June 22, 2007 The Pump Handle 3Comment

Declan Butler, Reporter updates us on the situation of the six health workers facing death in Libya. The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian medic were sentenced to death on the charge of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV, despite scientific evidence that the infections resulted from hygiene lapses and contamination of medical material. Butler reports […]

June 15, 2007 The Pump Handle

This week, Congress has been wrestling with the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act; Merrill Goozner at GoozNews reports from Capitol Hill about the questions that FDA Acting Deputy Commissioner for Policy Randall Lutter couldn’t answer at a hearing and about the provisions that should be in the bill but aren’t. Matt Madia […]

June 8, 2007 The Pump Handle

Given the lack of encouraging global warming developments coming out of the G8 summit, it’s nice to have good news on other topics: After a two-year boycott by doctors, authors, and healthcare and peace advocates, Lancet publisher Reed Elsevier has agreed to end its involvement in weapon sales – Grrl Scientist at Living the Scientific […]

June 1, 2007 The Pump Handle 4Comment

When a man with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is told not to board a plane and then does so anyway, you have to expect the public health bloggers to come out in force. Tara C. Smith at Aetiology has been on top of this from the start, first laying out the story, then explaining its implications, and […]

May 25, 2007 The Pump Handle

This week, bloggers had plenty to say regarding the new study raising safety questions about the diabetes drug Avandia. The Olive Ridley Crawl and Merrill Goozner at GoozNews emphasize the importance of transparency around clinical trials, while Cervantes at Stayin’ Alive explains what’s wrong with using surrogate markers (as the Avandia studies used in the […]

May 18, 2007 The Pump Handle 2Comment

With all the interesting new research coming out, it’s good that we have bloggers to help us stay on top of it all. The Olive Ridley Crawl explains the basics behind the reports on chemicals linked to breast cancer; Corpus Callosum looks at a Health Affairs article that helps put drug risks in perspective; Andrew […]

May 11, 2007 The Pump Handle

Several bloggers have been following the story of Julie MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary who oversaw the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s endangered species program and resigned in disgrace last week, after it was revealed that she’d been giving industry lobbyists internal agency documents. GrrlScientist at Living the Scientific Life, James Hrynyshyn at Island of Doubt, and […]

April 27, 2007 The Pump Handle 2Comment

Did you know that Wednesday was World Malaria Day? Farzaneh and Aman at Technology, Health & Development marked the occasion with posts about initiatives that are tackling the disease, while Merrill Goozner at GoozNews wonders why the World Banks seems to lack a sense of urgency on the issue. Regular ScienceBlogs readers probably noticed that […]

April 20, 2007 The Pump Handle

The FDA certainly wasn’t the biggest newsmaker this week, but it did create some buzz in the blogosphere – mostly due to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, which is up for Congressional reauthorization. Matt Madia at Reg Watch and Merrill Goozner at GoozNews are tracking PDUFA’s progress through the Senate. Corpus Callosum […]