Climate change
Health cost savings
Globally, the costs of implementing the Paris Climate Agreement between 2020-2050 could be outweighed by health savings due to reduced air pollution-related disease and death, according to estimates from a modelling study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. About 195 countries are part of the Paris Climate Agreement, due to commence in 2020. It aims to reduce the impacts of climate change by preventing the global average temperature from increasing to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Regulatory Action
Clarithromycin’s heart alert
The USFDA is advising caution before prescribing the antibiotic clarithromycin (Biaxin) to patients with heart disease because of a potential increased risk of heart problems or death that can occur years later. “Our recommendation is based on our review of the results of a 10-year follow-up study of patients with coronary heart disease from a large clinical trial that first observed this safety issue,” the FDA said.
Chinese herbal medicine
Natural does not mean safe
The United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is warning people who may have purchased a “natural” Chinese herbal medicine, Yiganerjing Cream, as a treatment for skin conditions to stop using it immediately as it has been found to contain an undisclosed steroid and two antifungal ingredients.