Group: Stop screening for colon cancer at 75

Group: Stop screening for colon cancer at 75

PHILADELPHIA — Most people over 75 should stop getting routine colon cancer tests, according to a government health task force that also rejected the latest X-ray screening technology.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — in a break with other medical and cancer organizations — opted not to give its stamp of approval to the newest tests: CT colonography, an X-ray test known as virtual colonoscopy, and a stool DNA test. The panel said more research is needed.

The task force for the first time did endorse three tests and said everyone age 50 to 75 should get screened with one of them:

UA colonoscopy of the entire colon every 10 years.

UA sigmoidoscopy of the lower colon every 5 years, combined with a stool blood test every three years.

UA stool blood test every year.

High court hears case against tobacco companies

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court picked up Monday where it left off last term, signaling support for efforts to block lawsuits against tobacco companies over deceptive marketing of “light” cigarettes.

The first day of the court’s new term, which is set in law as the first Monday in October, included denials of hundreds of appeals. Chief Justice John Roberts opened the new session in a crowded courtroom that included retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Last term, the justices handed down several opinions that limited state regulation of business in favor of federal power. Several justices posed skeptical questions in this term’s first case, whether federal law prevents smokers from using consumer protection laws to go after tobacco companies for their marketing of “light” and “low tar” cigarettes.

The companies are facing dozens of such lawsuits across the country.

Man kills five family members then self

LOS ANGELES — An unemployed man with an advanced finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself in an upscale home in a gated community, police said Monday.

Officers found the bodies Monday morning after the wife failed to show up at a neighbor’s home to go to work, Deputy Chief Michel Moore said. The deaths occurred sometime after Saturday evening.

A handgun that had been bought Sept. 16 was found near the father’s body, Moore said. The father left two suicide notes — one for police and one for friends and relatives — and a will.

The notes attest to the man’s financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for killing his family members, Moore said.

China vows overhaul of ‘chaotic’ dairy industry

BEIJING — China’s Cabinet vowed a complete overhaul of the scandal-ridden dairy industry Monday, pledging to inspect every link from the farm to the dinner table to try to restore public trust in Chinese-made food products.

In its strongest action yet, China’s highest level of government called the industry “chaotic” and acknowledged there was a lack of oversight.

At Monday’s meeting of the State Council, or Cabinet, the government said it would punish companies and officials involved in the contamination of milk products that has been blamed in the deaths of four babies and for sickening more than 54,000 children.

The scandal revealed “that China’s dairy production and circulation has been chaotic and supervision has been gravely absent,” said a notice about the meeting on the government’s Web site. Unscrupulous “elements” and companies had also put profit above people’s lives, it said.

Atlantic City considers delaying smoking ban

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — With the economy crumbling and revenues plunging, the city may put off the Oct. 15 start of a blanket ban on smoking in casinos to avoid further losses.

The ban, opposed by casino owners but supported by workers, was approved in April before Wall Street melted down. The city council is scheduled to consider a delay Wednesday.

“Smoking is not healthy. Smoking kills people,” said Bob McDevitt, president of the city’s largest casino workers union, Unite-Here Local 54. “So does job loss, unemployment and the threat of foreclosure. People will lose their ability to feed their families.”

But Jennifer Guillermain, an 18-year supervisor at Caesars Atlantic City, said many workers in the city’s 11 casinos feel betrayed by the possibility of postponement.

Associated Press