A recent study of children in the Seattle-area reveals that organic food may be the key to cleansing the body of certain pesticides.

Researchers found that pesticide levels in children’s bodies were eliminated completely after just a few days on a diet of organic produce and grains. Those levels went up again when the children were switched back to a conventional diet.

Study co-author Chensheng Lu, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University, noted that organic food tends to be more expensive than conventional food and the possible health risks of the pesticides studied are not entirely clear at present. (more…)

A new study has found that GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) popular asthma drug, Serevent, (salmeterol), exposes African-American patients to a higher risk of asthma-related death.

The study was led by Dr. Harold S. Nelson, professor of medicine, allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado.

Serevent is a member of the beta agonist class of asthma medications, which treat asthma symptoms by relaxing inflamed airways. (more…)

Abbott Laboratories, the world’s 12^th largest drug company, has been suspended for a minimum of six months from membership in the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

The suspension, which was imposed by the ABPI Board of Management, was based upon a complaint that the company acted in a manner likely to bring discredit on, or reduce confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry. Abbott has agreed to take appropriate measures to avoid a repetition of the violations. (more…)

Although pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (Lilly) continues to maintain that its attention deficit drug, Strattera, is safe, the company’s actions as well as those of the FDA would seem to indicate quite the opposite.

On September 28, 2005 for example, Lilly declared it was adding a black-box warning to Strattera. That warning advises that the drug may increase suicidal thoughts among youths.

FDA officials said Eli Lilly must also create a medication guide for patients and healthcare providers pertaining to the new black box warning. Black box warnings are the most prominent and serious of medication warnings. (more…)

Food crusader, Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., and his consumer watchdog organization, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have been on a relentless campaign against what it sees as unconscionable marketing tactics aimed at promoting junk food to children.

CSPI’s “mission statement” is found on its Web site, www.cspinet.org and states that the group “is a consumer advocacy organization whose twin missions are to conduct innovative research and advocacy programs in health and nutrition, and to provide consumers with current, useful information about their health and well-being. (more…)

A study of 307 patients who had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage found 20% of the adults in that group, who were 49 or younger, had drugs in their system. The finding was presented at the American Stroke Association’s annual stroke conference on February 17, in Kissimmee, Florida.

In a prepared statement, study author Dr. Michael Hoffman, director of the stroke program at Tampa General Hospital-University of South Florida, said:  “The dominant drug of abuse was cocaine, long recognized as a risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage. Marijuana was another frequently abused drug, and is beginning to emerge as a risk factor for stroke. Amphetamines also were commonly abused.” (more…)

If you asked most people how a poisonous chemical like benzene could wind up in a commercially produced soft drink, they would answer that it would probably be the result of a breakdown in the packaging process. They would be right, and wrong, however.

While there have been some episodes of benzene leaking into soft drinks from faulty equipment or other outside sources, they have been isolated and quickly remedied by recalls of the lots of potentially contaminated products.

Unfortunately, a far more problematic source of benzene contamination exists and it has nothing to do with a mechanical breakdown or human error. It has to do with a few simple chemical reactions between ingredients mixed together in the drinks themselves. This is on a global scale and there aren’t going to be any recalls; at least not until after an FDA investigation. (more…)

Only last week, it was reported (newsinferno.com 2/14) that, as a result of  McDonald’s decision to conform (voluntarily) to new federal food-labeling guidelines, it had admitted that its French fries contain “wheat and milk ingredients,”  which may cause allergic reactions in people with sensitivity to these substances. The fast-food chain had previously claimed that its fries were free of such allergens.

Since neither the ingredients in its French fries nor in their preparation have changed, the announcement has annoyed both critics of the fast-food giant’s disclosure policies and people with food allergies. To them, McDonald’s revelation was driven by legal concerns rather than by a desire to be truthful with the public.  (more…)

A convicted sex offender, who lost his medical license in 1998, has now added quite a list of new charges to his record. Stephen Brian Turner is being held in lieu of $1.45 million bail in San Francisco on 106 felony counts charging him with practicing medicine without a license, mishandling blood samples, battery, filing false records.

Turner’s arrest followed and extensive investigation in which prosecutors found that for at least four years, he had acted as “a predator on immigrants who were just trying to do what the U.S. government required. This is a very vulnerable population.” (San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris) (more…)

By Steven DiJoseph

This week, the FDA acknowledged the finding of a new study that indicates women using the Ortho Evra birth-control patch have an elevated risk of developing blood clots.

Notwithstanding the fact that this is far from the first evidence linking this potentially fatal side-effect to the “patch,” the FDA has taken the position that the results are only preliminary and do not require immediate action other than to advise women to discuss this risk with their doctors.

According to Dr. Daniel Shames, who is director of the division of reproductive and urological drug products at the FDA, preliminary findings from a study by i3 Drug Safety found women using the patch had twice the risk of developing blood clots compared to women taking birth-control pills. (more…)