Obama Presses China to Let Currency Rise - Obama is trying to change Beijing's economic or political calculus? I don't know whether I have issues in reading comprehension- I hope not! But I do not think the nut graph of this article is clear enough. Beijing lowered their currency artificially by 20 - 25%. Obama, according to his aides is threating with tariffs and new trade actions at the WTO to gain leverage over the Chinese. I have to on now to something a little less intellectual...hate to say it.
In both the United States and Europe, Avandia, the controversial diabetes medication, will no longer be widely available, according to the NY Times. It will be suspended completely in Europe, while people in the U.S. may take it with their doctor's approval if no other drug is effective. The FDA's decision shows that that Obama administration is taking a harder line on drug safety issues, according to the article. I'm really happy to read this, for the past few years, I have been really disappointed with many of the moves and decisions of the FDA.
The pull out quote used for the story on A15 was, "A study estimates 47,000 patients suffered from heart attacks over ten years." !!! It's scary that is has been on the market for this long! This amongst other things, makes me extremely skeptical in trusting the FDA, however, I guess this is a step in the right direction.
Before I work on other homework, I just want to point out quickly, an article on A14, Drugs in Medicine Cabinet Set Off a Wave of Crime. It talks about prescription drug abuse, and people hoarding their old pills, like Oxycodone or Vicodin, and how this is causing break ins and robberies. This is all very interesting, but the reason I feel that I need to bring it up in my blog is that it is focused out of New England, which makes it pretty local. And? You might be wondering. As a studunt at UNH, I feel this may also be a problem here, less so with pain pills, like those previously mentioned, but with drugs like Aderall or Ritalin.
No comments:
Post a Comment