 50s, and already we’re seeing a sharp rise in deaths from lung cancer in this group.” Reuters, HealthDay
DuPont facing hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation claims over herbicide. Introduced last year, the herbicide, known as Imprelis, was later linked to the deaths of thousands of trees. A company official said around 30,000 homeowners, golf courses, municipalities and landscapers across the country have submitted claims. Weeks after homeowners and lawn care professionals began applying the new product, many trees, primarily conifers, started turning brown and dying. By August, DuPont had pulled the chemical from the market, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency banned it shortly afterward. The company also faces a class-action lawsuit. The New York Times
Federal appeals court backs the Obama administration’s campaign to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In an 82-page ruling, the court in Washington, D.C., rejected the arguments of the coal industry and other companies that regulators acted without a scientific basis. The three-judge panel unanimously upheld the EPA’s central 2009 finding that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide endanger public health and likely have contributed to global warming over the past half century. The opponents argued that EPA rules limiting emissions were based on a faulty interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and therefore capricious and heavy-handed. They said they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post
Gun lobby joins Republican push to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt. The National Rifle Association and the smaller but more strident Gun Owners of America have made a House contempt vote on Thursday crucial to their ratings of House lawmakers, turning the issue into a proxy war over gun control. White House officials and House Democratic leaders concede that a handful of Democrats are likely to vote for the contempt resolution. That may be more a testament to the enduring power of the gun lobby than to the bipartisan belief that Holder and the Obama administration have stonewalled lawmakers looking into the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. The New York Times
Beach closures and advisories remained at a high level last year. The Natural Resources Defense Council reported that even though the number of days U.S. beaches were closed or posted with advisories because of contaminated water dropped 3 percent, the total still was the third-highest in 22 years. The top source of contamination is runoff swept into the ocean by rainfall or irrigation. Beaches along the Gulf of Mexico continued to be hit with closures and advisories related to the 2010 BP oil spill. The states with the cleanest beaches were Delaware, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Jersey and Florida. The most contaminated were Louisiana, Ohio and Illinois. Los Angeles Times
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein and Bridget Huber
