November 8, 2002 

IN THIS ISSUE:
Oregon Voters Turn Down Universal Health Care, Warnings About Chinese Herbal Meds, Attitude Helps Quality of Life But Survival Benefits Questioned, High Fiber Diet May Not Reduce Colon Adenomas, HHS.gov Has a New Look and Feel

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NEWS HEADLINES 

Chemotherapy for Pediatric Cancer Does Not Affect Subsequent Pregnancy


Fiber Intake Does Not Protect Against Colon Adenoma Recurrence

Oregon Voters Reject Universal Health Care by Rachael Myers Lowe, cancerpage.com

Wisconsin Research Sheds New Light on Cancer Metastasis By Rachael Myers Lowe, cancerpage.com


21 new stories about cancer research and policy developments added to cancerpage since last Friday.

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IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT

Patients must not blame themselves for having the "wrong attitude" about their cancer if it progresses or recurs. That's the message from Dr. Frank Baker, director of the Behavioral Research Center of the American Cancer Society in response to a report out this week in the British Medical Journal. An analysis of 28 previous studies of coping style and cancer survival concludes there's little evidence that attitude has any impact on survival. 

To read the story visit http://www.cancerpage.matria.com/news/article.asp?id=5130

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NEW HHS SITE

In case you haven't been there recently, the Department of Health and Human Services has re-designed its website, which functions as a powerful portal to government and non-government generated health related information - everything from MedlinePLUS documents on diseases to service and regulatory agencies. It's crisp and clean and much easier to navigate. 

Take a look at http://www.hhs.gov

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CHINESE HERBAL REMEDIES

Earlier this year, the Chinese herbal concoction, PC-SPES, was taken off the market in the US, despite growing public and clinical interest in its use in managing prostate cancer. BotanicLab of California pulled its product and then shutdown operations after it said it could not get reliably unadulterated herbal supplies from China. In an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in September, researchers reported commonly finding the synthetic drugs indomethacin, diethylstilbestrol and warfarin in lots of PC-SPES manufactured between 1996 and mid-2001. Now a report in the Journal of Internal Medicine reports the problem of adulteration of Chinese herbal remedies by synthetic drugs is more widespread than many adherents of these compounds may realize. 


Warning About Chinese Herbal Remedies - They May Contain Synthetic Drugs
To visit the Bandolier website visit http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band104/b104-8.html

Contamination of Herbal Remedy PC-SPES with Several Synthetic Drugs Confirmed