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Posts with tag citizen

Diet drug Xenical renamed Alli, still a cancer worry

Prescription weight-loss drug Xenical hit drugstore shelves on Friday with a new name -- Alli (pronounced: "Al-eye") and with a new non-prescription strength. The newly-named drug is to be more effective with less unpleasureable side effects. Still, there's a problem surrounding this drug, regardless of its name. It's thought to cause colon cancer.

The nonprofit group Public Citizen says Alli, made by GlaxoSmithKline, has been shown in mice studies to cause pre-cancerous lesions in the colon. Since there are no long-term studies on humans, this group believes the FDA should not have approved the drug for non-prescription use. It's not clear whether or not the pre-cancerous spots will lead to colon cancer but the mere suggestion that it might is enough, says a Public Citizen spokesperson.

"What we do know is that these lesions occur much more frequently in people who do get colon cancer," he said. "Why do we recommend that everyone get a colonscopy at the age of 50? Because you pick up on these polyps when you do one. And, even though not all of the polyps are pre-cancerous, no (doctor) does a colonscopy without removing every single polyp that is found. And you do this because you know if you don't, it greatly increases the chances of getting cancer."

Continue reading Diet drug Xenical renamed Alli, still a cancer worry

Healthy Americans Act: health insurance for every citizen

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is introducing a new proposal to provide affordable, high quality, private health coverage for everyone regardless of where they work or live with the Healthy Americans Act.

"The Healthy Americans Act provides a guarantee -- health coverage for every American that is at least as good as Members of Congress receive and can never be taken away," Wyden explained. "The Act provides universal coverage for no more money than our country spends today. Better care, financial health and security, no increase in costs."

The plan outlines an approach to success by eliminating inefficiency, trips to the emergency room and incentives for prevention and wellness as the primary focus of health care. In addition, the plan provides tough cost containment and saves $1.48 trillion over ten years; and is fully paid for by spending the $2.2 trillion currently spent on health care in America.

"We're here because it is time to fix health care," Wyden added. "After decades of talk and study, it's time for action. Fixing health care is not as complicated as one might think."

Basically, every American will have access to the same opportunity and level of health care coverage that the members of Congress enjoy now. The full text of the 166-page Healthy Americans Act is available as a PDF document.

Cells phones don't cause cancer

Cell phones don't cause cancer, according to a major study from Denmark that tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users -- many of them users for more than 10 years and some for more than 20 years.

In the largest ever study to yield good news about the safety of cell phones, scientists matched phone records to the Danish Cancer Registry -- a listing that records every citizen who gets the disease -- and on Tuesday, the study results were revealed.

Cell-phone users are no more likely than anyone else to develop cancer.

But the lead researcher of this massive investigation says doubts will surely linger. There is really no biological basis for concern about radio waves, he says. But people still worry.

Cell phones beam radiofrequency energy that can penetrate the outer edge of the brain, causing suspicion about the origin of various cancers. Most research has found no link between cell phones and cancer, but the phones have never been given a definite clean bill of health either.

"As the body of evidence accumulates, people can become reassured that these devices are safe," says one cell phone researcher.

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