Health Headlines - March 25

FDA Renews Warning About Arsenic in Mineral Water

U.S. health officials are renewing their warning to consumers not to drink "Jermuk" brand mineral water because some bottles contain higher-than-acceptable levels of arsenic, a toxic substance that can cause cancer in humans.

The Food and Drug Administration reissued the warning Saturday due to an expansion of the recall by the products' importers and distributors. Jermuk water is imported from Armenia and distributed under different labels in California. Five brands have been recalled since March 7.

The latest recall, begun March 16 by the product's distributor, is for "Jermuk Natural Mineral Water Fortified with Gas from the Spring." This product is also labeled as "Produced by Sam-Har Co. Republic of Armenia" and "Exclusive Distributor in USA: Arnaz & Nelli Inc., CA 91605."

Although arsenic is a known human poison, there's little chance someone would become seriously ill after drinking the recalled products over a brief period of time -- days to weeks. But, a person would likely experience nausea, abdominal pain and possibly vomiting, which are signs of arsenic poisoning, the FDA said in a prepared statement.

The agency said it has sampled the contents of 500 milliliter green glass and/or plastic bottles of all of the brands and found they contained between 454 and 674 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water. The FDA's standard of quality for bottled water allows no more than 10 micrograms per liter.

No illnesses have been reported so far. Consumers who drank this water and have concerns should contact their health-care provider.

The following products were recalled on March 7:

• "Jermuk Original Sparkling Natural Mineral Water Fortified With Natural Gas From The Spring."
• "Jermuk, 1951, Natural Mineral Water, Jermuk Mayr Gortsaran CJSC." The product is in plastic bottles.
• "Jermuk Sodium Calcium Bicarbonate and Sulphate Mineral Water."
• "Jermuk, Natural Mineral Water Sparkling."

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U.S. Census Bureau Overestimated Uninsured

The U.S. Census Bureau said Friday that it overestimated by 1.8 million the number of people who did not have health insurance in 2005. Instead of 46.6 million people (15.9 percent of the population), the actual number was 44.8 million (15.3 percent), the Associated Press reported.

In fact, for the last decade, the bureau said it has overstated the number of people without health insurance. That's because some residents who reported having insurance were counted as having no coverage.

The errors were discovered while the bureau was updating the computer system for its Current Population Survey, according to a press release. The bureau plans to issue new figures in August for every year going back to 1995, the AP reported.

There were no problems with any other questions in the survey, the bureau said.

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Japan Launching New Tamiflu Inquiry

Japanese officials said Friday they're going to begin a new inquiry into a possible connection between the anti-flu drug Tamiflu and reports of abnormal behavior and deaths among users.

Previously, the country's health ministry said there was no clear evidence of a causal link between Tamiflu and the incidents. The ministry now wants experts to review past cases, Agence France Presse reported.

Since 2004, the health ministry has received 22 reports of abnormal behavior (15 teenagers and seven adults), including four deaths. Earlier this week, government officials ordered the Japanese importer of Tamiflu to warn doctors not to prescribe the antiviral drug to teens, AFP reported.

There have been more than a dozen reported cases of young people taking Tamiflu who fell or jumped from buildings, the news service said.

Tamiflu is made by the Swiss drug company Roche, which has denied that there's any link between the drug and abnormal behavior. Tamiflu, often prescribed to treat people with seasonal flu, is also considered a frontline drug against a potential flu pandemic.

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U.S. College Students Face Price Increases for Birth Control Pills

Steep increases in the price of birth control pills for U.S. college students has health officials worried that some students will switch to less effective methods or use no birth control at all, the Associated Press reported.

The cost of birth control pills at student health centers is doubling or tripling due to a change in the Medicaid rebate law that abolishes an incentive for drug makers to offer significant discounts to colleges. At some colleges, students may have to pay several hundred dollars more per year for birth control pills.

"It's terrible, because these are students who are working very hard to pay for their tuition and books at a time when tuition costs are edging up as well," Linda Lekawski, director of the university health center at Texas A&'M, told the AP.

At Texas A&M, it's expected that the old price of $15 a month for birth control pills will triple.

About 39 percent of undergraduate women use birth control pills, according to the American College Health Association, which is lobbying the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to alter the new Medicaid rebate law to keep birth control pill prices low for college students, the AP reported.

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Alcohol, Tobacco Bigger Threats Than Marijuana, Ecstasy: Study

Alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs, such as marijuana or Ecstasy, and need to be reclassified to reflect the threat they pose to society, says a British study published Saturday in The Lancet medical journal.

Using three factors to determine the harm they cause, Professor David Nutt of Bristol University and his colleagues concluded that alcohol and tobacco were among the top 10 most dangerous substances, the Associated Press reported.

The three factors used to determine the rankings of 20 substances were: physical harm to the user; potential for addiction; and impact on society. Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was ranked number five and marijuana number nine. Ecstasy was near the bottom of the list.

Nutt noted that alcohol and tobacco are legal in the United States, Britain and most other countries, while marijuana and Ecstasy are illegal. He questioned the scientific rationale for this kind of approach to drug classification, calling it ill thought-out and arbitrary, the AP reported.

Alcohol is associated with more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms and tobacco causes 40 percent of all illnesses that require hospitalization. Both substances have other negative effects on society, such as harming families and using up police resources, the study said.