UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Published: March 5, 2008 at 9:33 PM
Foreign substance found in Baxter heparin
WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Drug counterfeiters may have added an ingredient into Chinese shipments of Baxter's blood-thinner heparin, linked to 19 deaths, a U.S agency said.
A foreign substance similar to heparin's chemical composition was found in as much as 25 percent of the material in the nine suspect lots of the drug, Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's center for drug evaluation and research, said Wednesday.
Conventional quality and safety testing performed by Baxter and its supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories, didn't uncover any variation because the substance was similar to heparin, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"It acts like heparin in this test, so it looks like everything is fine in the test," said Woodcock, who didn't reveal how the material was discovered.
The contaminant was present in the active pharmaceutical ingredient originating from Scientific Protein's plant in China, the FDA said, adding it was possible the substance could have been added at the company's Waunakee, Wis., plant or at Baxter's Cherry Hill, N.J., processing facility.
In a statement, Baxter said the cause "may be associated with the crude heparin, sources from China, or from subsequent processing of that product before it reaches Baxter."
Grand Canyon flooded to improve ecosystem
PAGE, Ariz., March 5 (UPI) -- U.S. officials released a flood into the Grand Canyon to try to undo damage caused by construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s.
The man-made flood, started Wednesday, was to continue for 60 hours at a rate of about 41,500 cubic feet per second, the Interior Department said. The water released from the power plant and bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam is expected to push sand built up at the bottom of the Colorado River channel into a series of sandbars and beaches along the river.
Scientists are monitoring how the high-flow releases affect the well-being of native fish, particularly the endangered humpback chub.
"This experiment has been timed to take advantage of the highest sediment deposits in a decade and designed to better assess the ability of these releases to rebuild beaches that provide habitat for endangered wildlife and campsites for thousands of Grand Canyon National Park tourists," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a statement.
The water was released at a rate that would fill the Empire State Building within 20 minutes, the agency said.
ESBL killing people, swine
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 5 (UPI) -- An antibiotic-resistant bacteria called Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase is killing people and swine in Denmark.
Nyhedsavisen newspaper said the bacteria, which has infected more than 350 people in Denmark since 2003, has been implicated in the deaths of several cancer and liver disease patients, the Copenhagen Post reported. Hvidovre Hospital hospital outside Copenhagen said eight patients were diagnosed as having the ESBL bacteria in 2006 and the number jumped 50 percent last year.
Denmark's health officials said the bacteria is being transmitted to humans through pigs but they're not sure how farmers and veterinarians who are not eating infected meat are becoming infected.
"There's no proof that they are being infected on the farms, but where else would they get it?" Luca Guardabassi of the University of Copenhagen said. "It's very worrying that the increased use of antibiotics in agriculture has allowed these resistant strains to spread."
Study links radiation to heart trouble
LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- A British report suggests a link between radiation exposure and heart disease for workers at nuclear power plants.
A research team studied nearly 65,000 workers at four British power stations and found nuclear plant workers were more likely to die of a heart attack than of cancer caused by occupational radiation, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The finding, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said the incidence of heart attacks and other problems were highest among workers with the highest levels of exposure. Researchers, however, said the study did not rule out the possibility that diet, exercise, socioeconomic status, shift work and stress may also be a factor.
The Guardian newspaper said some of the workers began work in the industry as far back as 1946, with those who worked at nuclear sites before 1980 exposed to higher levels of radiation.
WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Drug counterfeiters may have added an ingredient into Chinese shipments of Baxter's blood-thinner heparin, linked to 19 deaths, a U.S agency said.
A foreign substance similar to heparin's chemical composition was found in as much as 25 percent of the material in the nine suspect lots of the drug, Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's center for drug evaluation and research, said Wednesday.
Conventional quality and safety testing performed by Baxter and its supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories, didn't uncover any variation because the substance was similar to heparin, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"It acts like heparin in this test, so it looks like everything is fine in the test," said Woodcock, who didn't reveal how the material was discovered.
The contaminant was present in the active pharmaceutical ingredient originating from Scientific Protein's plant in China, the FDA said, adding it was possible the substance could have been added at the company's Waunakee, Wis., plant or at Baxter's Cherry Hill, N.J., processing facility.
In a statement, Baxter said the cause "may be associated with the crude heparin, sources from China, or from subsequent processing of that product before it reaches Baxter."
Grand Canyon flooded to improve ecosystem
PAGE, Ariz., March 5 (UPI) -- U.S. officials released a flood into the Grand Canyon to try to undo damage caused by construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s.
The man-made flood, started Wednesday, was to continue for 60 hours at a rate of about 41,500 cubic feet per second, the Interior Department said. The water released from the power plant and bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam is expected to push sand built up at the bottom of the Colorado River channel into a series of sandbars and beaches along the river.
Scientists are monitoring how the high-flow releases affect the well-being of native fish, particularly the endangered humpback chub.
"This experiment has been timed to take advantage of the highest sediment deposits in a decade and designed to better assess the ability of these releases to rebuild beaches that provide habitat for endangered wildlife and campsites for thousands of Grand Canyon National Park tourists," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a statement.
The water was released at a rate that would fill the Empire State Building within 20 minutes, the agency said.
ESBL killing people, swine
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 5 (UPI) -- An antibiotic-resistant bacteria called Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase is killing people and swine in Denmark.
Nyhedsavisen newspaper said the bacteria, which has infected more than 350 people in Denmark since 2003, has been implicated in the deaths of several cancer and liver disease patients, the Copenhagen Post reported. Hvidovre Hospital hospital outside Copenhagen said eight patients were diagnosed as having the ESBL bacteria in 2006 and the number jumped 50 percent last year.
Denmark's health officials said the bacteria is being transmitted to humans through pigs but they're not sure how farmers and veterinarians who are not eating infected meat are becoming infected.
"There's no proof that they are being infected on the farms, but where else would they get it?" Luca Guardabassi of the University of Copenhagen said. "It's very worrying that the increased use of antibiotics in agriculture has allowed these resistant strains to spread."
Study links radiation to heart trouble
LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- A British report suggests a link between radiation exposure and heart disease for workers at nuclear power plants.
A research team studied nearly 65,000 workers at four British power stations and found nuclear plant workers were more likely to die of a heart attack than of cancer caused by occupational radiation, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The finding, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said the incidence of heart attacks and other problems were highest among workers with the highest levels of exposure. Researchers, however, said the study did not rule out the possibility that diet, exercise, socioeconomic status, shift work and stress may also be a factor.
The Guardian newspaper said some of the workers began work in the industry as far back as 1946, with those who worked at nuclear sites before 1980 exposed to higher levels of radiation.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
A crane lowers space shuttle Discovery toward the external tank and solid rocket boosters already stacked on the mobile launcher platform in high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Flordia. The stacking and mating took place in preparation for the launch on the STS-124 mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch on May 31, 2008. (UPI Photo/Jim Grossmann/NASA)
Space Shuttle Discovery set to launch on May 31
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