"Health & Medical News"

Facing criticism from law enforcement and the drug-prevention community, the Hershey candy company has announced that it will stop making Ice Breakers Pacs — dissolvable mint packages that some said resembled bags of crack cocaine.

The Associated Press reported Jan. 24 that concerns about Ice Breakers Pacs were raised by the Philadelphia narcotics squad, who said the candy looked like the heat-sealed bags of crack being sold on local streets. Philadelphia’s chief police inspector, William Blackburn, was among the loudest critics of the product.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Washington — An attempt to quickly pass a Senate health information technology bill was derailed after medical groups raised concerns about its quality measurement, patient privacy and funding provisions.

Senators in mid-November considered but could not agree on “hotlining” the bill, a term for passing it by unanimous consent without formal floor debate, said Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee spokesman Michael Mahaffey.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Massachusetts health officials have established a tracking system to monitor prescription of psychiatric drugs to children after the overdose death of a four-year-old girl, the Boston Globe reported Oct. 7.

In the first three months of the program, 35 cases of suspected overprescription of drugs have been uncovered. The state Medicaid program is analyzing records of prescriptions to 82,900 children under age 5; flagged cases include those where kids are receiving three or more psychiatric drugs or one powerful antipsychotic.

Popularity: unranked [?]