Category: Health

(Reuters) – Dozens of medical professionals in Appalachia, a region hard-hit by the U.S. opioid crisis, have been charged with writing hundreds of thousands of illegal prescriptions and committing health care fraud, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Sixty people, including 31 doctors, were accused of illegally prescribing opioid drugs in exchange for cash and sexual…

(Reuters Health) – Smokers may find cigarettes easier to resist when they smell things they enjoy like peppermint or chocolate, a small study suggests. Most adult smokers say they want to quit, and many try. But about half of smokers who attempt to stop smoking relapse within two weeks, researchers note in the Journal of…

PARIS (Reuters) – France will ban the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive from 2020 after the country’s health and safety agency said there was not enough evidence to guarantee the safety of the substance. Titanium dioxide is widely used in industry as a whitener, notably for paint, and in the food sector,…

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany has awarded contracts to supply domestically-grown cannabis to two Canadian companies, as it seeks to develop its own medicinal marijuana industry and reduce reliance on imports. Drugs regulator BfArM said on Wednesday it would purchase 4,000 kg and 3,200 kg of cannabis over four years from German production subsidiaries of Canada’s…

(This April 16 story modifies headline and paragraphs 1 and 2 to make it clearer that the apps were for patients with type 2 diabetes.) By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – Hundreds of smartphone apps promise to make managing type 2 diabetes easier, but very few offer real-time guidance on what to do for dangerously…

BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Wearing a disposable gown and gloves for protection, Jeanine Masika cradles a 2-year-old Ebola patient and offers the listless toddler teaspoons of brown soup. Most health care workers need a surgical mask, goggles, hooded coveralls, an apron, rubber boots and two pairs of gloves to avoid catching the…

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland will introduce a monitoring system to assuage concerns about the potential health impact of fifth-generation (5G) mobile frequency emissions and smooth the cutting-edge technology’s rollout, the government said on Wednesday. The cabinet agreed to have the federal environmental agency measure levels of so-called non-ionising radiation, assess the risks and regularly inform…

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s leading food producer Tiger Brands said on Wednesday it will fight a class action lawsuit over its role in the world’s largest ever listeria outbreak. The listeriosis outbreak, the infection caused by the bacteria, killed more than 200 people in South Africa last year and was traced back to a…

(Reuters) – U.S. federal health officials said on Tuesday an investigation is underway over a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections linked to frozen ground tuna, which were imported into the United States by seafood retailer Jensen Tuna. No deaths were reported so far, but seven people have been hospitalized, the U.S. Food and Drug…

(Reuters Health) – Sexting – the texting of sexual images – is increasingly common among teens, but in nearly half the U.S. the practice may hold an unexpected danger: in 23 states, sexting between teens is considered child pornography, which could potentially result in a 20-year prison term and mandatory registration as a sex offender,…