Health Highlights: Oct. 11, 2013

[massageblog]

NIH Clinical Trials Affected by Government ShutdownShutdown Threatens Food SafetyBan Fighting in Hockey: Concussion ExpertsNew Calif. Law Permits Midwives to Perform Early Abortions

WebMD News from HealthDay
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
NIH Clinical Trials Affected by Government Shutdown
Critically ill people are still being enrolled in U.S. National Institutes of Health clinical trials during the federal government shutdown, but the pace of enrollment is much slower than normal.
That means that many sick people who otherwise would be accepted into the clinical trials must wait to receive treatment.
The NIH runs more than 1,400 clinical trials at any given time. About 12 patients were enrolled between Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown, and Oct. 8. Most of those people were cancer patients, NIH spokeswoman Renate Myles told The New York Times.
That's a much lower number than in a typical week, when about 200 new patients would be enrolled in NIH trials. About 30 of those patients would be children, a third of whom would have cancer.
Only patients at high risk of dying are being accepted in the trials during the shutdown. They still have to meet the criteria for the trial and investigators have to believe that the treatment would provide a benefit for patients, The Times reported.
No new studies are being started during the shutdown, and at least seven new clinical trials had been delayed as of Wednesday.
The government shutdown has led to significant staff reductions at the NIH with about three-quarters of its employees -- more than 13,000 people - furloughed.
The shutdown threatens public health in other ways. More than two-thirds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are furloughed. There are no staff members to conduct important monitoring tasks, such as tracking the flu virus or conducting genetic testing on it. That means that researchers have no data on how it is spreading or where it is most severe.
"Last flu season was early and severe," CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds told The Times. "This flu season, we are not going to know."
At the Food and Drug Administration, nearly 1,000 of its approximately 1,600 investigators who keep on eye on everything from food facilities to drug makers are on furlough.
-----
Shutdown Threatens Food Safety
Food safety is one of the casualties of the U.S. government shutdown, experts warn.
The doors are locked at federal agencies in charge of making sure that fruit, vegetables, dairy products and a wide range of other U.S.-made food items are safe to consume.
"This is a self-inflicted wound that is putting people's health at risk," Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, told The New York Times.
Because the shutdown comes on top of earlier budget cuts to the agencies, there is "the potential for a real public health crisis," the longtime food safety advocate said.