UK Drug Czar Warns That Alcohol Is More Dangerous That Ecstasy
October 30, 2009
UK (ChattahBox) - An official for the British government has released a statement saying that the priority of drug dangers should be changed, putting alcohol and cigarettes ahead of ecstasy, LSD, and other drugs.
House Health Reform Bill Reduces Deficit, Says CBO
October 29, 2009
(ChattahBox)—Soon after the House leadership, led by Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) unveiled its merged health care bill on Thursday, CBO chief Doug Elmendorf released a preliminary score of the bill, and it’s great news. The CBO score shows a reduction in the deficit during the first 10 year period, as well as the second decade after the bill is enacted. The health bill’s cost is estimated at $894 billion, which just comes in under President Obama’s preferred limit of $900 billion. Read more
US House Democrats Release Their Health Care Bill
October 29, 2009
(ChattahBox) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the House’s version of the health-care reform legislation Thursday, unveiling a bill that merged together key aspects of the three bills that had passed the House in the summer.with The reforms, which include raising Medicaid eligibility levels to 150 percent of the federal poverty level and negotiated government health-care rates, would cover some 96 percent of Americans compared with 83 percent now, cost just below $900 billion dollars over a ten-year period, and will not increase the budget deficit for two decades. The bill would actually supposedly cut the deficit by about $30 billion over the next 10 years. The $900 billion price tag is reduced from the previous cost of $1.04 trillion thanks to the Medicaid expansion, which is more cost-effective for covering the poor than subsidies would be. Read more
Suicide Clinics In Switzerland May Be Subject To New Laws
October 29, 2009
Switzerland (ChattahBox) - The Swiss government has drafted two new bills that would heavily regulate assisted suicides, forcing clinics like Dignitas to step up their authorization process.
Lieberman Was for Health Reform Before Two-Faced Against it
October 29, 2009
(ChattahBox)—Senator “Holy Joe” Lieberman must be a very, very bitter man. Why else would he attempt to deny the American people desperately needed health care reform? Why else would he publicly announce that he intends to torpedo the Democratic health reform bill, if it contains a public option? Well, the answer is, yes he certainly behaves as if he is bitter, but he also craves media attention and he has been relishing his position as an Independent, caucusing with the Democrats, while crossing over the aisle to the Republican side, when they pay him greater homage.
Worse, Lieberman is now not only opposing health reform, but also misrepresenting the public option [lying], changing his reasons for opposing the public option from one day to the next. He says he plans to vote against cloture to prevent the Senate health care bill from even getting to the floor for debate. And Lieberman is threatening to break with the Democratic caucus to join the Republicans in a filibuster against the bill, if it includes a public option. But, guess what? Lieberman as usual, is disingenuous. During his 2006 Senate run, Lieberman actually endorsed [government run] universal health care coverage for all. Read more
Vaccine Researcher: Gardasil ‘is a Great Big Public Health Experiment’
October 28, 2009
(ChattahBox)—Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines to reduce cervical cancer and warned of safety issues administering the vaccine to children under the age of 15. She denounced vaccinating girls, as young as 11, as “a great big public health experiment,” which could cause dangerous side effects.
When Harper was asked why she was condemning a vaccine she helped create she responded: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.” Read more
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirms health care bill to have public option
October 26, 2009
(ChattahBox) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Senate Democrats will include an option for government-run insurance after all in the health care legislation headed to the Senate floor. Reid says states will have the choice of opting out of the program. “I think it’s the fairest way to go,” Reid said of the “opt out” proposal. “The public option is not a silver bullet, [but] I believe it’s an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry,” Reid said. “Under this concept, states will be able to decide what works for them.”
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Womb Transplants Just Around The Corner, Scientists Say
October 25, 2009
UK (ChattahBox) - In an astonishing announcement by the medical community, scientists have announced that they are as close as two years away from being able to give full womb transplants.
President Obama Declares H1N1 a National Emergency
October 25, 2009
(ChattahBox) — President Obama declared H1N1 (Swine) flu a national emergency on Saturday a move intended to help overwhelmed health-care facilities absorb the surge of new patients with the flu. Obama’s proclamation allows U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to approve individual waivers that will exempt hospitals and other medical facilities from certain daily regulations that get in the way of treating the flu quickly and effectively. The declaration also allows the health secretary to remove some of the red tape associated with treating patients on Medicare and Medicaid.
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Gene Therapy Treatment Successful For Severe Hereditary Eye Disease
October 25, 2009
(ChattahBox) — A team of doctors in the U.S. treated 12 patients who have a rare genetically inherited retinal degeneration called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), by using gene therapy which significantly improved vision. People with LCA, which is caused by mutations in any of least 13 genes, have severe vision loss and abnormal eye movements in early infancy and during early childhood. Most people with the disease are blind by their 30s or 40s.
The new phase I trial included 12 patients, aged 8 to 44 years, who were injected in one eye with genetic material on a virus, meant to correct LCA. The gene therapy led to at least a 100-fold increase in pupillary light response (constriction of the pupil when it’s exposed to light) in the participants. Younger patients seemed to react better to the gene therapy, with 8-year-old patient developed nearly the same level of light sensitivity as a person with normal vision, the study authors reported. Six of the 12 patients had so much of their sight restored, that they may no longer be classified as legally blind.
“All 12 patients given gene therapy in one eye showed improvement in retinal function. The effect was stable during follow-up. The results support our hypothesis that the response to subretinal gene therapy depends on the extent of retinal degeneration and, therefore, the age of the patient,” wrote Dr. Jean Bennett, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues.
The study is published in the Oct. 24 online edition and in an upcoming print issue of The Lancet.
Source: BreakThroughDigest Medical News