FDA reviewing reports linking weight loss drugs to serious liver injury.
Bloomberg News (8/25, Larkin) reports, "Weight-loss drugs made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Roche Holding AG were linked to at least 32 reports of serious liver injury from 1999 to October 2008," according to a notice posted on the FDA's website. Glaxo manufactures the over-the-counter drug Alli [orlistat 60 mg], and Roche markets the prescription drug Xenical [orlistat 120 mg].
Although the agency has yet to establish "a direct relationship between the weight loss treatments and liver injury," the AP (8/25) notes that the reports detail 27 cases of hospitalizations and six cases in which patients "suffered liver failure" after purportedly taking the drugs.
Reuters (8/25, Richwine) and Dow Jones Newswires (8/25) also cover the story, as did the Los Angeles Times (8/24, Healy) in its Booster Shots blog.
Investigators find first known case of lead exposure through car seats.
In continuing coverage in a column in the New York Times (8/25, D6), Roni Caryn Rabin writes that last week's edition of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report detailed "the first known case of lead exposure through car seats, though lead has previously been found in cars." The report said that "six babies and toddlers in Maine were found to have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood last year." But, "public health workers who tested the children's homes found no traces of lead, except in some deck and outdoor areas where family members left their shoes and dirty clothes." After testing "the family cars," they discovered some levels of lead "in the car seats...in the 400 range, and it went up to 1,000 in other areas of the cars," while "levels of 40 micrograms per square foot" are considered "an elevated level for floors."
Deaths Prompt Window Shade Recall
The deaths of three children have prompted six companies to recall millions of window blinds and shades, federal safety officials have announced. The recall covers 4.2 million roll-up blinds with plastic slats made by Lewis Hyman Inc.; 600,000 Woolrich Roman shades; blinds and shades made by Vertical Land Inc. of Panama City Beach, Fla.; Roman shades by Pottery Barn Kids/Williams-Sonoma Inc.; 245,000 Lutron Shading Solutions fabric roller shades; and 163,000 Roman shades by Victoria Classics. Tiffany Hsu, LA Times 08/27/2009
Read Article: LA Times
Study: Tests Expose Patients to Excessive Radiation
Medical imaging tests expose millions of patients to excessive amounts of radiation each year, new research has concluded. According to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly half a million patients were exposed to radiation doses exceeding those allowed for nuclear power plant workers annually. Doctors not associated with the study said the increased exposure to radiation will likely cause tens of thousands of additional cancer cases in the coming decades. Alex Berenson, The New York Times 08/26/2009
Read Article: The New York Times
