Japan to apologizes for tainted blood
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:36:31 GMTBy YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO - Hundreds of Japanese who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood products hammered out a deal with legislators Friday that includes a government apology and monetary compensation.
The agreement is a landmark victory in the five-year legal battle of some 200 hepatitis C patients, who had filed lawsuits in several courts, accusing the government of approving the blood products while knowing of their possible dangers.
The blood-clotting agents were administered to stop bleeding during surgery and childbirth from the 1970s to the early 1990s — infecting possibly thousands more people with hepatitis C, a chronic, potentially lethal blood-borne virus that can cause liver ailments, including cancer and liver failure.
The government is suspected of irresponsibly continuing to approve the products in Japan, long after they were discontinued in the U.S. in 1977 because of the dangers. Outbreaks in Japan of hepatitis C linked to the administering of such drugs were reported as early as the mid-1980s, and the risks are believed to have been widely known in medical circles.
Under the new agreement between the plaintiffs' attorneys and a panel of lawmakers, a bill will be passed to offer compensation to about 1,000 people with hepatitis C, earmarking from $106,000 to $354,000 per person, depending on the severity of their ailments, a Health Ministry official said.
He requested anonymity, as is customary here when an official is not the spokesman. The bill will be worded to admit government responsibility and offer an apology, he said.
The plaintiffs earlier rejected a proposed out-of-court settlement because it did not include an acknowledgment of government responsibility — the biggest sticking point in the ongoing negotiations.
Their tearful appeals before cameras dominated TV and other media coverage in Japan in recent months — swaying public opinion to their side while sending the popularity polls of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plunging.
Earlier this month, Fukuda did an about-face and apologized to the plaintiffs.
Although Japan prides itself on strict regulations over food, pharmaceuticals and other products, the nation has also had its share of scandals that have highlighted ineptitude and irresponsibility at high places.
Japan was mired in a similarly stunning scandal over blood products in the 1990s, which were tainted with the HIV virus but were approved by the government for routine use for hemophiliacs — even after reports of their risks surfaced. About 1,800 people were infected, and hundreds died.
As many as 10,000 Japanese are believed to have been infected by hepatitis C through the tainted products, but that number could be as many as 2 million, Japanese media reports said.
Raw milk fans oppose new Calif. rules
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:16:32 GMTBy MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer
BERKELEY, Calif. - Many raw milk consumers are opposing new dairy standards set to take effect next week in California, saying they could outlaw some of their preferred products.
The new law does not create an outright ban on raw milk, but producers believe it could dry up supplies by setting new bacteria limits they say are difficult to meet.
Mark McAfee is founder of Fresno-based Organic Pastures Dairy Company, the larger of two raw milk producers in California. He said consumers "are fed up with the government being in their kitchens, and they want to be able to make their independent choices about food they want to eat."
State officials, on the other hand, say producers should be able to meet the standards, which they maintain are necessary for consumer safety.
The new standards takes effect on Jan. 1, setting a limit of no more than 10 coliforms per milliliter. Coliforms are a group of bacteria commonly found in the environment, most of which do not cause disease. Pasteurization, in which milk is heated, kills many bacteria, which are still alive in raw milk.
"We found that coliform count is indicative of a healthy and clean and wholesome production process for raw milk," said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
But raw milk producers say their product is already tested for dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. They contend that the presence of other coliforms in their milk are simply part of what makes their product unique and, in their view, healthier by promoting a stronger immune system.
"There's a bacteria paranoia in our country which is just out of control," McAfee said.
Raw milk producers and consumers say they were not told about the change until after the new law passed quietly earlier this year.
Others states already have adopted the 10-coliform standard, and supporters of the stricter standards say it will not necessarily spell trouble for the raw milk industry.
"Raw milk is legal in California and continues to be legal in California," said Lyle, adding that testing showed that raw milk producers can meet the new standards.
Twenty-eight states allow sales of raw milk for human consumption, according to the Washington-based Weston A. Price Foundation, a natural-foods advocacy group.
California officials say some children fell ill last year after consuming Organic Pastures products. Five children reportedly were sickened, and officials discovered a possible sixth case.
However, testing at Organic Pastures did not detect the strain of E. coli that sickened some of the children, McAfee said.
He said there was no connection between the sick kids and his products and that state officials admitted that and signed a settlement agreement this summer.
Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health, said health officials still believe there is a compelling argument for an epidemiological link because all the children had consumed raw milk products.
But fans of raw milk, who say it helps with everything from asthma to digestive troubles, do not want to see the product disappear from store shelves.
"It is just real food the way God made it, the way it was intended to be," said Organic Pastures customer Linda Edin of Fresno. "It hasn't been messed with in any way."
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On the Net:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/
http://www.organicpastures.com
http://www.westonaprice.org
Highfat highcarb meals more harmful to obese
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:31:07 GMTBy Anne Harding
NEW YORK - Eating a high-fat, high-carb fast food meal produces damaging cellular changes that are greater and longer-lasting in obese people than in normal-weight people, a new study shows.
Dr. Paresh Dandona and colleagues from Kaleida Health in Buffalo, New York looked at inflammation and oxidative stress, which occurs when levels of normal byproducts of metabolism known as free radicals exceed the body's ability to neutralize them.
In previous research they found that obese individuals have higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation than normal-weight individuals. They also demonstrated that eating a high-fat, high-carb meal increased oxidative stress and inflammation in normal-weight people.
To test whether these increases might be greater in obese people, Dandona and his team had 10 normal-weight and 8 obese people eat a 1,800-calorie meal consisting of a large hamburger, a large serving of fries, a large cola, and a slice of apple pie.
Both groups showed increases in oxidative stress two hours after eating the meal. By three hours, oxidative stress had returned to baseline levels in the normal-weight individuals, but it continued to climb in the obese individuals. The same pattern was seen for inflammation.
"If obese people who already have oxidative and inflammatory stress take the same meal, they get far greater and more prolonged levels of oxidative and inflammatory stress," Dandona told Reuters Health. "Since oxidative and inflammatory stress predispose you to atherosclerosis , heart attack and stroke, this risk is far greater in obese people."
In another study, Dandona and his colleagues demonstrated that a high-fruit, high-fiber meal with the same calorie content as the fast food meal tested in the current study produced no increase in oxidative or inflammatory stress.
The findings provide yet more evidence that people should avoid high-fat, high carb fast food meals and consume as much fruit and vegetables as possible, Dandona said.
SOURCE: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, November
Prenatal Xrays don39t raise kids39 brain tumor risk
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:43:27 GMTNEW YORK - Overall, children born to women who received an X-ray while pregnant are not more likely than other children to develop a brain tumor, Swedish researchers report based on a study they conducted.
However, the study hints that abdominal X-rays during pregnancy may raise the risk of a specific type of brain tumor called primitive neuroectodermal tumors.
The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, included 512 children who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor before the age of 15 and 524 children who had not been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Dr. Karin Stalberg, at Uppsala University, and colleagues gleaned information about maternal X-ray exposure during pregnancy from medical records.
They found that 21 percent of mothers had diagnostic X-rays. For abdominal X-rays, performed primarily in the third trimester, the exposure frequencies were 10.7 percent among cases and 9.4 percent among controls.
As mentioned, the investigators observed no overall increased risk for childhood brain tumor after prenatal abdominal or nonabdominal X-ray exposure.
However, when specific types of brain tumors were analyzed separately, there was a suggestion that primitive neuroectodermal tumors may be more frequent in children with prenatal abdominal X-ray exposure, although the association did not reach statistical significance, suggesting that it could have occurred by chance alone.
SOURCE: British Journal of Cancer, November 27. 2007.
