Public/Global Health

A consumer advocacy group is urging federal health officials to reinspect drug compounders that have received warning letters about their manufacturing practices.

Public Citizen, a left-leaning group, wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday citing a deadly national outbreak of meningitis that has killed at least 36 people.

The spate of illnesses was linked to a Massachusetts compounder that received at least one warning letter from the FDA but continued to mass produce drugs in an unsterile environment. 

Eighty-five percent of U.S. couches contain potentially toxic flame retardants, according to new research.

A study published in Environmental Science and Technology found the chemicals, which have been tied to serious health problems, in nearly all of the 102 couch samples tested from around the United States.

Forty-one percent of the samples also tested positive for chlorinated trisaminomethane or "tris," a suspected carcinogen that was removed from use in children's pajamas in the 1970s. 

China considers easing family-planning rules.

More states set up exchanges for health insurance.

Calif. system seeks to launch health plan [reg. req'd].

A House Democrat is pushing federal officials to test for mold and environmental toxins in areas hit by Superstorm Sandy.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to "conduct or oversee comprehensive testing" to ensure that homes are "safe to inhabit" after massive floods.

"Given New York’s recent history with environmental hazards caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center, we know all too well the danger presented by indoor contamination," Nadler wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. 

Multiple protesters stripped naked in Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office to protest possible cuts to AIDS research.

Young Americans with HIV often don't know they have contracted the virus, according to new federal data.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that six in 10 young people living with HIV are unaware they are infected.

Infections among youth represent about a quarter of new cases of the virus each year, and most of the people affected are young men who have sex with men and African Americans, the CDC reported Tuesday.

OB-GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills.

Obama administration gives smokers a way out of higher insurance premiums.

Three ways ObamaCare changed Tuesday.

The United States will need about 52,000 new primary-care doctors as the population grows and ages, according to a new study.

Research published in the Annals of Family Medicine estimated that most of the doctor shortage will be caused by the rising U.S. population.

Aging adults and the expansion of healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act will contribute to a lesser extent, the study found. 

Advocates of medical marijuana face another hurdle: insurance coverage.

Deaths stir a dispute on powers of FDA.

States detail questions about their exchange options.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have set a deadline for health officials to supply documents related to the national outbreak of meningitis.

GOP members have criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to provide records related to its oversight of the New England Compounding Center (NECC), the pharmacy behind at least 33 meningitis deaths.

In a letter Monday, Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and other GOP members told the agency that it has until Nov. 30 to hand over emails related to the NECC.