Storage of newborns’ blood samples raises privacy concerns

clipped from www.theglobeandmail.com It’s a routine test conducted on newborns – a quick needle prick to the heel to test for a range of health disorders and diseases before an infant is discharged. But the newborn screening procedures, which exist across North America and most of the developed world, have run afoul of privacy advocates because the genetic material collected from infants when blood is drawn is routinely used for other purposes, chiefly medical research. Millions of infants’ blood samples – along with their names and birthdates – are stored on information cards in laboratories across Canada. What has riled civil libertarians and privacy advocates is that parents aren’t told that their babies’ genetic blueprint will be stored indefinitely, and perhaps used for research purposes. Instead, parents are told the blood samples are crucial to test for disorders such as hypothyroidism, and more recently, cystic fibrosis. British Columbia stores the genetic information of about 800,000 infants.

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Russia Reports Over 2 Million Dead In US As Mysterious Die-Off Accelerates

clipped from www.eutimes.net A most chilling report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Russian Academy of Medical and Technical Science for Prime Minister Putin states that a “mysterious die-off” in the United States has claimed over 2,000,000 lives since 2008 and is “more than likely” linked to a “crossover” plant disease linked to genetically modified grains and foods. Supporting Russian scientists in these conclusions is new research being conducted by the Didier Raoult of the University of the Mediterranean in Marseilles, France, where for the first time in human history a plant virus has been found to cause problems in people. Russian scientists further claim in these reports that the United States mass vaccination of their population this past year for the supposed H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic was instead a “very clumsy attempt” to stop the spreading of this mysterious lung disease by injecting into these peoples a DNA “fix” to this genetically modified corn

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Studies link H1N1 to seasonal flu shots

clipped from www.ctvbc.ctv.ca Controversial flu vaccine study finally published, but questions raised linger A set of controversial studies that suggested getting a previous seasonal flu shot doubled a person's risk of catching pandemic H1N1 last spring has finally been published -- though the mystery of whether the finding is real remains. But outside of Canada, where the effect wasn't seen, scientists scratched their heads and dismissed the inexplicable and troubling findings as "the Canadian problem." But the fact remains research elsewhere so far doesn't corroborate these findings and there isn't an easy way to explain why getting vaccinated against seasonal flu would make a person more susceptible to catching the new flu virus. "The question is: OK, is it real? And the answer is: It's not clear." Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control said for her, the story of this research was one of "finding results that you don't like and that others like even less."

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New CDC estimate: Swine flu death count rises

Image by Michael Desmarais via Flickr

• New CDC estimate: Swine flu death count rises

  "About 55 million sickened, over 11,000 killed Updated: Friday, 15 Jan 2010, 12:05 PM EST Published : Friday, 15 Jan 2010, 12:05 PM EST A new government estimate says swine flu has sickened about 55 million Americans and killed about 11,160. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the estimates on Friday , which cover roughly the first eight months of the pandemic — from April through mid-December. The CDC last estimated that through mid-November, the pandemic had sickened 50 million Americans and killed 10,000. Swine flu infections have been waning since late October, and no states were reporting widespread cases as of last week."

  tags: swine, News, h1n1, flu, rises, death

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Expert: Swine Flu Is a False Pandemic

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• Expert: Swine Flu Is a False Pandemic

  "(The Sun) - A leading health expert said the swine flu scare was a "false pandemic" led by drugs companies that stood to make billions from vaccines, The Sun reported Monday. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claimed major firms organized a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic. He believes it is, "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century," and has called for an inquiry. An emergency debate on the issue will be held by the Council of Europe later this month. The Council of Europe covers 47 European countries and seeks to develop common and democratic principles between the nations. Wodarg said, "It's just a normal kind of flu. It does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu. "The great campaign of panic we have seen provided a golden opportunity for representatives from labs who knew they would hit the jackpot in the case of a pandemic being declared. "We want to clarify everything that brought about this massive operation of disinformation. We want to know who made decisions, on the basis of what evidence, and precisely how the influence of the pharmaceutical industry came to bear on the decision-making." He added, "A group of people in the WHO is associated very closely with the pharmaceutical industry.""

  tags: H1N1, Swine, Flu, Heath, Healthcare, false, Pandemic, news

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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