U.S. Drinking Water Laced With Unregulated Chemicals: Report
Drinking water in the United States contains 141 unregulated chemicals, and 119 others for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set health-based limits, says a report released by the Environmental Working Group.
The findings are based on an analysis of drinking water records in 42 states between 1998 and 2003. The data cover nearly 40,000 water utilities that serve about 231 million people, the Associated Press reported.
Disinfection byproducts, nitrates, chloroform, barium, arsenic and copper were the most common chemicals found in the water. The Environmental Working Group said the report, released Tuesday, shows that millions of people are exposed to chemicals that have no enforceable limits or that haven't been assessed for human health risk.
"So in many communities, the water that comes out of the tap could be contaminated with scores of chemicals. People shouldn't be alarmed, but they should be concerned. Our system of public health protections isn't working in this case," Jane Houlihan, the group's vice president of research, told the AP.
The biggest sources of these chemicals are agriculture, industry and urban and sprawl developments, the report said. Listed in order of the most contaminants in their drinking water, the 10 states were: California, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Age Affects Assisted Reproduction Success
Age is a major factor in determining the success of assisted reproductive technology (ART), according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Wednesday.
The report said that more than 48,000 babies were born in the United States as a result of ART procedures carried out in 2003, up from 45,751 babies born as a result of ART in 2002. In vitro fertilization is the most common ART procedure.
This latest report, based on 2003 data from 399 fertility clinics across the country, found that 28 percent of ART procedures resulted in the birth of a baby for women who used their own fresh eggs. The report noted that age plays a major role in ART success.
"Women in their 20s and early 30s had relatively high rates of success for pregnancies, live births, and single live births. But success rates declined steadily once a woman reach her mid-30s," Victoria Wright, a public health analyst with the CDC's division of reproductive health, said in a prepared statement.
There was a 37 percent overall success rate among women younger than 35 who used their own fresh eggs, compared with 30 percent among women aged 35 to 37, 20 percent among women aged 38 to 40, 11 percent among women aged 41 to 42 and four percent among women older than 42.
Women 40 or older were more likely to have a successful ART procedure if they used donor eggs, which usually come from women in their 20s or 30s, the report said.
Agency Identifies 18 Web Sites Selling Counterfeit Tamiflu
A British agency has identified 18 Web sites as illegal sellers of products purported to be the anti-flu drug Tamiflu, which is in high demand due to fears about a global bird flu pandemic.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said seven of the Web sites were based in the United States, three were in Britain, and two were in Canada. Bahrain, Cyprus, Malta, Singapore and Switzerland each had one Web site, Agence France Presse reported.
All the Web sites are being investigated by local authorities, said the MHRA, which is one of a number of international regulators that have launched sting operations against illegal producers and sellers of Tamiflu.
FDA Issues Warning Letter on Blood Sugar Monitors
California company LifeScan Inc. has been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about problems with the company's One Touch Ultra and UltraSmart blood sugar monitors, which are used by millions of people around the world.
The FDA said LifeScan did not meet the agency's manufacturing standards and also failed to properly investigate reports of serious health problems associated with the monitors that resulted in the hospitalization of five people, the Associated Press reported.
LifeScan, based in Milpitas, Calif., is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
The FDA sent a warning letter to LifeScan on December 7 but only posted the letter on its Web site Tuesday. The letter was prompted by an FDA inspection of the company that began April 6, the AP reported.
Shortly after the start of the inspection, LifeScan warned that patients using the monitors could unknowingly change the unit of measure on the monitors and misinterpret their blood sugar levels. The company later reported 40 reports of patient problems caused by incorrect readings.
LifeScan stopped shipping the monitors last spring and has redesigned them, the AP reported. In a statement, LifeScan said it has implemented a number of corrective measures.
New Kidney Cancer Drug Approved by FDA
A new drug called Nexavar (sorafenib tosylate) that slows the spread of advanced kidney cancer was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. It's the first new treatment for U.S. kidney cancer patients in more than a decade, the Associated Press reported.
"We believe this represents, from a medical point of view, truly a major advance," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's Office of Oncology Drug Products, said at a news conference.
In clinical trials, kidney cancer patients who received Nexavar went twice as long (a median of six months) without cancer progression or death as patients who were given a placebo ( a median of three months).
The drug, developed by Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, is for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, the AP reported.
About 32,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year. If it's detected early, the cancer can be cured by kidney removal. However, there have been few effective treatments for kidney cancer that has spread.
Stem Cell Researcher's Previous Work Needs Probe: Colleague
A former research colleague of stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo-suk has asked Seoul National University to expand its investigation into Hwang's work and to review his earlier reported achievements.
"In the scientific community, when one paper is proven to be fabricated, it is customary to review all related papers," Moon Shin-yo told the Associated Press.
Moon is a Seoul National University professor who played an important role in Hwang's stem cell research. Controversy has erupted over a paper published in the journal Science in which Hwang claimed to have created the world's first cloned human embryos and to have extracted stem cells from them.
Hwang is being plagued by allegations that he falsified the research. and Seoul National University has launched an investigation into the charges. Hwang has acknowledged that his research contained errors but insists his research is genuine.
Moon and Roh Sung-il, another of Hwang's colleagues, have been questioned by university investigators, the AP reported.
Food Fact:
The sweeter tater.
For the record, sweet potatoes are not yams -- but they are a very nutritious choice. One baked sweet potato contains 5 1/2 times your daily requirement for vitamin A, and nearly half the recommended amount of vitamin C, along with a range of trace minerals and plenty of fiber. Buy only as many sweet potatoes as you plan to cook: They don't keep well, and should never be refrigerated. Store in a cool, dry place for a few days.
Fitness Tip of the day:
Easy steps for weight loss.
Want to burn 160 calories in 30 minutes? You don't even need a gym! All you have to do is walk -- a great way to tone up, decrease your risk of heart disease and colon cancer, and help control your weight. A 150-lb. person, walking briskly for 30 minutes, can burn 160 calories.
FAQ of the day:
How much fat is too much?
We recommend a limit of 20% of calories from fat for weight loss. That's enough to make food palatable without providing empty calories. The best way to control fat is to determine your daily limit of fat in grams, and then monitor your fat budget by reading labels, using recipe analyses, and referring to a fat counter (available in any bookstore). The fat you add to your food should be monounsaturated (the kind found in olive and canola oils) and limited in saturated and hydrogenated fats as much as possible.
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