Mobile use doesn't alter kids' cancer risk: study

Marko Calasan attends class at his elementary school in Skopje February 8, 2010

Children and adolescents who use mobile phones are at no bigger risk of developing brain cancer than those who do not use them, according to a study of patients aged 7 to 19.
The research, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on Wednesday and partially funded by mobile phone operators, addresses concerns that children may be more vulnerable to health risks from electromagnetic radiation from cellphones.
Children's nervous systems are still developing, and there are fears that their smaller head circumferences could allow radiation to penetrate deeper into their brains.
But the study -- the first to look specifically at children and the risk of cancer from cellphones -- found that brain tumor patients were no more likely to be regular phone users than control subjects who did not have cancer.
"If mobile phone use would be a risk factor, you'd expect cancer patients to have a higher amount of usage," said Professor Martin Roosli, who conducted the study at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland.
Some funding for the study came from the Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication, which is partly supported by Swiss mobile phone operators. They were not involved in the study design or the collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, according the authors.
About 5 billion cellphones are in use today, some 30 years after they were introduced commercially.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reignited interest in possible health risks from cellphones after it said in May that using a mobile phone might increase the risk of certain types of brain tumors.
Roosli's research, conducted between 2004 and 2008 in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, looked at phone use of 352 brain cancer patients and 646 control subjects.
About 55 percent of the patients reported regular mobile phone use compared with 51 percent of the control subjects, according to the study, which defined regular users as making an average of at least one call per week.
The study also found that 75.3 percent of cancer patients used mobile phones more than 20 times in their lives before they were diagnosed, and that 72 percent of control subjects reported using them more than 20 times in their lives.
"What we found was that there was no (significant) difference in the amount of use," Roosli told Reuters, adding that if there is a risk, "it would be a really small risk."
The study involved face-to-face interviews, and Roosli said that he could not be certain about the accuracy of the subjects' recollections of past cellphone use.
He also said teen and child cellphone use has likely increased since they did the study.
One critic of the report said the results were an "unwarranted conclusion."
"Brain tumors can take 10 years to form, and young children certainly have not been heavy cellphone users for very long," said Devra Davis, author of the book "Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family."
LONGER TERM STUDIES NEEDED
In a subset of the study, Roosli examined information from mobile service providers about the length of the subjects' cellular subscription when available.
From operator data, he found that the cancer risk doubled for people who used phones for more than three years, but said that this data was unreliable because more cancer patients had provided carrier records than control subjects.
Roosli said phone company records were not always available because some people changed their numbers and some operators were required by law to delete call records after six months.
The study found no evidence of any increase in the risk of tumors in brain areas most exposed to cellphone radiation.
Roosli said that future studies should examine longer-term phone use among children. He suggested collecting phone records from a bigger group to see who develops tumors.
"(This study) provides quite some evidence that use of less than five years does not increase the chance of a brain tumor, but naturally we don't have a lot of long-term users," he said.
In an editorial published with the article, U.S. scientists recommended that investigators keep monitoring population incidence rates.
In the meantime, they said, people who are concerned should consider using an ear piece or the phone's speaker function.
Asked about practices in his own family, Roosli said "our study does not provide strong evidence of a relation, so why should I forbid my children from using cellphones?"

Sources : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-cellphones-idUSTRE76Q68H20110727

Obama healthcare battle appealed to Supreme Court

A Michigan-based legal group on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to review and overturn a decision that found President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law constitutional.
In the first of several appeals likely to reach the high court, the Thomas More Law Center said it asked the justices to review a U.S. appeals court ruling last month that Congress had the power to require that Americans buy health insurance.
The group argued in the appeal that Congress exceeded its power under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by requiring that Americans either obtain insurance or pay a fine by 2014. It urged the court to strike down that provision.
The appeal was the first challenge of the healthcare law to reach the Supreme Court under its normal procedures. In April, the justices rejected the state of Virginia's request to review the law before an appeals court had ruled.
At least two other appeals courts are considering challenges to the law, including one by Virginia and another by more than half the U.S. states. Once the appeals courts rule, those cases are likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The law, which aims to provide medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, has wide ramifications for the health sector, affecting health insurers, drugmakers, device companies and hospitals.
Legal experts have said they expect the Supreme Court to ultimately decide whether it is constitutional, most likely during its upcoming term that begins in October.
The Thomas More Law Center filed its lawsuit on March 23, 2010, the day that Obama signed the law. The lawsuit argued that Congress could not regulate how Americans paid for healthcare services and insurance.
The law is also likely to be a major issue during Obama's re-election campaign and congressional elections.

Sources : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-usa-healthcare-court-idUSTRE76Q7AB20110727

