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FDA Takes Enforcement Action Against Cheese Manufacturer
The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, filed a complaint seeking injunctive relief against Peregrina Cheese, Inc., (Peregrina Cheese), Brooklyn, N.Y. and two of its officers: Javier Peregrina and Isabel Peregrina.
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More Strokes Can - And Should - Be Prevented
The number of people who each year die or are severely disabled by stroke could be substantially reduced through a cheap blood test and simple inexpensive treatment.
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Kansas Becomes Central Battleground In Abortion-Rights Debate
Kansas has become "perhaps the fiercest battleground" in the abortion-rights debate with mass protests, prosecutions, lawsuits and the recent murder of abortion provider George Tiller, the AP/Washington Post reports. Kansas State University political scientist Joe Aistrup said, "There"s a very prominent vein in Kansas politics that tends toward moral righteousness." He said that this contributes to that unending debate and has produced extremists on both sides of the issue in the state.Peter Brownlie, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said that the majority of those who maintain the intense debate on abortion rights are political leaders. "There is a very clear and growing gap between the general public and the political leaders who are committed to this being such a constant and volatile issue," he said. Brownlie added that on issues relating to abortion, sex education and family planning, "Kansans" views are not markedly different from most Americans, but there are political forces at work, some of them well beyond the state borders."The Post reports that Kansas is different than most states where either supporters or foes of abortion rights dominate. According to the AP/Post, Kansas often sways between having key lawmakers who support abortion rights and those who oppose them. For example, a Republican-dominated Legislature over the past six years passed several bills to restrict abortion access, but much of the legislation was vetoed by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D). The result has triggered frustration in groups opposing abortion rights, and they continue to feed widespread opposition to abortion in the state, the AP/Post reports.According to Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political science professor, there even is a split among Kansas Republicans in regard to abortion rights, as some Republicans in the state are evangelical Christians who oppose abortion rights, while others are moderates who support such rights. He said the split "might pop out in gun laws, home schooling, evolution, but it starts and stops with abortion" (Crary/Hanna, AP/Washington Post, 6/3).Wall Street Journal Examines Abortions Later in PregnancyIn related news, the Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined how Tiller"s clinic in Kansas became a battleground in the abortion-rights debate particularly because some of his patients were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. According to the Journal, even though the subject of abortion later in pregnancy is the of "a deep cultural divide," both sides agree that it is "anguishing." Fewer than 1% of all abortions in the U.S. are performed in the second or third trimesters, and most states prohibit abortions late in pregnancy but include exceptions for the woman"s life and health.The Journal reports that abortion procedures performed later in pregnancy often carry increased health risks, are more expensive and are emotional. The Guttmacher Institute reports that 8.9 maternal deaths occur during every 100,000 abortions performed later in pregnancy, compared with 7.1 deaths per 100,000 births. The article also profiled women who chose to undergo abortions later in pregnancy at Tiller"s clinic, as well as arguments from abortion-rights opponents (Simon, Wall Street Journal, 6/4).
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House Health Bill To Include Public Plan, Insurers Resisting

On Monday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D- N.Y., told reporters that the House bill will include a new public insurance plan, Reuters/The Boston Globe reports. "Similar to legislation being developed in the Senate, the House bill would establish an insurance exchange to help people without employer-sponsored insurance find medical coverage." The government-sponsored public insurance plan would be "one of the options available, lawmakers said." The bill would also establish a mandate that would "require individuals and businesses to obtain coverage." A government-sponsored public health insurance option remains one of the most contentious points in the health care debate. On Monday, Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Barack Obama "arguing against a new public plan, saying it would lead to "a federal government takeover of our healthcare system."" The President called for a public plan option last week "but also has said he wants healthcare legislation by October that enjoys bipartisan support." House Democrats will be briefed on the new legislation today, and Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee are also scheduled to meet with Obama "to discuss the proposal" (Smith, 6/8). Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers in both houses, and some moderate Democrats, are voicing opposition to the inclusion of a government-run insurance plan: "[T]he dust-up may turn the once amicable health care debate into a partisan war," reports Utah"s Salt Lake Tribune. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a Finance Committee members, say the unraveling bipartisanship isn"t cut in stone: "I would be glad to help them, but not with a public plan" (Canham, 6/8). And Democrats are actively recruiting GOP Senators who might help, even with the public plan, USA Today reports. Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, the only current Senate Republicans who defected to support Obama"s stimulus plan, are possible supporters. ""There is more outreacḥ€¦ to Republicans than was the case during the early days of the stimulus," Collins said. "If Democrats want Republican support, they will probably need 60 votes, the threshold required to stop filibusters and proceed to a final vote," USA Today reports. "Democrats can count on 59 votes, but it is not clear whether all Democrats will vote for whatever proposal emerges," making it critical for Democratic leaders to assure support by moderates in their own party, like Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Liberal advocacy groups are currently run ads in both Maine and Oregon to shore up support for reform (Fritze, 6/9). The insurance industry "is maintaining a conciliatory tone, while making clear its objections to such a plan, as it tries to shape" a health care overhaul, Dow Jones Newswires/CNN Money reports in a story headlined: "Health Insurers Aim To Shape Reform, Resist Public Plan." Insurers say "a public plan won"t be needed if reformers successfully expand coverage to the uninsured through mandated insurance and guaranteed issuance of policies, find ways to control medical costs, prohibit exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and provide subsidies to help people afford coverage." Bill Hoagland, Cigna Corp."s vice president for public policy and government affairs, told Dow Jones "the question we have to raise is, "Wait a minute, if the industry agrees to do all of that, what is it that a public plan achieves?"" He says the insurance industry has "stepped up, Cigna has stepped up we"ve tried to be good players." This is a major change from the Clinton health care debates, Hoagland says, when insurers took "the Harry-and-Louise position against reform." Hoagland says the problem with a public plan is "you end up having a significant cost shift from public plans to the private plans," because of the lower reimbursement rates that government-run plans such as Medicare pay providers. Elizabeth Hall, WellPoint Inc."s vice president for public policy, said the plan could be "very disruptive to the marketplace," but "she wasn"t ready to call the issue a deal-breaker. "We are definitely not supportive of that, but I think just like any other large piece of legislation, we are going to have to take it as a whole," Hall says (Brin, 6/8). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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