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So many of us smear our mouths in lipstick multiple times a day, but how often do you stop to think about what exactly is in it? Well, here's one terrifying ingredient it might have: lead. Lead? Yes, and lead is some serious shit. So just how much danger are we all in if we want to keep our lips looking sumptuously kissable? It depends on whom you ask, but the FDA is looking into it.. More »
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Last month, the FDA asked a panel of outside experts whether the blood clot risk for newer birth control pills like Yaz and Yasmin was significant enough to pull the drugs from the market. The panel found that the risk is worth it to prevent pregnancy (which is an even bigger clot risk), but the narrow margin didn't quite inspire confidence. While it seemed like the issue was finally settled, now a watchdog group is asking the FDA to reconsider because it found that four advisers have ties to the companies that make the drugs. More »
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After more than 30,000 women in France received dangerously toxic breast implants manufactured by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), new information has come to light that's making it clear the now-bankrupt company should probably have been shut down a long time ago. More »
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If you weren't sufficiently enraged by the Obama administration overruling the FDA's decision to make Plan B available to teens under 17 without a prescription (which would have made it easier for all women to obtain emergency contraception), now there's concern that the new birth control rulings out of Washington could make more women afraid to use hormonal contraception. Much like when a certain politician spouted false information about the HPV vaccine, all parents hear when they're flipping past The Today Show is that medicines meant to protect their daughter's health are likely to make her drop dead. More »
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Despite recommendations from the FDA, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius has decided not to allow the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill to be sold without a prescription to kids under 17. A statement issued today by FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg reads, in part, More »
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Recently Dr. Oz whipped parents into a frenzy by reporting that apple juice contains dangerous levels of arsenic. The FDA fired back that America's resident poop expert had flubbed his results by testing for both safe organic arsenic and harmful inorganic arsenic, and said issuing warnings about kids drinking juice was irresponsible. However, yesterday Consumer Reports released its own study that found apple juice and grape juice contain unacceptably high levels of arsenic, and suddenly the FDA's decided that reexamining the amount of toxins allowed in juice is an excellent idea. More »
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Thanks to a surgical mesh that was implanted in 2007, 65-year-old Marci Sutin Levin is in such excruciating pain that she can't work, sleep through the night, or have sex. "The pain of childbirth was finite, and you're delivering a child," she says. "This was very, very different. It's relentless, and it's untenable. And it doesn't lead to anything." Levin is one of hundreds of women suing the makers of a vaginal mesh used to hold a woman's organs in place after pelvic floor muscles weaken. Between 2008 and 2010 the FDA received 1,503 reports of injuries, malfunctions, and deaths associated with the product, and now many are blaming the agency for not testing the mesh thoroughly before approving it. More »
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The FDA announced yesterday that it was going to assemble a panel of experts to look into the plastic mesh used in surgery to correct pelvic organ prolapse, a slipping of the organs caused by weakened pelvic floor muscles. More »
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On a typical day (those on which I'm not being a slob who doesn't shower) I expose my body to about a dozen personal care products: toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, deodorant, face moisturizer, body lotion, mascara, loose powder, chapstick, perfume, hair texturizer. I'm pretty average, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which estimates Americans use about 10 products daily, resulting in exposure to more than 126 unique chemicals. Damn, Gina! More »
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The Food and Drug Administration announced this week that it's going after over a dozen companies selling non-prescription pills and supplements—like Medavir, Herpaflor and C-Cure—that purport to cure STDs like HIV, Herpes and HPV. Federal health officials say that none of these products have been proven to be effective treatment for such diseases and are in fact a public health hazard, since patients could put off seeking proper medical care by taking the phony pills, allowing their conditions to worsen. More »
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Teva, the manufacturer of Plan B, has asked the FDA to let it sell its emergency contraception over the counter to all ages. (Currently, anyone under 17 needs a prescription.) Meanwhile, the Center For Reproductive Rights is still suing the FDA to explain the medical reason for withholding over the counter access to teens under 17. Hint: There isn't one. More »
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The FDA announced drops, pellets and sprays containing the pregnancy hormone HCG don't cause weight loss and are illegal. It's just a theory, but maybe people lost weight on the drugs simply due its the recommended 500 calorie daily diet? More »
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Bariatric surgery can cost up to $30,000, depending on which process you get and where you live. And follow-up surgeries keep the hospital bills coming in the mail. But it's not like this is stopping anybody from getting them. More »
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An FDA panel has recommended the approval of new weight-loss drug Contrave, even though it may actually raise blood pressure. More »
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There is no scientific reason why the morning after pill isn't available to women under 17 without a prescription. There are, however, political reasons, which is why the Center for Reproductive Rights is slamming the FDA in court over it. More »
