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    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_343"
                     title="U.S. Marshals Seize Unapproved Ozone Generators"
                     score="0.01"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/tb/18228?impressionId=1265812543415"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;WASHINGTON  --  U.S. Marshals have seized 77 unapproved ozone generators, valued at almost $76,000 from a California device manufacturer, the FDA announced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The devices were advertised as treatments for various conditions, including cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, and other diseases, but lacked approval or efficacy data to support the claims made on their behalf, an FDA release said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The raid came after the company, Applied Ozone Systems (AOS) of Auburn, Calif., failed to respond to a voluntary recall request last December, the agency said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA raised concerns that patients using AOS-IM and AOS-IMD devices will consider it an appropriate treatment for an affliction and delay or stop FDA-approved and proven medical treatments. Patients using the devices may risk infection from contamination of the applicator or catheter, the release said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA recommended that healthcare professionals and consumers cease use of the devices.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The agency said it obtained an inspection warrant for the company&apos;s manufacturing facilities after the owner refused to admit FDA inspectors. It said the inspection revealed several breaches of the FDA&apos;s good manufacturing practice requirements for medical devices, which had never been approved in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ozone is an unstable allotrope of oxygen with three atoms, instead of the normal two. Ozone generators produce ozone from oxygen and have consumer and industrial applications, but ozone itself is harmful to the respiratory system, even at relatively low concentrations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instructions with the Applied Ozone Systems devices suggest blowing ozoned air into the rectal and vaginal areas.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Friday&apos;s seizure was part of a joint effort of the FDA and the California Department of Public Health to remove or prevent unapproved or unsafe medical devices from entering the market.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A statement on the company&apos;s Web site said the two ozone generator models, which sold for $750 and $1,200 respectively, were no longer available by order of the FDA and California authorities.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_299"
                     title="Teen Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions Increase"
                     score="0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/Pregnancy/tb/18162?impressionId=1265812543415"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;After a decade of decline, the rate of teenage pregnancies increased by 3% in 2006 as 750,000 women younger than 20 became pregnant, according to a report released by the Guttmacher Institute.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And as pregnancies increased, so did births  --  41.9 births per 1,000 U.S. teenage girls, which was 4% higher than in 2005  --  and abortions, which increased by 1% from 2005 to 2006.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a prepared statement, Planned Parenthood blamed abstinence-only sex education programs for the uptick.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is a tragedy that after a decade of progress in reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy we are witnessing a substantial increase in the number of teens who are getting pregnant,&quot; Planned Parenthood said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a statement released last May in conjunction with the &quot;National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy&quot; the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), agreed that comprehensive sex education was likely to be more effective than abstinence-only programs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Abstinence works for some teens, but the idea that most teens will wait to have sex indefinitely is rigid and impractical,&quot; said Richard S. Guido, MD, chair of the ACOG&apos;s Committee on Adolescent Health Care.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the Guttmacher report suggested that the reasons for increase may be more complex, including &quot;shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of the population, increases in poverty, the growth of abstinence-only sex education programs at the expense of comprehensive programs, and changes in public perception and attitudes toward both teenage and unintended pregnancy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among black teenagers the pregnancy rate was 126.3 per 1,000 versus 44 per 1,000 non-Hispanic white teenagers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A breakdown by state revealed that New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate, followed by Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Mississippi.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Conversely, the lowest teenage pregnancy rate was in New Hampshire  --  33 pregnancies per 1,000  --  followed by Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, and North Dakota.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Texas had the highest rate of births to teenage mothers  --  62 per 1,000  --  and New York had the highest rate of abortions among teenagers, 41 per 1,000.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The report was based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (number of births), the Guttmacher Institute (total number of abortions), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (age and race/ethnicity distribution of women obtaining abortions), and the Population Estimates Program of the U.S. Bureau of the Census in collaboration with NCHS (population estimates).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among other findings in the report: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;The pregnancy rate was 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 girls ages 15-19 and pregnancies occurred among 7% of females in this age group.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Although teenage abortions increased by 1% from 2005 to 2006, the overall teenage abortion rate declined by about a third over the two decades from 1986 to 2006.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;The increase in teen pregnancies and births to teenage mothers was observed across all racial and ethnic groups.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The authors said that additional research was needed to determine if the disparities in rates by both race and region carry over to adult women.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The report was prepared by Kathryn Kost, Stanley Henshaw, and Liz Carlin of the Guttmacher Institute.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lawrence Finer, Rebecca Wind, Susheela Singh, and Laura Lindberg provided comments on early drafts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The report was funded by grants from the Brush Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Guttmacher Institute also gratefully acknowledges the general support it receives from individuals and foundations, including major grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, which undergirds all of the Institute&apos;s work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_170"
