The ink was barely dry on statements from the head of the federal Food and Drug Administration about a planned external, independent review of the agency’s tobacco oversight division when one of its top regulators created a personnel stink of his own. Matt Holman, chief of the office of science in FDA’s much-criticized Center for….
Continue ReadingHeart Disease
Heart association adds a new safeguard to its list: a good night’s sleep
Get some sleep! That’s not just a late-night nudge for the kids from their parents. It is strong new advice patients will hear from their cardiologists and other doctors, as the American Heart Association has added sleep to its list of important ways for folks to avoid cardiovascular conditions, stay healthier, and live longer, the….
Continue ReadingFDA bans Juul vaping products and seeks to slash nicotine in cigarettes
Federal regulators have cracked down on Big Tobacco and its zealous, profit-seeking promotion of products that fuel some of the leading causes of preventable disease in this country: cigarette smoking and vaping. The federal Food and Drug Administration ordered the maker of Juul, a pioneer in pushing so-called e-cigarettes and vape flavorings on the young,….
Continue ReadingA major reversal on long-held view of low-dose aspirin’s heart benefits
Aspirin has gotten its crown knocked askew as a cheap, effective low-dose heart problem preventer for older Americans. That’s because the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has weighed the evidence, heard the comments, and recommended against patients 60 and older taking the common drug to avert cardiovascular diseases. The experts gave this purportedly protective step….
Continue ReadingAs ‘synthetic’ nicotine loophole shuts, warnings about cannabis edibles
Grownups have gotten stark reminders why they must stay vigilant against buck-raking enterprises that exploit young people’s experimentation with intoxicants. Even as Congress has shut a legal loophole used by the vaping industry to keep addicting its customers to harmful nicotine, other dealers are pushing candy-like marijuana edibles on youths. In passing a $1.5 trillion….
Continue ReadingPoor FDA communication harms patients, taxpayers, other agencies
Critics are slamming the federal Food and Drug Administration for dropping the ball in informing the U.S. officials who run the Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ health programs about crucial regulatory decisions, leading the federal government apparently to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for patients to get a defective heart device and potentially to pay….
Continue ReadingCut the salt in prepared and packaged food, U.S. urges makers and sellers
Americans of all ages adore fast food and prepared meals, but one of the lures is these tasty items are loaded with salt. Now federal regulators have proposed new guidelines that they say could save millions of lives by reducing the salt content of commercially prepared and packaged foods. The Food and Drug Administration’s standards,….
Continue ReadingDaily low-dose aspirin? Rethink its risks vs. benefits, experts advise
Aspirin may not be the easy, cheap, daily wonder drug that doctors once thought it might be: New research has led medical experts to rethink and caution against the low-dose regimen followed by tens of millions of patients in hopes of preventing heart and colon conditions. Those popping aspirin as a safeguard should talk to….
Continue ReadingFDA snuffs out cloud of e-cigarette and vaping products but delays big ruling
The federal Food and Drug Administration punted on a scheduled showdown over e-cigarettes, delaying decisions on whether to allow Juul and other market-dominating firms to keep selling trendy “smokeless” devices while also banning millions of vaping products from other, mostly smaller manufacturers. The agency argued with a defensive and defiant tone that it had acted….
Continue ReadingRisky heart pump shows how FDA fails patients on medical device regulation
The federal Food and Drug Administration too often fails to protect patients from defective and dangerous medical devices because it lets manufacturers self-police themselves, cozies up to companies rather than trying to compel safety fixes, and inadequately informs the public and medical community about problem products. If that sounds like too broad and harsh an….
Continue Reading