Unborn Babies Soaked In Chemicals, Survey Finds
Reuters
WASHINGTON -- Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report to be released on Thursday. Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment. The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.

Illinois Targets Nursing Shortage
Quad City Times
Calling the nursing shortage "critical in many rural areas," representatives of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Opportunity Returns program (a strategy to grow the economy and create more jobs) said Thursday it would give $210,000 in funding to support health care training in northwest Illinois. "We're so small that it can be difficult," said Myron Higgins, director of operations at Mercer County Hospital. "I'd be happy to get one new nurse at this point."

Nursing Mandates No Fix
Boston Herald
It appears a group of state lawmakers is hell-bent on telling hospitals how many nurses they must assign to each patient ward. What's next? Government mandates on how many aspirin they can dispense, or how often to change the hospital sheets? Perhaps the Beacon Hill micro-managers who support the minimum staffing bill haven't gotten the memo: Massachusetts is suffering from a serious shortage of trained, qualified nurses. Mandating how many nurses a hospital must assign to a particular floor - and fining hospitals if they fail to meet the minimums - will only tie the hands of hospital caregivers and won't get more nurses to the bedside.

Harvard Looks Into Prof's Cancer
from Fluoridated Water Research
San Francisco Chronicle
BOSTON -- Harvard University said it is investigating whether a dentistry professor who edits a newsletter funded by a toothpaste maker played down research showing an increased cancer risk from drinking fluoridated tap water. The school will work with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to review Chester Douglass' research into fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, Harvard Medical School spokesman John Lacey said.

Review Finds 44 NIH Scientists Violated Rules
Fox News
WASHINGTON -- Forty-four government scientists who also worked as consultants for drug companies violated agency regulations designed to prevent conflicts of interest, a review by the National Institutes of Health shows. The review centered on whether the scientists had properly disclosed their work for the drug companies on financial disclosure forms, whether they had prior approval to do such work from their superiors and whether they took personal leave to do private work. In the 44 cases, scientists were found to have violated one or more existing NIH rules.

Government Orders Halt to Painkiller Sales
WJLA-TV Washington D.C.
Washington -- The government ordered a halt to sales of the potent narcotic Palladone Wednesday, citing potentially fatal reactions when the drug is taken with alcohol. The Food and Drug Administration approved Palladone just last September. It is a once-a-day version of the old painkiller hydromorphone, made in a way that allows the capsules to dissolve slowly.

Warning Issued About Cancer Drug Mix-Up
MSNBC
CHICAGO -- A rare but probably underreported drug mix-up involving a potent cancer drug can kill or permanently paralyze patients, and hospitals need to take precautions to avoid it, a health care accrediting group warned Thursday. The drug vincristine is supposed to be injected into a vein but is sometimes accidentally added to spinal catheters used for different drugs in leukemia and lymphoma patients, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations said in a safety alert.

Governors eye Medicaid co-payments
ABC News
As the nation's governors grapple with the soaring costs of Medicaid, they're eyeing co-payments patients' contributions to the cost of health care. At their meeting this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, the governors are expected to recommend an easing of federal rules limiting what states can charge recipients. The federal government must sign off on shifting more of the costs to patients. This year, states and the federal government will spend about $329 billion on Medicaid, which serves about 53 million people.

Food Makers Warned on High-Fat Snack Ads
New York Newsday
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's reluctance to crack down on ads that sell calorie-laden, high-fat snacks to kids could change if the industry doesn't do a better job of policing itself, the head of the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. "If industry fails to demonstrate a good faith commitment to this issue and to take positive steps, others may step in and act in its stead," FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said at a conference on childhood obesity and food marketing.

Lobotomy Back in Spotlight After 30 Years
The Associated Press
The lobotomy, once a widely used method for treating mental illness, epilepsy and even chronic headaches, is generating fresh controversy 30 years after doctors stopped performing the procedure now viewed as barbaric. A new book and a medical historian contend the crude brain surgery actually helped roughly 10 percent of the estimated 50,000 Americans who underwent the procedure between the mid-1930s and the 1970s. But relatives of lobotomy patients want the Nobel Prize given to its inventor revoked.