                     title="Gov&apos;t Touts BPA Research Effort"
                     score="-0.003"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/tb/18005?impressionId=1265812543415"
                     
      Federal health officials said the government will spend $30 million on research to pin down health risks associated with bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to soften plastics in baby bottles, cups, and plastic packaging that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;William Corr, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), told reporters in a press call that the agency was investing the money in &quot;short- and longer-term studies&quot; to provide better guidance on the safety of BPA in infant food containers.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Most of the funding will pass through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Its director, Linda Birnbaum, PhD, said $15 million in economic stimulus money had been earmarked for BPA studies, on top of $15 million in the agency&apos;s existing research portfolio.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr also announced plans to form an interagency task force to address the general topic of environmental health risks to children, though he provided no details.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that BPA can mimic the action of female reproductive hormones and may be linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver abnormalities. Infants&apos; exposure is a particular concern because they may be more sensitive to these effects than adults.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr noted that HHS has posted a list of manufacturers who have assured the FDA that they have not used BPA in baby bottles and infant feeding cups manufactured since January 2009. These include Avent, Doctor Brown&apos;s Natural Flow, Evenflow, First Essentials, Gerber, Munchkin, Nuk, and Playtex. Together, these firms account for more than 90% of the U.S. market, according to HHS.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, said in the press call that the agency now accepts that BPA is of &quot;some concern&quot;  --  words she emphasized repeatedly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They&apos;re a quote from a 2008 report by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health (and also directed by Birnbaum). The toxicology program report appeared to contradict the FDA&apos;s own 2008 assessment that BPA was acceptably safe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA evaluation, which relied on published studies, drew withering criticism from Congress and the agency&apos;s own science advisory board. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/11568&quot; mce_href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/11568&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FDA Spanked by Full Science Board on Bisphenol A Safety Stance&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hamburg said the National Toxicology Program analysis used different methods and outcomes than the FDA&apos;s initial review. She stopped short of repudiating the FDA assessment, but said the agency shared the National Toxicology Program&apos;s conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She said the FDA was also performing its own studies of BPA, cooperating with the National Institutes of Health on research expected to wind up in 18 to 24 months.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA is also working with manufacturers to change product designs to eliminate BPA and, where necessary, to remove BPA-containing products from the market, Hamburg said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both Hamburg and Corr emphasized that parents should not change their infants&apos; feeding regimes based on potential risks from BPA.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good nutrition outweighs any risk from exposure to BPA,&quot; Corr said, though he noted that breastfeeding is preferred for infants in any case.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr also outlined four recommendations for parents of infants: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Follow published recommendations for infant feeding, starting with breastfeeding&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Avoid scratched or torn bottles, as these are more likely to release BPA into foods&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Don&apos;t put boiling liquids into infant bottles, for the same reason&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Put food containers into microwave ovens or dishwashers only if the labels indicate that they&apos;re safe for such environments&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA is also continuing to study the safety of BPA in medical devices. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/13022&quot; mce_href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/13022&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FDA to Test BPA Exposure from Medical Devices&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, in the press call, Hamburg and her deputy, Joshua Sharfstein, MD, declined to answer questions about the status of this effort. Sharfstein said they were only prepared to talk about food containers at this point.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_19_1038"
                     title="Traces of Rocket Chemical Found in Infant Formulas"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/tb/13589?impressionId=1265812543415"
                     
       LITTLE FALLS, N.J., April 2 -- Government scientists say all 15 brands of powdered infant formula they tested contained some level of perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel since World War II.
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;The sample with the highest concentration, a cow&apos;s milk-based formula, contained 5.05 mcg/L, according to Joshua Schier, M.D., of the CDC&apos;s National Center for Environmental Health in Atlanta.
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;Dr. Schier and colleagues reported their findings online in the &lt;em&gt;Journal of Exposure Science &amp; Environmental Epidemiology&lt;/em&gt;.