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In the ad after the jump, bunnies deliver an important message: The FDA is still forcing women to get emergency contraception from a pharmacist for solely political reasons. E-mail the FDA through the Center for Reproductive Rights here. [Pandagon, CRR] More »
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In the land of Yaz commercials, everyone has a sassy doctor friend who enjoys casually discussing the possible side effects of oral contraceptives. But in reality, for at least 74 plaintiffs, the side effects can't be brushed aside as easily. More »
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• A former girlfriend of Raymond Clark, the lab tech accused in the murder of Annie Le, told Good Morning America that Clark was "extremely controlling." She says dictated what clothes she wore, and who she could see. • More »
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The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants the FDA to set standards to reduce the amount of lead in lipstick because the agency found an average lead level in lipstick ten times higher than its standard for lead in candy. [UPI] More »
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The FDA warned General Mills to either stop advertising that eating Cheerios is "clinically proven to help lower cholesterol" or submit an application to classify them as a drug. (A delicious drug!) [Wall Street Journal] More »
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In a not entirely surprising move, the FDA has issued a warning to consumers using Hydroxycut, a dietary supplement that has been linked to severe liver damage and has led to at least one death. More »
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In a letter released yesterday, the FDA condemned Bayer AG for misleading TV commercials for the birth control pill Yaz. Two of the ads suggest that Yaz has been approved to relieve common PMS symptoms like "bloating" and "moodiness" when it has only been cleared for a more serious condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The FDA also criticized a suggestion that the pill is approved to treat acne of all types and alleges that ads distract viewers with fast-moving images and background music while information about potential side effects is described. [Reuters] More »
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Mm, pork may be delicious, but is it a wrinkle fighter? The FDA has approved a new porcine collagen filler that is said to last longer than old skool collagen derived from bovines (question: WTF are these people putting in their faces? The entire contents of a butcher shop?). Dermatologists are all abuzz about the filler's potential but also concerned about its appeal to people who keep kosher. Wonder what these rabbis would have to say about the development? [W Magazine] More »
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This is Oklahoma Senator (and gynecologist) Tom Coburn who was elected to represent the kind people of Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate. His interpretation of that responsibility is, apparently, to keep everyone else from fucking. The New York Post reported this morning about a GAO report on the FDA's interpretation of the law on labeling condoms, which some would like to see change to reflect both what condoms effectively prevent when used properly (pregnancy and the transmission of HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis) and what they less effectively counter (HPV and herpes). What the Post fails to mention is that the report is in response to Senator Coburn, who has had something up his butt about condom labeling since at least 1999. In Coburn's "never fuck unless you're married and want a kid" mentality, putting scare labels on condoms will keep the people of America and the world from having sex because, as the AIDS rate in the world effectively demonstrates, scaring people about disease transmission keeps them from fucking. (In unrelated notes, he also conducts a sex ed lecture for summer interns every year to keep them from fucking and once said that lesbianism is "so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom." Oh, he supports John McCain.) [NY Post, GAO, Guttmacher Institute, The Advocate, Washington Post, Alternet] More »
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Lobbyist groups are banging down the FDA's doors, asking the agency to yank the birth-control patch Ortho-Evra off pharmacists' shelves and insisting that it poses high risk of potentially-fatal blood clots and at much higher rates of instance than the drug companies are disclosing. The higher estrogen levels that patch users are exposed to seem to be the source of the problem, though of course Big Pharm begs to differ. One thing is for sure ladies, if you're on hormone-based birth control — of any sort — Do. Not. Smoke. [NYT] More »
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In this Newsweek video, Dr. Susan Wood, the former director of the FDA's Office of Women's Health, comes out for Hillary Clinton. Against an odd background of porny-sounding music, Wood explains how much Hillary did to help Plan B become legal in the United States. "Emergency contraception would not be available without Hillary Clinton," Wood says. Although Wood has come out for Clinton, lots of feminists are still tussling over Hillary vs. Barack. Minnesotan Kim Goodwin invited seven friends to her house to discuss the candidates. Republican Therese Liffrig said of Hillary, "No, I wouldn't vote for her...But if she won, I'd be happy about it," while Barack supporter Stephanie Forsland said, "She just came across as a little bit too slick of a politician." Can't wait to see how it all turns out in Texas and Ohio tonight! [Newsweek, Salon, NPR] More »
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The state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers Shanghai Hualian, the only suppliers of the abortion pill RU-486 to the United States, have paralyzed or injured over 200 cancer patients in China with tainted leukemia drugs. According to the New York Times, the factory that produced the contaminated drugs has been closed, and the factory that makes RU-486 (aka mifepristone) is an hour away. This is the first time the F.D.A. is publicly announcing the American supplier of the abortion pill; the Times reports that the F.D.A. kept the manufacturers a secret because of security concerns stemming from "sometimes violent opposition to abortion." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=351017&view=rss&microfeed=true Gardasil, the first ever vaccine against the cervical cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) - that's genital warts to you and me - has been approved by the FDA. More »
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