In The News

Fast Food Hits Mediterranean; A Diet Succumbs

Elisabeth Rosenthal September 30, 2008
When obesity and its problematic health effects grabbed headlines in developed countries like the US in the 1990s, researchers contrasted eating habits to those in Mediterranean countries like Greece, where life expectancies remained high and incidences of serious disease remained relatively low despite widespread drinking and smoking. Researchers credited the use of olive oil and daily...

Chinese Ordered Cover-Up of Tainted Milk Scandal

Richard Spencer September 25, 2008
China’s government had good reason to be ashamed after more than 50,000 infants fell sick after drinking milk tainted with melamine, a fertilizer ingredient. But the Chinese government’s ordering a cover-up, as reported by the Telegraph, only compounded the crime. Reports of infants falling ill with kidney stones and urinary tract difficulties have emerged since early 2008, but neither the...

Saving Face, Not Lives

Anne-Marie Brady September 23, 2008
More than 50,000 children have fallen ill, after drinking milk contaminated with melamine, a fertilizer ingredient. Chinese and dairy officials – including China’s San Lu, with a 43 percent share owned by New Zealand dairy firm Fonterra – colluded to suppress negative press before or during the Olympics, reports author Anne-Marie Brady for the Sunday Star Times in New Zealand. Chinese families...

More Than Half of US Drug Safety Studies Never See the Light of Day

James Randerson September 23, 2008
Before taking a prescribed medicine, patients assume that the product has undergone rigorous testing, with researchers proving it safe and effective. Of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical firms, more than half are in the US, and so global consumers depend on the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate drugs and report safety concerns. A survey conducted by a team at the University of...

New US Law Requiring Country-of-Origin Label on Food to Take Effect

September 18, 2008
As of September 30, US food manufacturers and grocery stores will follow footsteps of some other countries by labeling meat, fruits and vegetables with country of origin. Fish and seafood have carried such labels since 2005. “The idea gained momentum, though, following a string of food-borne illness outbreaks, new concerns over the safety of food imports and some of the largest meat recalls in...

Diagnosing at a Distance

Margot Cohen September 10, 2008
The poor are often the last to benefit from technological leaps in health care. But trained physicians and technological advances combined with the presence of a large number of poor dispersed throughout the Indian countryside could usher in changes for health-care delivery. Rapidly declining costs of satellite and internet connections allow caregivers to use telemedicine and reach more patients...

Immigrants Facing Deportation by US Hospitals

Deborah Sontag August 11, 2008
It’s no secret that there are serious problems with both the US health-care system and US immigration policy. Less obvious, though, are the ways in which those problems can overlap. The US government requires hospitals to care for all in need of lifesaving medical treatment – including foreign immigrants, but does not cover all costs for that care. Some hospitals, eager to rid themselves of the...