►January 16, 2004 - Gov't ordered to pay hepatitis B sufferers 16.5 mil. yen - Mainichi Daily News, Japan - "Three people who launched a damages suit against the government after becoming infected with hepatitis B following group immunizations were Thursday awarded 16.5 million yen in compensation...In a Sapporo High Court decision that altered an earlier district court ruling, the court accepted the causal relationship between the immunization of the victims and their contraction of the virus."

Comment:  For more on the problem of infection via contaminated needles, go to Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." - Thomas Moore (Scandals - update and "flashback")

►January 15, 2004 - Mad cow as bioterrorism? - Scientists worry that US gov't classification of BSE prions as 'select agents' could hinder research - The Scientist  

►January 14, 2004 - Bird flu 'may be worse than Sars' - Bird flu could be "worse than Sars", if it mutates so it can spread between humans, experts have warned. - BBC

Comment:  For another perspective on the incidence of hepatitis B, go to Scandals: The CDC and “The New Math”, where 1 + 1  does not equal 2

►January 5, 2004 - Biological Products; Bacterial Vaccines and Toxoids; Implementation of Efficacy Review - FDA/HHS via the Federal Register Online via GPO Access  

►December 24, 2003 - Unapproved Flu Vaccine Peddled (requires subscription) - The New York Times 

►December 23, 2003 - Flu research aims at precise vaccine - Scientists Seek To Speed Production - The Mercury News  

►January 16, 2004 - Polio Eradication Under Gun - Atlanta Journal-Constitution via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that to eradicate polio entirely from the planet, at least 250 million children in several high-risk areas must be vaccinated at least three times during 2004, lest the 15-year program to eliminate the disease be for nothing."

►January 16, 2004 - Preliminary Assessment of the Effectiveness of the 2003-04 Inactivated Influenza Vaccine--Colorado, December 2003 - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "The results did not show much effect from the vaccine against ILI, such as cough or sore throat, but more specific studies will be needed to define how well the vaccine protects against ILI this season. CDC still encourages that the vaccine be used, especially for individuals at high risk for influenza related complications."

Comment: Continuing to recommend a vaccine that they admit probably does not work? What more proof do we need that the CDC is on the side of industry and not the consumer?

►January 14, 2004 - Immunization Policy to Booster Shot - Lowell Sun via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "With only 92 percent of students in Massachusetts-based Lowell Public Schools up-to-date on all of their required immunizations, School Committee member Regina Faticanti believes language in a state law that allows students to attend classes without immunizations should be altered. Currently, students attend classes after providing evidence that efforts are underway to receive immunizations. Faticanti believes only a doctor's appointment should be considered evidence, rather than just a verbal agreement as is permitted now."

►January 16, 2004 - Corporate CEOs Call Tort Costs a National Economic Problem - Insurance Journal - "The high cost of the U.S. tort system makes products more expensive for all Americans and inhibits investment that can create jobs. It is not an insurance industry problem, but a national economic problem, industry leaders told insurance executives attending the eighth annual Property/Casualty Joint Industry Forum, held this week in New York City."

►January 16, 2004 - Mad People Disease (opinion) - The Jewish Journal - "In the Torah’s story about Joseph, Pharaoh has a dream in which seven sickly cows consume seven healthy cows. Joseph interprets this, and Pharaoh’s other dream of seven withered ears of corn consuming seven full ears of corn, to indicate that there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine...Today, we do not have a Pharaoh’s dreams to warn us of impending dangers, but we have a somewhat comparable situation in which cows with 'Mad Cow Disease' in England, Canada, the United States and other countries are having devastating effects on cattle industries in these countries."

►January 15, 2004 - Navy Enlists Microbes To Cut Costs - SpaceDaily - "Microbes have been exploited for thousands of years to help us make bread and alcohol, and more recently, to make antibiotics and clean up toxic spills. Now the Office of Naval Research is hoping the one-celled organisms will reduce the costs of producing a missile propellant, and in the process, lead to a new age of 'bioproduction.'"

►January 15, 2004 - Killer Bird Flu Fuels Plague Fears - New Worldwide Flu May Be Brewing in Asia - WebMD Health

Comment:  What did I say earlier about this being used to fuel hysteria about a possible flu pandemic? 

►January 15, 2004 - Room is ray of hope for brain-damaged kids - Adopting a therapy that originated in the Netherlands, Jackson Memorial Hospital unveils a new multisensory room to treat children with brain injuries. - The Miami Herald

►January 15, 2004 - Love of horses, children in woman’s blood - Sun Current - "Though Jodi Townsend may receive a state award this year, she feels rewarded almost daily watching young children ride horses on her ranch...Townsend, 33, operates Majestic Hills Ranch in southern Lakeville. The ranch functions as a place where children with special needs can ride horses as a form of therapy. Townsend and her team of volunteers have operated the ranch since 1997."

