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Raise minimum age to buy cigarettes to decrease use: U.S. study

By Yasmeen Abutaleb NEW YORK (Reuters) – Raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 or 25 years old would significantly reduce their use and tobacco-related illnesses in the United States, a study published Thursday found, suggesting that states and local authorities should consider passing such laws. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which sponsored the report, cannot increase the minimum age to buy tobacco in the country from 18, but states and local authorities can do so. The report was presented to the FDA on Tuesday, said Richard Bonnie, chair of the report committee. Among people who smoked daily, 90 percent had tried their first cigarette before the age of 19 while the remaining 10 percent had tried tobacco products by 26, the study found.

New Zealand firms see slump in China demand for infant formula after poison threat

By Naomi Tajitsu and Adam Jourdan WELLINGTON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese demand for New Zealand infant formula has fallen after a threat by suspected environmental activists to contaminate the product with an agricultural poison, the head of an exporter group said on Wednesday. Orders for infant formula, prized among China’s growing middle class, have slumped after New Zealand police on Tuesday said letters were sent to the national farmers’ group and dairy giant Fonterra in November accompanied by packages of infant formula laced with poisonous pesticide 1080, formally called sodium fluoroacetate. Following the announcement, China said it would increase scrutiny of milk powder imports from New Zealand, which depends on dairy products for about a quarter of its export earnings.

The Year of the Woman

This year will be a very significant year for women across the globe. The world will mark the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing as well as the deadline for crafting the post-2015 agenda. Both events will involve conversations on women's rights including their right to live safely and freely of violence in…

Scopes That Spread UCLA ‘Superbug’ Were Awaiting FDA Clearance

The manufacturer of the scopes that spread a drug-resistant “superbug” to seven California patients had tweaked the scopes' design and was selling them without federal permission to do so, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Seven people have become infected with the drug-resistant “superbug” known as CRE at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after undergoing endoscopy procedures, and CRE may have played a role in two of those patients' deaths, hospital officials said in February, adding that 179 people were exposed to the germ at UCLA. The scopes — called duodenoscopes, which are inserted by mouth to access patients' small intestine, the pancreas and the liver — were new and had only been in use since June, health officials said last month. The hospital said it traced the bacteria back to two endoscopes manufactured by Olympus Corporation of the Americas.

Families of victims of California mass shooter sue county, apartment

The families of three victims slain during a southern California rampage last year that left dead six college students and the killer are suing the county, the sheriff's department and the apartment building where the victims were killed. The parents of George Chen, Weihan Wang, and Cheng-Yuan Hong filed the federal suit on Monday, alleging that the defendants failed to recognize signs that the attacker, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, was a danger and take action. Rodger fatally stabbed the three men, two of whom were his roommates assigned by management at the Capri Apartments at Isla Vista, in the dwelling last May before fatally shooting three more people, wounding 14 others near the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and killing himself. The lawsuit pointed to several “red flags,” including racist remarks Rodger made about previous roommates and other violent, erratic behavior, and alleged that the apartment managers did not investigate before assigning new roommates.

Pfizer, Novartis say meningitis vaccine scope too narrow

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee on Thursday recommended meningitis B vaccines for people at high risk aged 10 to 25, a population that Pfizer Inc and Novartis criticized as too narrow. Pfizer’s Trumenba, like Novartis’ new vaccine Bexsero, recently won U.S. marketing approval to treat the “B” strain of the deadly bacterium in that age group.