Health Buzz: FDA Says Food Safety Will Require Better Funding, and Other Health News
Senate Food Bill and Funding Food Safety Measures
A new bill in the Senate would give the Food and Drug Administration broader authority in regulating the food industry, but the head of the agency, Margaret Hamburg, says increased funding must accompany the greater responsibilities. Though the FDA supports the effort to overhaul food safety, it wants Congress to spell out how to pay for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The legislation would give the FDA a more active role in food safety, particularly in preventing outbreaks. The FDA would be mandated to conduct more food inspections and set safety standards for fresh produce, according to the Journal. Hamburg told the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee yesterday that the bill approved by the House over the summer is a good model, since it would help fund the new activities with fees from food companies, the paper says.
[Photo Gallery: 10 Riskiest Foods Regulated by the FDA.] [Read: Riskiest Foods: 3 Tips for Protecting Your Family From Illness and Just How Safe Is Our Meat?]
Why Women Should Push for Healthcare Reform
Why should women support healthcare reform? It should be a no-brainer, according to Marcia Greenberger, copresident of the National Women's Law Center, who testified at a Senate hearing last week that the health insurance industry is rife with "unfair and discriminatory practices . . . including gender rating, the exclusion of healthcare services that only women need, and pre-existing-condition denials," U.S. News's Deborah Kotz reports.
For instance, women can be denied insurance if they've ever had a cesarean section or been the victim of domestic violence, Greenberger said. She and her colleagues are fighting for the final healthcare bill to right what they see as some serious wrongs. A new NWLC report, which examined the most popular insurance plans in every state, found, for example, that a whopping 95 percent of insurance companies charge women more than men for the same coverage for individual policies. For 60 percent of plans, a 40-year-old woman who doesn't smoke will pay more for her policy than a 40-year-old male who does smoke. Read more.
[Read: Abortion Down, Contraception Up: Recipe for Health Reform? and 5 Ways to Save Money on Birth Control in a Tough Economy.]
The Confusion Over DCIS: What to Do About 'Stage Zero' Breast Cancer
Imagine that you go in for a regular mammogram and are told that you do not have breast cancer. But, your doctor says, you do have a significant risk factor for invasive cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), sometimes also called "stage zero" cancer. That means abnormal cells are lodged in one or more of the breast ducts—the "highways" connecting the milk-producing lobes to the nipples—but they haven't yet escaped to invade the other tissues in the breast. Will they ever do so? Maybe, maybe not.
It's not hard to see why a diagnosis of DCIS is confusing and frustrating, U.S. News's Katherine Hobson writes. On one hand, you're told not to worry; you do not have invasive cancer and most likely never will. On the other, you're told you need to have the cells surgically removed and, in some cases, may need radiation. Even though DCIS is almost always treated, scientists agree that not all cases would ever have turned dangerous. Read more.
[Read: To Screen or Not? and Why 1 in 4 Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients Still Opts for a Mastectomy.]
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