►December 23, 2003 - Human stem cells show abnormalities - (requires registration) - BioMedNet Magazine - The first report of chromosomal abnormalities in human embryonic stem (ES) cells has appeared, prompting concern that the phenomenon may be more widespread than has been recognized until now. It suggests that caution should be taken over developing stem cell-based therapies in future.

►December 21, 2003 - SIDS - serotonin insufficiency during sleep? - (requires registration) BioMedNet Magazine - Should sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) be renamed in light of evidence for the importance of the serotonergic system in unexplained infant death? Some US researchers certainly think so.

►January 6, 2004 - The symmetry of schizophrenia - (requires registration) - BioMedNet Magazine - High-resolution mapping of brain areas that are altered in schizophrenia has highlighted regions associated with language and personality. The results lend support to a theory that schizophrenia might be the evolutionary price we pay for language.

►January 16, 2004 - Mercury: The Latest Green Scare Campaign - www.anxietycenter.com  - "The Greens have mastered the ability to conjure up a scare campaign about almost anything to such perfection, one almost forgets that they are a lying bunch of lowlifes whose past lies have harmed the timber industry, those engaged in ranching and agriculture, those who provide the chemical building blocks of everything we use every day, and those responsible for providing the energy this nation requires to function."

►January 16, 2004 - Mercury Debate Hits JAMA - The Attack of the Bernards * The DanishRoll In a Response - Schafer Autism Report

►January 16, 2004 - Immunisation drive could wipe out polio by end of 2004 - The Guardian, UK - "Polio, which used to kill and disable many thousands of children every year, could be eradicated by the end of 2004 in one final last ambitious push to immunise 250 million children several times each, the head of the World Health Organisation's campaign said yesterday...'We really do have a one-time opportunity to get it finished,' said Bruce Aylward, its global coordinator. 'The goal is to finish it by the end of 2004, but we may still be mopping up at the beginning of 2005...If we are still dealing with widescale transmission in 2005, the world will have squandered that opportunity.'"

►January 15, 2004 - Shortage of a vaccine used for acute infections pushes B.C. to ration - CP via www.canada.com - "A severe Canadian shortage of a vaccine used to prevent acute infections has forced British Columbia into strict rationing...Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is used to prevent everything from blood infections and pneumonia to meningitis. 'The vaccine is in limited supply throughout Canada,' Cheryl McIntyre of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said Thursday."

►January 15, 2004 - Study: Little or no value to flu vaccine - CNN

►January 15, 2004 - Scientists warn big AIDS vaccine trial in Thailand will fail - AP via www.sfgate.com - "A massive human experiment testing an AIDS vaccine now underway in Thailand is bound to fail and the U.S. government is wasting $119 million funding it, 22 leading HIV researchers charged...The scientists allege the 16,000 Thai volunteers who are expected to receive a shot over the next two years will receive a cocktail made of two antiquated AIDS vaccines, each of which failed previous human tests."

►January 15, 2004 - Experts: Halt HIV Vaccine Trial - HealthDayNews via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Continuing a U.S. government-sponsored, large-scale trial of an HIV vaccine in Thailand is throwing good money after bad, a team of leading experts claims...The U.S. government defends the trial, saying this combination has not been tested on humans before now and it should at least be attempted."

►January 16, 2004 - Fresh SARS Cases in China Called Milder (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►January 16, 2004 - 6 Nations to Intensify Polio Vaccinations (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Health ministers from the six countries where polio is now spreading said yesterday that they would intensify efforts to immunize 250 million children against the crippling disease by the end of this year...If they succeed, they would move up the World Health Organization's goal by one year."

►January 16, 2004 - Kathy Sykes: We need to see the human side of scientists and their role in society (opinion) - Independent, UK - "Finally, school science should equip people with skills they need to tackle ethical issues involving science, such as the MMR debate. People need to be able to find out information, to assess different points of view. They need to see their way through some tricky ethical debates to make wiser decisions. And scientists similarly need to be equipped to discuss ethical issues around their work in a world where it is no longer acceptable for them to say 'deciding how the science is used is not my business'."

►January 16, 2004 - Life-saving baby jabs running low - The Herald Sun - "THOUSANDS of newborn Australian children will miss out on shots against the deadly pneumococcal disease as a global vaccine shortage takes effect...Australian supplies of the Prevenar vaccine will not be fully restored until at least April, according to manufacturer Wyeth...The drug company has been forced to halt production of Prevenar at its US plant amid an upgrade to meet increased international demand."

►January 17, 2004 - Long term cognitive dysfunction in older people after non-cardiac surgery - Outcomes from various studies differ, and not definite conclusion is possible - journal article (BMJ)