IRVINE, Calif.—(ENEWSPF)–April 19, 2016.  Taco Bell yesterday announced it will stop using antibiotics important to human medicine within a year, in a short statement posted on its website. In late January, the Natural Resources Defense Council and more than 80 other organizations sent a letter to Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands, calling on[Read More…]

Atlant, GA–(ENEWSPF)–April 19, 2016.  CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus‎ transmission. Yesterday, CDC posted a Zika virus travel notice for Belize. CDC has issued travel notices (level 2, “practice enhanced precautions”) for people traveling to destinations with Zika. For a full list of[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 19, 2016 Leaders from around the world are gathering in New York today for a United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem, the first such gathering to discuss drugs in a generation. The timing is opportune. This meeting takes place as heroin and new[Read More…]

“The Real Cost” extension draws attention to harmful rite of passage for many at-risk teenagers Silver Spring, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–April 19, 2016.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today it is expanding its award-winning “The Real Cost” campaign to educate rural, white male teenagers about the negative health consequences associated with[Read More…]

Harrisburg, PA –(ENEWSPF)–April 18, 2016.    Yesterday, in front of a crowd of patients and advocates Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed SB 3, making Pennsylvania the 24th medical cannabis state in the country to adopt a comprehensive medical marijuana program. The bill, introduced by Senator Mike Folmer, passed the House of[Read More…]

Bethesda, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–April 18, 2016. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched an initiative to support research to better understand and address disparities in surgical care and outcomes for disadvantaged populations. The new surgical disparities research program will involve[Read More…]

NIH-funded study lays groundwork for potential application submission to FDA for licensure of islet preparation Bethesda, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–April 18, 2016.  New clinical trial results show that transplantation of pancreatic islets — cell clusters that contain insulin-producing cells—prevents severe, potentially life-threatening drops in blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes. Researchers[Read More…]

Illinois members of Congress say programs to dispose of leftover drugs – common in other countries – should be financial priority for pharmaceutical industry Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 15, 2016.  U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) yesterday called on the President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research[Read More…]

Chicago, IL–(ENEWSPF)–April 14, 2016.  Heart attack patients with a history of cannabis use are less likely to die during hospitalization, according to data presented this month at the 2016 meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Investigators from the University of Colorado compared the hospital records of over 3,800 heart-attack[Read More…]

Boston, MA ─(ENEWSPF)–April 14, 2016.  Women in the U.S. who live in homes surrounded by more vegetation appear to have significantly lower mortality rates than those who live in areas with less vegetation, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s[Read More…]