Health

"What Happened to the Girls in Le Roy"

When some 18 girls in the upstate New York town of Le Roy developed unexplained tics and twitches starting in August 2011, many were quick to suspect that the cause was toxic substances in the environment. There had been a major chemical spill there in 1970. Erin Brockovich, of movie fame, started an investigation (as did EPA). But many of the potential chemical causes were ultimately discounted. Later hypotheses about the cause included sociological, psychological, and infectious factors. Today, many of the victims are doing better.

Source: NY Times Magazine, 03/12/2012

Biosecurity: "US Disease Agency in Fiscal Peril"

"When US President Barack Obama proposed a US$664-million cut in congressional funding for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in his 2013 budget request, he tried to ease the pain by replacing much of it with money from other sources. But only days after the 13 February request, a vote on Capitol Hill made clear just how vulnerable those substitutions are, suggesting that the US public-health agency is on increasingly shaky financial ground."

Source: Nature, 03/01/2012
April 19, 2012 to April 22, 2012

Health Journalism 2012

The 14th annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists, April 19-22, 2012, in Atlanta, GA, offers skill-building workshops, panel discussions, visits to area research sites, speakers, news briefings, opportunities for freelancers, and more — all to aid reporters, editors and news producers in better covering the latest health issues.

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