Nation/World Briefly: FDA chides China about contaminated blood thinner
Published 10:47 pm Monday, April 21, 2008
WASHINGTON — China and the United States traded charges Monday about whether a contaminant in the blood thinner heparin caused severe allergic reactions linked to as many as 81 deaths.
Federal health officials said new tests indicated a solid link. China said the contaminant could not be the “root cause” of the problem, and officials suggested that the problem with the drug could have occurred in the United States.
Raw heparin is derived from pig intestines, often processed by small, unregistered workshops in China. The raw ingredient for the recalled heparin came from Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories, which in turn owns a Chinese factory — Changzhou SPL — and buys additional raw heparin from other Chinese suppliers.
The Food and Drug Administration warned Changzhou SPL on Monday that the company does not have adequate systems for ensuring that the raw materials it uses are safe and that any impurities are removed. The FDA noted that as many as 12 companies in China are involved in the supply chain for heparin. Agency officials don’t know at what point the contaminant was introduced.
Hundreds of patients have suffered severe allergic reactions to large doses of the blood thinner. The FDA said it suspects the problems stem from a contaminant that the agency discovered in supplies of raw heparin coming from China.
Airlines must get foreigners’ fingerprints
The U.S. government today will order airlines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a security initiative that the industry has condemned as costly and burdensome. The proposal does not say where fingerprints must be collected — at airport check-in counters, departure gates, or kiosks somewhere in between. But the government estimates it will cost airlines $2.3 billion over 10 years, a U.S. homeland security official said. Doug Lavin, regional vice president for the International Air Transport Association, said the government, not airlines, should collect fingerprints.
Primitive alien life likely, Hawking says
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has been thinking a lot about the cosmic question, “Are we alone?” The answer is probably not, he says. “Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare,” he then quickly added: “Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth.” Hawking’s comments were part of a lecture at George Washington University on Monday.
Arizona: Road rager shoots himself
Tempe police say a man accidentally shot himself in the stomach after waving his gun in anger at a fellow motorist. Police said Monday that after David Lopez shot himself in the Friday incident, he tried to evade police by driving away but crashed his car and was arrested as he fled. The other driver was uninjured but also fled the scene and was arrested on a charge of drunken driving, police say.
California: More hit-and-run convictions
An elderly woman was convicted in Los Angeles on Monday of two more counts in a scheme to kill homeless men to cash in on insurance payouts. Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder for financial gain in the death of Paul Vados, 73. Last week, she was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the death of Kenneth McDavid, 50. Co-defendant Helen Golay, 77, was convicted of both murders and conspiracy last week. The women were accused of recruiting the men from among Hollywood’s homeless and giving them lodging and food while taking out numerous insurance policies on them. Prosecutors said they then drugged them and ran them over in secluded alleys.
Israel: Hamas’ mixed signals on peace with Israel
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Monday that the Islamic group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, was willing to accept the Jewish state as a “neighbor next door,” but hours later, Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal said that while the militants would accept a state in the 1967 borders, meaning alongside Israel, the group would never outright recognize the Jewish state. Over the weekend in Syria, Carter said he won a written pledge from Hamas to accept any peace deal with Israel, even if Hamas disagrees with some of the terms, as long as it’s approved in a Palestinian referendum.
Pakistan: Pro-Taliban leader freed
Pakistan freed a pro-Taliban cleric and quickly signed an accord with his hard-line group Monday, the first major step by the new government to talk peace with Islamic militants and break with President Pervez Musharraf’s policy of using force. Sufi Muhammad had been held for more than five years. A few hours later, the government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad’s group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law.
From Herald news services
