Sunday, Nov 16th
Last update09:53:53 AM GMT
Health Glance
A new study estimates that 85 per cent of new drugs offer few if any new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse.
The author of the research delivered a damning attack on 'Big Pharma' at a meeting of sociology experts in the US.
Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a 'market for lemons' - one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact.
A growing body of evidence is suggesting that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is a prime cause of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. The findings are considered plausible to many experts because the pesticides are designed to attack the nervous systems of insects.
It is not surprising, then, that they should also impinge on the nervous systems of humans who are exposed to them.
This week the drug company AstraZeneca paid out £125m to settle a class action. More than 17,500 patients claim the company withheld information showing that schizophrenia drug quetiapine (tradename Seroquel) can cause diabetes. So why do companies pay out money before cases get to court?
A major new international study released Friday has found that adolescents who take acetaminophen, better known under the brand name Tylenol, have a higher risk of asthma, allergic nasal conditions and the skin disorder eczema. Those who took the common painkiller as infrequently as once a month had twice the normal risk of developing the disorders.
Experts noted, however, that the study does not show that the drug causes the problems. In fact, some said, it is equally likely that the children were taking the drug because they were already suffering from asthma.
A federal district court judge late Friday revoked the government’s approval of genetically engineered sugar beets, saying that the United States Department of Agriculture had not adequately assessed the environmental consequences before approving them for commercial cultivation.
The decision by Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco appears to effectively ban the planting of the genetically modified sugar beets — which this year make up about 95 percent of the crop — until the Agriculture Department prepares an environmental impact statement and reconsiders approval of the crop, a process that might take a couple of years.
The Food and Drug Administration approved a controversial new form of emergency contraception Friday that can prevent a pregnancy as many as five days after sex. The decision to allow the sale of the pill, which will be marketed under the brand name "ella," was welcomed by family-planning proponents as a crucial new option to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is involved financially with manufacturers of mammography devices, tainting its cancer screenings with conflict of interest, cancer prevention experts Samuel S. Epstein and Rosalie Bertell have charged.
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