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;The concentrations are well below the Environmental Protection Agency&apos;s reference dose of 15 mcg/L of perchlorate in drinking water. That&apos;s an estimate of daily oral exposure unlikely to be harmful over the course of a lifetime, even among the sensitive populations such as fetuses and newborns.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;However, environmentalists and others have questioned the value of using the EPA&apos;s calculations alone. One reason is that powdered formula containing perchlorate would be mixed with water, which might contain even more of the chemical.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;In a series of 48 hypothetical models of daily exposure to perchlorate among infants, Dr. Schier and colleagues found that 54% would exceed the reference dose, assuming that water containing as little as 4 mcg/L of perchlorate was used to mix the formula.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;They noted, however, that the clinical relevance of exceeding the reference dose remains unknown.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;&quot;Further work is needed to clarify both the complex interrelationships among the thyroid, perchlorate, and iodide, as well as any potential public health risk with exceeding the perchlorate reference dose,&quot; they said.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Perchlorate, which can occur naturally but has been manufactured extensively for use in rocket fuel, fireworks, and road flares, was first detected in wells located on California Superfund sites in the mid-1980s.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Since then, it has been detected in 5.4% of U.S. utilities in 26 states and two territories, according to the researchers. Traces are also fairly ubiquitous in the food supply.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;The chemical inhibits the transport of iodine into the thyroid, and thus may disrupt the production of thyroid hormone and stunt fetal and infant brain development, they said.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;However, several ecological and cohort studies have failed to establish a connection between perchlorate-contaminated water and neonatal thyroid function or fetal growth, they said.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;In January, the EPA issued a health advisory on perchlorate, asking for a new review of the issue by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt; In 2005 the council issued a report on the health implications of perchlorate ingestion that resulted in the reference dose adopted by the EPA.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;The FDA has not made specific recommendations about modifying diet to avoid exposure to perchlorate. But the agency does recommend that people in areas where drinking water contains more than 15 mcg/L mix powdered infant formula with bottled water, or water that has been filtered to remove the contaminant. 
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Less than 1% of recently surveyed water supply systems had a level this high.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Dr. Schier and colleagues examined three samples each from 15 brands of powdered formula, including those based on cow&apos;s milk (with and without lactose), soy products, and synthetic amino acids (known as elemental formula).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Some level of perchlorate was found in each sample.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;The following concentrations were detected:
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;ul type=&quot;disc&quot;&gt;
                &lt;li&gt;Cow milk-based with lactose: 1.72 mcg/L (range 0.68 to 5.05)
                &lt;li&gt;Soy-based: 0.21 mcg/L (range 0.10 to 0.44)
                &lt;li&gt;Cow milk-based without lactose: 0.27 mcg/L (range 0.03 to 0.93)
                &lt;li&gt;Elemental: 0.18 mcg/L (range 0.08 to 0.4)
              &lt;/ul&gt;
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Taken together, the samples from cow milk-based formula with lactose had a significantly higher concentration of perchlorate than the rest (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&lt;0.05).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;And two &quot;widely distributed&quot; brands had significantly higher levels than the rest of the cow milk-based formula with lactose (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&lt;0.0001).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture&apos;s Economic Research Service showed that these two brands accounted for 87% of the powdered formula market. The brands were not specified.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;When the researchers modeled 48 possible exposure scenarios, they found that one- and 6-month-old infants in the 10th, 50th, or 90th  percentiles of weight (six scenarios) could be at risk for exceeding the reference dose. That assumed the formula was based on cow&apos;s milk with lactose and was mixed with perchlorate-free water.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Another 20 scenarios would exceed the mark if the powdered formula were mixed with water containing 4 mcg/L of perchlorate or more.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;However, the health effects of such scenarios have not been well established, according to Dr. Schier and colleagues. Nor have studies been able to connect perchlorate-contaminated drinking water with developmental problems in infants and children, they said.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;&quot;The findings of these studies are somewhat reassuring, although higher iodine intake in the population may have reduced perchlorate-mediated inhibition of iodide transport,&quot; they said.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;&quot;This would likely lessen the possibility of perchlorate-induced thyroid dysfunction,&quot; they said. &quot;However, the complex relationships among iodine, perchlorate, and their effects on thyroid hormone production are still being elucidated.&quot;
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;They acknowledged some limitations of the study, including the collection of samples from a single city.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;In addition, they said, the findings may not apply across the U.S. and the estimated exposures, based on modeling, may not reflect real-world circumstances.
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_2_340"
                     title="High Traffic Exposure Hurts Lung Function in Asthmatic Kids"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="