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 Policy Information - December 5, 2008
| After the lawsuit against Pentagon's Vaccination Policy was dismissed Friday, employees of Defense Department said that they will appeal the suit. Service members claims that the government forced them to undergo unproven and inefficient anthrax vaccination, said Mark Zaid, their attorney. The case was filed against the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon, was dismissed by the federal judge, Rosemary Collyer saying that the Food and Drug Administration found the vaccine to be safe and approved its used | | Aetna is holding back its plan to stop paying for use of powerful anesthesia used during colonoscopies - at least for a limited time only. But the insurer said that it expected that new drugs and devices may be made available that will end the argument over payments for the anesthesia. The company said that they postponed its plan to stop paying for propofol, the drug which doctors use in colonoscopies that puts patients in a quick twilight state thus making the examination less uncomfortable | | House lawmakers on Wednesday voted to spend three times more on global HIV/AIDS programs over the next five years. Members of House Foreign Affairs Committee reached a compromise following a long-night discussion Tuesday, finally ironing out some disagreements in certain provisions of the AIDS bill. "Many of us in this room concluded that a collapse of the political consensus on this issue would do irreparable damage to what is arguably the most successful U.S. foreign assistance program of the last half century," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said | | Canada has reported a new case of mad cow disease on Tuesday, saying it originated from a six-year-old dairy cow in Alberta. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirms this is the 12th case since 2003. George Luterbach, a senior veterinarian with the agency, described the cow, according to Calgary Herald, as thin and weak and with deteriorating health causing it to collapse ten days ago in its farm located in Edmonton, Alberta | | As Britain's population ages, the government is amending its home construction rules to build houses that would suit the needs of senior Britons. The age-friendly features of lifetime homes must include mobility for wheelchair-bound residents, better access to toilets, improved lights and well-designed parking slots. British Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Housing Minister Caroline Flint recently came up with a list of 16 features the age-friendly units must have. In 2010, the government will initiate a review how fast has the private sector adapted the new requirements. By 2011 all new social housing must be built per lifetime homes specifications, while by 2013 all new homes must be wheelchair friendly | |
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