Papers: DuPont Hid Chemical Risk Studies
ABC News
WASHINGTON -- DuPont Co. hid studies showing the risks of a Teflon-related chemical used to line candy wrappers, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and hundreds of other food containers, according to internal company documents and a former employee. The chemical Zonyl can rub off the liner and get into food. Once in a person's body, it can break down into perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts, known as PFOA, a related chemical used in the making of Teflon-coated cookware. At the same time, a former DuPont chemical engineer, Glenn Evers, told reporters at a news conference at EWG's office that the company long suppressed its studies on the chemical. "They are toxic," Evers said of the PFOA chemicals. "They get into human blood. And they are also in every one of you. Your loved ones, your fellow citizens."

Grant to Advance MCG/Emory Nursing Partnership
Medical College of Georgia
The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation has awarded $995,000 to the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing to support its new doctorate of nursing practice program, the 10th of its kind in the nation. The doctorate of nursing practice focuses on clinical and management expertise necessary to improve outcomes in health care practice, leadership and education. “Before this program was developed, nursing was the only health profession without a practice doctorate,” said Dr. Saundra Turner, chair of the MCG Department of Biobehavioral Nursing. “Graduates of our program will be nursing leaders with a global perspective, able to collaborate with physicians and other health care providers to optimize patient care.”

College Receives Grant For Nursing Program
Journal Gazette and Times-Courier
MATTOON -- Lake Land College will work to produce more qualified nurses, with demand outstripping availability of these health care providers. The Lake Land College Board of Trustees learned at their meeting Monday that the college received an $863,321 grant from the United States Department of Labor to expand the capacity of the nursing program. The intent is to help reduce the nursing shortage in this region of Illinois by increasing enrollment by 50 percent in the practical nursing and associate degree nursing programs over the next three years.

Nurses Act Quickly To Save Lives
Tampa Bay Online
BRANDON -- The cries of newborn babies sound regularly in the ears of labor nurse Kelli Earle, but echoing in her dreams now are the anguished wails of parents watching helplessly as their son lay trapped and drowning. That's the sound that motivated her to leap off a highway bridge into Tampa Bay last week to assist in the rescue of 7-year-old Amar Jakupovic, whose family's Ford Explorer plummeted into the Bay on Saturday from the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa.

A Nursing School For Single Parents
WNDU TV-16
Being a single parent while working and going to school is nothing less than miraculous but now a New York program is making it easier for single parents to get their nursing degree. The nursing school class at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center is working hard to fill the critical national need for nurses. It’s a demanding, full-time course of study. Now imagine trying to do that when you're a single parent.

Teenager Died After Having His Lip Pierced
News-Medical.Net
A 17 year old British boy has died after having his lip pierced. At an inquest into his death the dangers of body piercing were underlined by a coroner following the death of the student from blood poisoning two months after having a ring put through his lip. The Sheffield inquest concluded that was the most likely cause of Daniel Hindley, 17, falling ill and dying from circulatory failure. Coroner Christopher Dorries, said that any wound carried a risk of infection, and those vulnerable to infection need to understand that it is not just adults trying to stop their fun, there can be very real risks to body piercing.

Women Warned About Contraceptive Patch
News-Medical.Net
The makers of a revolutionary contraceptive patch are warning women that they are at a greater risk of blood clots and other serious side-effects because of the higher doses of hormones the patch delivers. The patch, which is called Evra and is worn on the skin like a plaster, was first introduced in Britain in 2003 amid claims that it would be the greatest family-planning breakthrough since the Pill. The patch is used by many, and more than 30,000 prescriptions were given out in England last year. It is thought about four million women use it globally.

Whooping Cough Outbreaks Plague Kansas
Times Daily
Whooping cough cases have soared more than tenfold in Kansas so far this year compared to 2003, killing one young child and infecting people in 54 Kansas counties, health officials said Wednesday. The state's outbreak of whooping cough began at the end of last year and has continued through all of this year, said state epidemiologist Gail Hansen. Kansas had 44 whooping cough cases in 2003, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Last year the number of cases reached 250, and so far this year 465 cases have been reported, including a young child who died this summer.

Fury over delay in Libyan Court ruling
concerning children infected with AIDS
News-Medical.Net
A delay by Libya's Supreme Court in reaching a decision on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, condemned to death for infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the AIDS virus, has infuriated the children's parents who hurled stones and bottles at police outside the court. More than 100 relatives of the infected children clashed with riot police outside the court after the postponement was announced, three people were arrested, and one police officer was injured. The relatives held banners and signs calling for the death sentences to be carried out and many parents held photos of their infected children. No reason has been given for the postponement until Jan. 31 next year, but many analysts view it as an opportunity for Libyan leader Gadhafi to find a way to save face in the high-profile case. The case has sparked international criticism and become a barrier to improved relations with Europe and the United States. The six medical workers were convicted in May 2004 of intentionally infecting the children with the HIV virus as part of an experiment to find a cure for AIDS. They were sentenced to death by firing squad.