WHO renews push to cut hepatitis infections in babies in Asia

Nine Asia Pacific countries will not meet a 2012 target to reduce hepatitis B infections among children, according to the World Health Organization which plans to intensify its fight against the disease.
Nine out of 10 remain chronically infected for the rest of their lives because their immune systems are undeveloped, which can lead to liver cirrhosis and then liver cancer later on.
But a WHO expert said the goal of reducing infection rates among children to below 2 percent by 2012 will not be met in Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
"These nine countries don't look like they are going to make the 2 percent goal," said Karen Hennessey, technical officer for WHO's expanded program on hepatitis B immunization.
Hennessey, who spoke by telephone from Manila, said infection rates among children in these countries were around 8 percent before vaccination programs were introduced at different times starting from the 1980s.
While infection rates have fallen to about 3 to 4 percent, these programs have stalled because of the lack of technical expertise and training, or money, she said.
China is one of the exceptions with infection rates among its children down dramatically in the last five years to below 2 percent due to a successful vaccination program, Hennessey said. However, it still has a huge 10 percent pool of infected adults.
Hepatitis B, which is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, is mostly passed from mother to child when the mother's infected blood comes into contact with open wounds on her newborn during delivery. But a vaccine given within the first 24 hours of birth can prevent infection.
To renew efforts to fight the virus, WHO wants to push a three-pronged approach, which includes getting more pregnant women to deliver in healthcare facilities so that their babies can be immunized soon after delivery.
"If it's very difficult to get women into hospitals, either because (their homes are) remote or very poor, the other possibility is to make sure there is a skilled attendant at every birth ... who are trained to give vaccine within 24 hours," Hennessy said.
The WHO will also help with providing training, she said.
"It is important to get that first dose within 24 hours. But it's not clear. Is it the first hour, first three hours? Who is responsible? Who writes it down? That is enough for people to not want to do it. There has to be training," she said.
About 2 billion people worldwide have been infected by this virus and 350 million of them live with chronic infection. About 600,000 people die each year from the virus, which is also passed through sexual contact and unclean needles. Apart from hepatitis B, other common forms of hepatitis are A, C and E.

Sources : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/28/us-asia-hepatitisb-idUSTRE76R1J120110728

Health bill to approach 20 percent of spend by 2020

The U.S. health bill will account for 19.8 percent of the nation's spending by 2020, up from 17.6 percent in 2009, outpacing projected average annual GDP growth, researchers said on Thursday.
The report, published online in the journal Health Affairs, looked at projected U.S. health spending through 2020 and estimated about 30 million people will gain health insurance by the start of the next decade due to President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.
According to the report, the average annual growth in national health spending is expected to be 5.8 percent, or 0.1 percentage point higher than it would be without the Affordable Care Act.
"We are projecting a decline in the out-of-pocket share, but that doesn't mean that the consumer's burden is going to be substantially reduced," said Sean Keehan, an economist at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and co-author of the report. "Especially since we're projecting health spending to grow at a faster rate than economic growth and disposable personal incomes."
For 2010, the researchers estimated that health spending grew at a historically low rate of 3.9 percent over the previous year to $2.6 trillion, which they attributed to a weak economy that has led many consumers to delay medical treatment.
But future spending will likely grow at a faster pace, fueling concerns over how to cut the country's deficit, now the subject of fierce debate among lawmakers ahead of a deadline for raising the government's borrowing limit.
The largest increase in healthcare spending in a single year is expected in 2014, when CMS forecasts a rise of 8.3 percent from 2013 as much of the new U.S. health law is implemented. The law's provisions include introducing state-based insurance exchanges and increased access to the government's Medicaid insurance plan for the poor. Spending growth will then average 6.2 percent annually from 2015 through 2020.
According to the report, some large employers with low-wage employees are expected to stop offering health insurance in 2014. An estimated 13 million employees would then likely seek insurance in the new exchanges or by enrolling in Medicaid, according to Rick Foster, CMS's chief actuary.
Increased access to health insurance is another explanation for the high growth rate, because with access comes demand.
The researchers estimated that doctor visits, clinical services and prescription drugs will be some of the largest growth areas, because of the comparably young age of the newly insured population. The report said younger patients tend to require less acute care.

Sources : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/28/us-spending-idUSTRE76R18720110728

Canada Blocks UN Asbestos Resolution

Members of the Canadian delegation blocked a UN resolution that would list chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous material.
The resolution, called the Rotterdam Convention, lists several grades of hazardous materials.
The convention rules stated that materials labeled as “Annex III” would compel exporters of toxic chemicals to warn importers of the hazards involved with the material.
The resolution would also give countries that import dangerous substances the right to refuse to allow the material into their borders if they did not have adequate safety precautions in place.
Michael Stanley-Jones, a UN spokesman for the meeting, said that Canada and several other countries, including three former Soviet states, would not vote to approve listing “white” asbestos in the hazardous materials list.
Mr. Stanley-Jones also said that the listing of asbestos would be tabled until the next meeting of the trade treaty signees in two years.
Labor unions, worker safety organizations and environmental activists have been working for several years to stop Canada’s exportation of asbestos.
Only two asbestos mines, both in Quebec, continue to produce the dangerous fibers.
Although the mines employ only about thee hundred people in small towns near Montreal, the issue of closing the mines and enforcing stricter safety regulations has created a political firestorm in Canada’s only French-speaking province.
Some pro-asbestos concerns in Quebec paint the argument as a case of English-speakers attempting to enforce their standards on independent-minded Quebec.
However, Quebec exports more asbestos than it uses.
Both federal and provincial officials have worked to remove the material from schools and government buildings around the country, including the Prime Minister’s residence in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the use and exportation of asbestos when he campaigned in Quebec leading up to last May’s general election.
The people who depend on the mines for their incomes believe that chrysotile can be used safely if workers employ the proper precautions.
In countries that import asbestos for their shipbuilding industries, such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan, most workers do not have access to breathing masks, special coveralls, or other protective gear.
Governments in those countries also either do not have adequate safety regulations in place or do not have the resources to enforce them.
A report from the World Health Organization estimates that more than 90,000 people will die of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disorders this year.
Most industrialized nations have either banned or severely restricted the use of asbestos, which was prevalent in the mid-1900s as a source of insulation and fireproofing.
Numerous scientific studies have established that asbestos exposure can lead to a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. As a worker inhales asbestos dust, microscopic fibers work their way through the lung tissue and into the pleural mesothelium, the protective layer around the lungs.
The fibers alter the cells and turn them into malignant tumors. The disease can lay dormant for decades, but it is often fatal by the time doctors can diagnose the problem. Most patients rarely live more than two years after they receive their mesothelioma diagnosis.

Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-un-chemicals-idUSTRE75N46J20110624