Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Brain Cancer Takes Over As Leading Cause Of Cancer Deaths Of Children, Adolescents
It's official: Brain cancer has replaced leukemia as the leading cause of cancer deaths among children and adolescents. In 1999, almost a third of cancer deaths among patients aged 1 to 19 were attributable to leukemia while about a quarter were caused by brain cancer. By 2014, those percentages were reversed, according to a report published Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McGinley, 9/16)
A small government office that monitors misconduct in biomedical research is in turmoil, jeopardizing oversight of billions of dollars in grants to universities and other institutions around the country. Six of the eight investigators in the federal Office of Research Integrity have signed a letter hinting that they may leave, a move that could hobble federal efforts to detect data ma颅nipu颅la颅tion and other misconduct by laboratory researchers. The office鈥檚 new head has filed personnel actions against the two division directors she inherited and installed a new deputy to supervise the entire staff. (Bernstein, 9/15)
A month after assuming regulatory oversight over e-cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cracked down on online sales by the industry, issuing 24 letters to websites for illegal sales to minors. The letters, which the FDA released Thursday, are the first sent since the FDA banned e-cigarette sales to anyone under 18 years old on Aug. 8. The agency also issued warning letters to 28 retailers of cigars and e-cigs and three letters to websites selling cigars. (Mickle, 9/15)
Early this year, a railroad worker who had just been briefed on his duties for the day was discovered in a restroom, dead from an overdose of illegal prescription drugs. In the months that followed, tests conducted after three railroad accidents resulted in six employees testing positive for drugs. Testing in 2016 has shown that nearly 8 percent of workers involved in rail accidents were positive for drug use, including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, benzodiazepine, OxyContin and morphine, according to internal federal documents obtained by The Washington Post. (Halsey, 9/15)
