Public health

(Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 12, 2009) - EPA is seeking Environmental Justice Small Grant applications to support projects that address local environmental and public health issues within affected communities.

These grants are available to Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska organizations through the EPA Region 7 office in Kansas City, Kan.

The Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program is designed to help communities understand and address their exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks. The long-term goals of the EJSG Program are to help build the capacity of the affected community and create self-sustaining, community-based partnerships that will continue to improve local environments in the future.    » read more »

13 November 2009 -- As of 8 November 2009, worldwide more than 206 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 6250 deaths.

As many countries have stopped counting individual cases, particularly of milder illness, the case count is likely to be significantly lower than the actual number of cases that have occurred. WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and member states and through monitoring of multiple sources of data.

Situation update:    » read more »

Washington, DC - 11/12/2009 - New polls of voters in selected states – Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio – show overwhelming support for measures that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to ensure the food Americans eat does not make them sick, according to a new poll commissioned by the Pew Health Group and conducted by a respected bipartisan team of pollsters at Hart Research (Democratic) and Public Opinion Strategies (Republican).

The polls, conducted in October, demonstrated an overwhelming majority of voters support food safety legislation that would give the FDA these new powers.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 11/12/2009 - Over the next several weeks, the U.S. Senate has an historic opportunity to take a major step toward improving food safety for all Americans.

That is why a coalition of public health professionals, consumer organizations and groups representing victims of foodborne illness is sending the message that it is time to “Make Our Food Safe for the Holidays!”    » read more »

November 12, 2009 -- Despite progress in some areas, smoking rates among U.S. adults remained stalled in 2008, halting the nation’s progress in ending the tobacco epidemic, according to a CDC study.

The study, released in advance of the annual Great American Smokeout, found that 46 million Americans (20.6 percent) were current cigarette smokers in 2008, which is virtually unchanged since 2004 when 20.9 percent of adults reported being smokers. The study’s findings indicate an alarming trend, because smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 443,000 people every year and costing the nation $96 billion in health care costs annually.    » read more »

Announces Counties Are Conducting Vaccination Clinics As More H1N1 Vaccine Becomes Available

November 13, 2009 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson today announced that county health departments across New York are mobilizing to conduct H1N1 flu vaccination clinics as more vaccine becomes available in the State.

“Due to delays in manufacturing the H1N1 vaccine, our statewide vaccination campaign has not been mobilized as rapidly as we had hoped,” Governor Paterson said. “As we move into the middle of November, more H1N1 vaccine is becoming available, and health care providers are receiving more shipments. Some county health departments have already held vaccination clinics, and others are gearing up to hold them in the next two weeks.”    » read more »

ANNAPOLIS, MD (November 13, 2009) – Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley issued the second in a series of online H1N1 (Swine) Flu web updates on H1N1 (Swine) Flu today, including a status update on the spread of the disease and an update on the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines. To date, state officials have ordered 100% of the H1N1 vaccinations available to Maryland distributors, more than 750,000 doses.    » read more »

November 14, 2009 -- AUGUSTA – Two more deaths have been reported linked to H1N1 influenza in Maine, bringing the total to five since August, and a Kennebec County long-term care facility is experiencing an outbreak of H1N1, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control.

A Hancock County resident between the ages of 25 years old and 50 years old and a Kennebec County resident older than 65 years old died last week. Both had H1N1 and both had underlying conditions.    » read more »

Panenza®, non-adjuvanted pandemic vaccine, licensed for use in adults and children 6 months of age and older

Lyon, France – November 16, 2009 - Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) announced today that the French drug agency Afssaps (Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé) has granted marketing authorization in France for Panenza®, its non-adjuvanted Influenza A(H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine, produced at Sanofi Pasteur’s facility in Val de Reuil, France. The vaccine was made available to French health authorities.    » read more »

Swissmedic approval allows Novartis to begin shipments of Celtura to Switzerland, providing supplies of A(H1N1) vaccine immediately

Basel, November 13, 2009 - Novartis announced today that Celtura®, the company's adjuvanted cell culture-based Influenza A(H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine, has received approval in Switzerland from Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products.

This is the second marketing approval for the cell-culture based A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine in Europe. Celtura was approved in Germany earlier in November 2009. The company also has submitted a registration for Celtura in Japan, and will seek approval in a number of other countries.    » read more »

Asks IG to investigate scientific merits and potential shortcomings of industry testing method adopted by FSIS

November 12, 2009 -- Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) today, in light of the recent E. coli outbreak involving ground beef, sent a letter to the USDA Office of the Inspector General (IG) calling for an investigation into the scientific merits and potential shortcoming of the N-60 testing protocol, which is a beef testing protocol promoted by the meat industry and relied upon by USDA. The N-60 testing protocol is used by most of the largest beef trim manufacturers to verify that product is free from E. coli.    » read more »

11/13/09 -- Washington, DC -- Yesterday, Congressman Tim Bishop (NY-1) and members of the New York Congressional Delegation sent a bipartisan letter to federal, state and city officials expressing outrage over reports that over a dozen Wall Street firms were approved to receive some of the limited H1N1 vaccines available to the public. According to BusinessWeek, these private companies have received as many as 1200 units each in recent weeks as colleges, nursing homes and schools face severe shortages.    » read more »

Chemical Used in Countless Products Including Baby Bottles, Canned Formula and Canned Food

November 13, 2009 -- On the heels of a new Consumer Reports’ study showing that the toxic chemical bisphenol-A is now in a wider range of products used and consumed by children and in higher concentrations than previously thought, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today unveiled his legislation that bans BPA in food and beverage containers marketed to kids aged three and under.    » read more »

10 November 2009, London UK & Philadelphia US -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for its unadjuvanted influenza A (H1N1) pandemic vaccine. The approval of the sBLA, which was filed as a strain change supplement to GSK’s FluLaval seasonal flu vaccine, allows the company to manufacture a flu vaccine for use in adults to prevent influenza caused by the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A strain.    » read more »

10 November 2009, London, UK -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced that it has signed an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to donate 50 million doses of its adjuvanted pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to WHO for distribution to developing countries most in need. GSK is working with WHO and health authorities to prepare for initial shipments of the vaccine to developing countries by the end of November.    » read more »