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Mead Johnson Drops as Wal-Mart Pulls Formula After Death

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., maker of the Enfamil baby formula, fell the most ever after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pulled a batch of the powdered product after a newborn given it died. There is no evidence the second infant that was sickened was given the same formula, Mead Johnson said.

Mead Johnson dropped 10 percent to $68.76 at the close of New York trading. The decrease was the biggest drop since February 2009, when the Glenview, Illinois-based company's shares were first publicly traded.

The baby who died in Lebanon, Missouri, tested positive for Cronobacter, a microorganism found in the environment that can cause serious illness, wrote Chris Perille, a spokesman for Mead Johnson, in an e-mailed statement today. The batch used by the child's family tested negative when it was made and packaged, and the results were reconfirmed after the news, he wrote.

“The family purchased the formula at a Wal-Mart store, and ‘out of an abundance of caution' Wal-Mart decided to voluntarily ‘pull & hold' the same size cans (12.5 oz.) of Enfamil Newborn from the same batch code until the investigation is completed,” Perille said.

Health officials will examine a range of possible sources of the bacteria, including the formula consumed and the water used to prepare it, Perille said.

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source article: businessweek.com

source image:blackfridayplanet.com

Posted in Health | Jumat, 23 Desember 2011|By Aulia Afzal ViewPost

Journal retracts paper on chronic fatigue syndrome

A scientific paper embraced by many chronic fatigue syndrome patients as a ray of hope is being retracted by the journal that published it after a tumultuous year that included allegations of data manipulation and the arrest of the study's lead researcher on a felony charge of possessing stolen property.

In the paper, published in 2009 by the journal Science, researchers reported they had found evidence of a retrovirus called XMRV in the blood of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome much more frequently than in the blood of healthy peers. The paper caused a stir and led other scientists to try to confirm the findings.

Patients rejoiced at the possibility of an explanation for their illness, which has long confounded researchers. Some patients even began taking antiretroviral drugs designed to treat a different retrovirus, HIV.

At the same time, the paper's lead researcher, Judy Mikovits, then employed at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, began linking XMRV to other frustrating disorders, including autism and Gulf War syndrome, without publishing data to support her statements.

Soon, independent teams of scientists began reporting they could not find evidence of the retrovirus in the blood of chronic fatigue patients or anyone else. Researchers hypothesized that lab contamination could have caused the original findings. Mikovits denied it.

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source article: latimes.com
source image: latimes.com

Posted in Health | |By Aulia Afzal ViewPost

'Too late' to contain research into deadly bird flu strain, warn scientists

Two scientific journals have come under pressure not to publish findings of research on the mutant strains of H5N1 over fears that terrorists could use the information to create bioweapons.

However, scientists claim that the plea from the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) comes too late because details of the research have already been shared among flu experts.

“This horse is out of the barn,” Professor Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist and biodefence expert at

Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, told the journal Nature.

“At this point, it is utterly futile to be discussing restricting the publication of this information.”

He added: "The work should have been reviewed at the national or international level before being performed, and should have been restricted at a national or international level before being performed.”

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source article: telegraph.co.uk
source images: telegraph.co.uk

Posted in Health | Kamis, 22 Desember 2011|By Aulia Afzal ViewPost

At least 250 women to sue British clinics over silicone breast implants involved in cancer scare

At least 250 women with breast implants made by the French company at the centre of a cancer scare intend to sue at least six clinics in the UK.

The women are pursuing the action after the French government told all women there with the implants filled with an industrial silicone - believed to be made for mattresses - to have them out and said it would foot the entire bill in up to 30,000 cases.

Mark Harvey, a partner at Hugh James solicitors, which is pursuing the legal action, said: ‘We wanted to pursue claims against [makers] PIP or its insurers, [but as the company has since closed] it is quite clear that is not viable.

Instead he said the women would be pursuing action against the British clinics where they had the operations, and they will apply for the cases to be treated as a class action at a hearing in Cardiff next month.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that it had consulted with experts in nine countries over safety concerns surrounding the French-made implants.

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source article: dailymail.co.uk
source image: dailymail.co.uk

Posted in Health | |By Aulia Afzal ViewPost

France ponders removing risky breast implants

French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about risks of rupture and possible cancer risks.

The decision could have repercussions outside France, too. Tens of thousands of women in Britain and other countries also have the pre-filled silicone gel implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP. British health authorities say they see no reason so far to get them systematically removed.

Experts from the French Health Ministry will meet Friday to decide what to recommend for women who have the implants, ministry officials said Wednesday.

More than 1,000 of the implants have ruptured, according to the French health and safety agency AFSSAPS, and eight women with the implants have developed cancer. The implants were taken off the market last year after French authorities discovered the company misreported what form of silicon they contain.

Friday's decision will depend partly on guidance from the French National Cancer Institute, which is studying whether there are links between the implants and the cancer cases.

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