Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Mon, Apr 13 1992 Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 05:42:38 EDT Message-ID: 04-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update April 13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network AIDS AMONG YOUTH INCREASING: The past two years have seen a 77% increase in the number of AIDS cases among people 13-to-24 years, with thousands more likely to be HIV-infected and millions more at risk, according to a congressional report. Cited: 68% of girls and 86% of boys have sex before age 20, while fewer than half report condom use. Each year 3 million teens contract a sexually transmitted disease. MORE AIDS EDUCATION URGED: More explicit education, including frank discussions of sex and condoms, are needed to fight the rising number of AIDS cases among young people, concludes a report from the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families. The report cited inadequate federal prevention efforts. As of last June, only 31 states and the District of Columbia had mandated AIDS education in schools. CANCER CAUSES DISCUSSED: Changes in lifestyle and environment might prevent up to 80% of all cancers, despite the role genetic predisposition plays, say researchers reporting at a Bristol-Myers cancer symposium last week. Prevention techniques: Monitoring individual exposure to cancer-causing agents, lifestyle changes and intervention with "chemo-preventive" drugs at the earliest stages of the disease. (For more, see special Cancer package.) ACNE DRUG TO REMAIN ON MARKET: Despite studies that suggest a link between benzoyl peroxide and cancer, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Friday the drug should remain available without a prescription. Because the link between cancer and the ingredient in acne creams was so poorly established, the panel recommended that warning labels shouldn't include the word cancer. Further studies are being done. OFFICIALS MODIFY FEDERAL BOOK: The recent omission of a chapter discussing adolescent sexuality from a federal health care book has drawn fire from critics. The book, distributed to federal employees, includes a chapter covering pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted diseases. The chapter, which did not mention abortion, included a discussion of abstinence. APRIL 15 TAKES TOLL ON HEALTH: April 15, the tax deadline of the Internal Revenue Service, is one of the worst days of the year for heartburn, according to a survey of heartburn sufferers by the Glaxo Institute of Digestive Health in Raleigh, N.C. Many taxpayers experience sleepness nights, tight stomach and, in extreme cases, wife beating and child abuse, says Linda Barbanel, a psychotherapist. LOW BIRTH RATE INVESTIGATED: Officials in Bexar County, Texas, are looking into abortion records to determine the cause of a drop in the number of babies born to women under age 17. In 1991, 728 babies were born to women under 17, the lowest number since 1983, and at 3.3%, the lowest percentage of total births since 1970. IND. TO CONSIDER DISPENSING BAN: The medical board of Indiana will hear a complaint Tuesday that could lead to a ban that would prohibit nurses from dispensing medication under doctor's written orders. The practice is illegal, says the lawyer for the licensing board. Experts say that the ban could cause many poor, homeless and rural residents to lose access to health care. CHURCH TO FIGHT DRUG PLAN: The Catholic Church will to fight Puerto Rico's attempts to distribute drugs to addicts through health centers, says Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez. A Senate panel is weighing the controlled distribution of drugs as part of a treatment program. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CANCER: MOST CASES ARE NON-GENETIC: Recent studies suggest that lifestyle and environmental factors are responsible for most cancer cases, says Dr. Bernard Weinstein, Columbia University, N.Y. Of the USA's one million new cancer cases annually, nearly 50,000 are caused by chemicals in the workplace and environment, while another 200,000 are caused by foods, such as dietary fat and alcohol. TESTS ARE UNDER DEVELOPMENT: Viruses, such as papilloma virus in cervical cancer and hepatitis B in liver cancer, cause about 50,000 cases of cancer in the USA annually. Smoking is responsible for another 300,000. To prevent some of these cases, Dr. Bernard Weinstein, Columbia University, N.Y., is developing tests to detect slight changes in cells or in DNA that occur 20 years before a tumor develops. CANCER REVERSAL POSSIBLE: Researchers are also developing drugs that can turn precancerous cells back to healthy ones. Synthetic vitamin A, for example, has been shown to normalize such cells of the throat and upper respiratory system. Researchers also stress the importance of lifestyle. Monitoring, drugs and lifestyle changes could be the "blueprint for cancer prevention,"says Weinstein. (End of package.) Health Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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