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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: public health

public health stories: 176 news summaries

41 - 60 of 176 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 9 Next >>

Medical Marijuana Loophole Has LA Fuming

Overrun, city cracks down on dispensaries

(Newser) - After letting marijuana dispensaries multiply across the city, Los Angeles is getting tough on them, telling some to shut down while the city council works to close a loophole that allowed many to open. The city issued a moratorium on new dispensaries in 2007, but many people filed “hardship... More »

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War on Drugs drugs medical marijuana Los Angeles public health cannabis loopholes

UK Predicts 100,000 New Swine Flu Cases Every Day

Government instructs doctors to stop testing for H1N1

(Newser) - Incidences of swine flu have spiked rapidly across Britain, and the country's health secretary predicted yesterday that the UK could see 100,000 new cases every day by August, the Guardian reports. Doctors are being instructed to concentrate on treatment instead of containment. "We have always known it would... More »

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United Kingdom public health pandemic swine flu H1N1 virus Andy Burnham

(Newser) - A few extra pounds can actually be good for you, the Globe and Mail reports. A recent long-term study of Canadian health records shows that people classified as overweight—with a Body Mass Index of 25 to 30—are 17% less likely to die than those with “normal”... More »

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obesity Body Mass Index public health overweight mortality longevity scientific study BMI longitudinal study women's issues

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency has declared a “public health emergency” in a Montana town where 200 people have died from asbestos poisoning, CNN reports. For 10 years the EPA has been involved in a cleanup of Libby, contaminated by castoff from a nearby vermiculite mine and insulation plant. The... More »

(AP) - Congress struck the US government's strongest anti-smoking blow in decades today with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads, and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people. Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every... More »

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UPDATED

 WHO Declares 
 Swine Flu Pandemic 

H1N1 has spread to 74 countries, but may be milder than first thought

(Newser) - The World Health Organization has declared the first influenza pandemic since 1968, Reuters reports. Although the current outbreak has caused mostly mild cases of the illness, today's official declaration that the outbreak has hit phase 6, the highest level, means heightened prevention measures in 193 countries. The designation refers to... More »

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public health epidemic World Health Organization epidemiology influenza flu pandemic swine flu WHO H1N1 virus

 Obama to US: 
 A Salad Wouldn't Kill You 

Prez battles for prevention, sets fit example

(Newser) - President Obama is on a mission for a fitter America, Politico reports: he has given health department jobs to warriors against trans fats and smoking, and he wants a health care plan that keeps Americans from getting sick in the first place, with obesity screenings and an emphasis on exercise.... More »

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health care health Michelle Obama public health fitness Obama administration President Obama

Too Much Talking Can Lead to 'Cell Phone Elbow'

Stretched nerve threatens long chatters

(Newser) - Experts are warning of a yet another threat from your phone: cell phone elbow. When you hold the phone to your ear, you stretch the nerve that controls the ring and pinky fingers; bending your arm too tightly for too long "chokes the blood supply to the nerves,"... More »

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health cell phones public health health advisories nerves

China's H1N1 Quarantines Trap Healthy Travelers

Slight temp, runny nose enough to get you a 3-day forced hospital stay

(Newser) - Now might not be the best time to visit China: the country's aggressive swine flu screening policies have kept even healthy travelers in isolation, the Washington Post reports. One Virginia man was deemed a threat to public health and quarantined for three days because he got off a plane with... More »

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OPINION

 Kennedy: 
 An Outline for  
 Health-Care Reform 

Sen. offers 5 key elements of coming legislation

(Newser) - The US health-care system that “shortchanges millions of Americans” is “about to change,” writes Ted Kennedy in the Boston Globe. The senator lays out five key elements of legislation he’s working on with “colleagues on both sides of the aisle”:
  1. Americans will have “
... More »

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OPINION
(Newser) - The soda tax is a great idea, and its probable death at the hands of lobbyists serves to highlight all the problems with our tax system, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. The current system doesn’t raise enough money, and it’s “complex in all the... More »

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obesity health care costs taxes diabetes public health soda sugar lobbyists corn syrup soda tax

 Belgian City Goes 
 Vegetarian, Weekly 

Ghent officials, schoolkids to observe "veggie day"

(Newser) - In good news for Belgian cows, the city of Ghent this week begins a weekly “veggie day,” on which officials will go vegetarian, the BBC reports. The move is an effort to cut greenhouse gases, almost a fifth of which come from livestock, the UN says; the city... More »

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climate change food Belgium greenhouse gases global warming livestock meat public health vegetarianism overweight Ghent

Swine Flu Came From
Lab: Researcher

WHO investigates claim that H1N1 arose from human error

(Newser) - The World Health Organization is investigating a claim by an Australian researcher that the swine flu virus may have been created in a laboratory as a result of human error. Adrian Gibbs, who helped develop Tamiflu, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the new strain may have evolved in... More »

 Asia Unites 
 Against Swine 
 Flu Threat 

Health ministers from 13 countries pledge increased cooperation

(Newser) - Health chiefs from 13 Asian countries met in Bangkok yesterday to hammer out a unified response to the H1N1 virus, Reuters reports. The ministers pledged to step up cross-border cooperation, establish joint response teams, and share essential supplies. A statement called for Asia to establish the capacity to produce vaccines,... More »

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China Asia public health vaccine outbreak ASEAN swine flu H1N1 virus

 Flu Threat Smaller Than Feared  

Mexico cuts flu death toll; virus fails to spread in flu-hit US cities

(Newser) - Officials in Mexico and the US remain cautious about the swine flu outbreak but say it appears to be less of a threat than first thought, the New York Times reports. In Mexico, less than half of suspected cases have turned out to be the H1N1 virus, very few relatives... More »

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Mexico public health outbreak swine flu H1N1 virus

(Newser) - Continental Airlines said today it will begin cutting flights to Mexico on Monday because of the swine flu outbreak, the Houston Chronicle reports. The airline will cancel 180 of its 450 weekly flights and use smaller planes. As the number of confirmed cases in the US rose to 141 in... More »

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Firm Warned of Flu Weeks Before WHO Alert

Watchdog discovered threat in daily Web scan; notified CDC

(Newser) - A company that specializes in biosurveillance issued a warning about swine flu more than two weeks before the World Health Organization announced the possible threat, McClatchy reports. The Washington state firm, Veratect, scans tens of thousands of Web sites every day in search of potential medical concerns. It reported a... More »

(Newser) - Mexico's top medical official told the AP that he's hopeful swine flu has begun to wane in his nation. "The fact that we have a stabilization in the daily numbers, even a drop, makes us optimistic," said Jose Angel Cordova. "We think we're on the right track.... More »

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Mexico public health pandemic swine flu H1N1 virus

(Newser) - The H1N1 flu outbreak spotlights a public-health infrastructure ill suited to respond to a pandemic or its close cousin, a bioterror attack, D.A. Henderson writes for Newsweek. We must “sharpen our health-care response. Rapid diagnosis and response are critical,” he writes. The “interconnected world we... More »

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public health epidemic epidemiology panic anthrax pandemic bioterrorism swine flu scare

 Mexico's First Flu Death 
 Exposes Containment Trouble 

Response quick, but follow-up efforts weak

(Newser) - After a 39-year-old woman became Mexico’s first person to die of swine flu, authorities quickly responded—but efforts were mixed, the AP finds. Medical teams interviewed 472 people who possibly had contact with the woman, a tax collector whose family runs a convenience store; they temporarily closed the ICU... More »

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Mexico disease public health virus disease control swine flu

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