Production Problems Cited at Georgia Chili-Sauce Plant

The Augusta, Ga., factory that produces canned chili sauce suspected in a rare botulism outbreak had production problems earlier this year, but an inspection of the canned product at the time found nothing unusual, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The Castleberry's Food chili sauce found at homes in Indiana and Texas where victims were sickened was produced about two months ago, around the same time as the production problems were discovered, the AP said.

At the time, cans were coming out of a heating process too hot to be sent into a cooling area, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the AP. The company temporarily stopped production to make sure that the cans hadn't expanded, which could have fostered contamination, said the CDC expert, Ezra Barzilay.

An investigation of the cans and their contents by state, company and independent experts found no problems, the wire service said.

On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged anyone who had 10-ounce cans of Castleberry's, Austex, and Kroger hot dog chili sauce with "best by" dates of April 30, 2009 to May 22, 2009 to throw the product away.

Botulism, caused by a bacterial toxin, causes muscle paralysis and can hospitalize victims for months. It's fatal in about 8 percent of cases, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

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2nd Diagnosis of Extreme Resistant TB Changed

Another person thought to have an extremely drug-resistant form of tuberculosis has had his diagnosis downgraded to a less-dangerous form, the second time this year that an American appears to have been misdiagnosed with the resistant strain, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Robert Daniels, 27, had been kept under armed quarantine in Arizona since being diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) and for failing to wear a mask in public, his lawyer told the newspaper.

Earlier this week, Daniels was transferred to National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, where his diagnosis was downgraded. It's the same hospital treating the Georgia man who sparked an international health scare when he traveled to and from Europe for his wedding, despite initially being told he had XDR TB.

Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, too, had been diagnosed initially with XDR TB and later had his diagnosis downgraded.

Since both men don't have the most drug-resistant form of the highly contagious disease, they can be treated with a wider array of drugs, and their survival chances are significantly higher, the Times reported.

Since 1993, there have been 49 cases of XDR TB in the United States, the newspaper said.

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FEMA Suppressed Warnings Over Hurricane Trailers: Report

Since the beginning of last year, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has covered up warnings from its own staff that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims living in government-funded trailers have been exposed to dangerous levels of a toxic chemical, the Washington Post reported Friday.

Levels of formaldehyde gas measured in the trailers have been found to be up to 75 times the recommended threshold for American workers, the newspaper reported.

Citing a "trail of e-mails" obtained by Congressional investigators, the Post said reports of the problem first surfaced in March 2006, and a trailer resident sued FEMA in May of that year. The newspaper quoted from a June 2006 communication from a FEMA logistics expert, who cited an advisory from the agency's Office of General Counsel that FEMA avoid routine testing of the trailers, which "would imply FEMA's ownership of this issue."

FEMA tested no occupied trailers after March 2006, when initial tests found formaldehyde levels at 75 times the recommended maximum, the newspaper said. On June 27, 2006, a man in Slidell, La., was found dead in his trailer after having complained of fumes, the Post said.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been holding hearings on the matter.

Formaldehyde, a wood preservative, can cause vision and respiratory problems. Long-term exposure has been linked to cancer, asthma, bronchitis, and allergies in children, the Post said.

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U.S. Senate Panel OKs Child Insurance Bill

Despite a threatened veto from President Bush, a Senate committee on Thursday approved a $35 billion child's health insurance bill to be paid for with higher tobacco taxes.

By an overwhelming 17-4, the Senate Finance Committee voted to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Associated Press reported. The program subsidizes insurance for children and some adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance.

The Senate bill brings total funding for the program to $60 billion over five years, which is double what the Bush administration proposed, the wire service said. Taxes on many tobacco products would rise, including a 61-cent jump on a pack of cigarettes alone.

Senate proponents said the legislation would allow 6.6 million people to maintain current health insurance, and would fund coverage for another 3.2 million children who are now uninsured, the AP said.

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Rx for Confusion: Tamper-Proof Prescription Pads

A small provision slipped into a military funding bill would require that all prescriptions for Medicaid patients be written on tamper-proof pads to thwart forgeries, beginning Oct. 1.

Trouble is, most U.S. doctors don't use such pads, the Associated Press reports. That's got pharmacy groups nationwide asking for a delay in the law's implementation.

Some states require the pads, but usually only for controlled substances that are subject to abuse, the wire service said.

Opponents of the new rule or its speedy start date say it's unclear exactly what qualifies as tamper-proof pads, who is going to pay for them, and what pharmacies are supposed to do when a person shows up with an old-fashioned regular piece of paper.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told the wire service that there are no plans to delay the law.

Countered Paul Kelly, vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores: "Our members are absolutely flabbergasted that they're going to be put on the hook for denying prescriptions if something is not on a tamper-proof pad."

"Our biggest fear is the negative impact this could have on patient care and access to prescriptions," he told the AP.

source:www.forbes.com