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U.S. Marshals Seize Drug Products Manufactured By Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. FDA Acts To Prevent Repeated Drug Quality Problems
U.S. Marshals, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, today seized drug products manufactured by Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. (Caraco), at the company"s Michigan facilities in Detroit, Farmington Hills, and Wixom. The seizure also includes ingredients held at these same facilities. "The FDA is committed to taking enforcement action against firms that do not manufacture drugs in accordance with our good manufacturing practice requirements," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA"s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Compliance with these standards prevents harm to the public."
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Lobbyists Swarm Around Health Reform Activity
NPR began a series of reports on the health care lobbyists who attend Congressional sessions as part of their campaign. Richard Miller, a "longtime lobbyist for the American Chiropractic Association, says it"s important that the chiropractors keep on top of the health care overhaul legislation - and also take pains to make sure that senators and staff see them doing that, because the chiropractors are small dogs in a big fight." President Barack Obama "certainly sees Washington"s lobbyists as an obstacle to change. He"s tried limiting their access to the executive branch, but that runs into the constitutional question." Lobbying is on the rise: "Between 1998 and 2008, the number of registered lobbyists on health care more than doubled, to 3,627, according to the Center for Responsive Politics." Spending also increased: "Organizations lobbying on health care spent $484.4 million in 2008, more than two and a half times the spending in 1998." The project includes an interactive panoramic photo of lobbyists in the Senate HELP Committee hearing room and asks readers to help identify the players (Overby and Seabrook, 6/25).
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Studies Examine Cigarette Smuggling In Poor Countries, Deaths Due To Alcohol Abuse In Russia
A new report finds that "a growing global trade in black market cigarettes is killing tens of thousands of people a year, causing massive health problems and costing governments billions of pounds," the Guardian reports.
Nutrition

DNA Damage From Environmental Exposures May Occur In As Little As Three Days

Exposure to particulate matter has been recognized as a contributing factor to lung cancer development for some time, but a new study indicates inhalation of certain particulates can actually cause some genes to become reprogrammed, affecting both the development and the outcome of cancers and other diseases. The research was presented on Sunday, May 17, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego. "Recently, changes in gene programming due to a chemical transformation called methylation have been found in the blood and tissues of lung cancer patients," said investigator Andrea Baccarelli, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of applied biotechnology at the University of Milan. "We aimed at investigating whether exposure to particulate matter induced changes in DNA methylation in blood from healthy subjects who were exposed to high levels of particulate matter in a foundry facility." Researchers enrolled 63 healthy subjects who worked in a foundry near Milan, Italy. Blood DNA samples were collected on the morning of the first day of the work week, and again after three days of work. Comparing these samples revealed that significant changes had occurred in four genes associated with tumor suppression. "The changes were detectable after only three days of exposure to particulate matter, indicating that environmental factors need little time to cause gene reprogramming which is potentially associated with disease outcomes," Dr. Baccarelli said. "As several of the effects of particulate matter in foundries are similar to those found after exposure to ambient air pollution, our results open new hypotheses about how air pollutants modify human health," he added. "The changes in DNA methylation we observed are reversible and some of them are currently being used as targets of cancer drugs." Dr. Baccarelli said the study results indicate that early interventions might be designed which would reverse gene programming to normal levels, reducing the health risks of exposure. "We need to evaluate how the changes in gene reprogramming we observed are related to cancer risk," he said. "Down the road, it will be particularly important not only to show that these changes are associated with increased risk of cancer or other environmentally-induced diseases, but that, if we were able to prevent or revert them, these risks could be eliminated." Session # A45: "Genetic Basis for Environmental and Occupational Respiratory Diseases" Abstract # 2589: "Effects of Particulate Matter Exposure on p16, p53, APC and RASSF1A Promoter Methylation" Keely Savoie American Thoracic Society


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