Medical company Genentech says it has stopped enrolling ovarian cancer patients in a test for Avastin, because a higher-than-expected number of the women developed perforations in their gastrointestinal tracts.

Genentech says five of 44 patients involved in the study, 11 percent, have developed perforations as a result of taking the drug

A California Superior Court judge, citing health risks of lead and arsenic in tattoo inks, has ordered two major tattoo-ink manufacturers to carry warning labels, according to a CNN medical report.

The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Irving Feffer also requires Huck Spaulding Enterprises of New York and Superior Tattoo Equipment of Phoenix to carry the labels in their catalogs and on their Internet sites aimed at California customers

A California Superior Court judge, citing health risks of lead and arsenic in tattoo inks, has ordered two major tattoo-ink manufacturers to carry warning labels, according to a CNN medical report.

The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Irving Feffer also requires Huck Spaulding Enterprises of New York and Superior Tattoo Equipment of Phoenix to carry the labels in their catalogs and on their Internet sites aimed at California customers

Studies conducted by Harris Interactive in August 2005 for the American Society for Microbiology and the Soap and Detergent Association find that while 91-percent of American adults say they always wash their hands after using public restrooms, only 83-percent actually do.

Researchers surveyed more than 6,000 people at six public attractions in four major cities, observing whether they washed their hands after using the restroom. Ninety percent of the women observed washed their hands, compared to 75-percent of men

Norwegian scientists studying the health records of 43,000 men and women have shown that smoking less than five cigarettes daily triples the risk of dying of heart disease or lung cancer.

"In both sexes, smoking 1-4 cigarettes per day was associated with a significantly higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease and from all causes, and from lung cancer in women," said Dr Aage Tverdal of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo