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Blogs Comment On Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Health Reform, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "Judge Sotomayor Provides Important Testimony on the Constitutional Right to Privacy and Its Application to Reproductive Rights," Marcia Greenberger, Womenstake: "One major line of questions, asked repeatedly throughout the hearings" for President Obama"s Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was her "views on the constitutional right to privacy," Greenberger writes, adding, "Given that this right is central to women"s lives, protecting" such "decisions involving whether to bear children ... and having consensual adult sexual relations, it is important to analyze Judge Sotomayor"s answers carefully." According to Greenberger, because Sotomayor "had not ruled directly on the right to privacy as a federal judge, her testimony in this area warrants particular attention." Following questions from senators such as Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sotomayor portrayed a "clear agreement with the right to privacy and strong description of the court"s current precedents regarding Roe and women"s health," which "lend[s] further support to the view from her legal record that she would not undermine Roe v. Wade if confirmed to the Supreme Court" (Greenberger, Womenstake, 7/16). ~ "Major Steps Forward for Health Care Reform," Thao Nguyen, Womenstake: Nguyen, outreach manager for the National Women"s Law Center, reports that the health care reform legislation passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is "particularly important for women because of the critical headway it makes towards women"s ability to secure access to quality, affordable health care throughout their lives." The bill "works towards confronting many of the particular obstacles faced by women in our current health care system," such as banning the "discriminatory" practice of basing insurance premiums on gender, even when maternity benefits are excluded, Nguyen writes. The bill also bans insurance companies from rejecting patients based on medical history, which has prevented many domestic violence survivors and women who have had caesarean sections from obtaining coverage. Nguyen concludes that "the momentum for health care reform could not have come at a more needed time" because women and their families "need quality, affordable and comprehensive health more than ever" (Nguyen, Womenstake, 7/15).~ "Democrats for Life of America Ousts Member Who Supports Contraception," Feministing: Feministing reports that Democrats for Life of America removed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) from its advisory board because he supports efforts to improve access to contraception. According to Ryan, he was dismissed from the board after four years after attempting to persuade the group to support contraceptive use as a way to avoid unintended pregnancies. According to the blog, "This is why we call anti-choicers "anti-choice": because they"re not just about making abortion illegal." It adds, "They don"t want women to have access to contraception either -- something that 98% of American women will use at some point in their lives" (Feministing, 7/15). ~ "Umpires, Perspective and the Supreme Court," Jim Wallis, Sojourners" "God"s Politics": "During his opening remarks for his own confirmation hearing in 2005, Chief Justice [John] Roberts made" an analogy between judges and umpires "that has gotten a lot of play in the media and has already been used quite a few times during" Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, Wallis writes. He adds that "nothing in the world would frustrate me more than an umpire who would call the game differently based upon the color of the jersey that" players were wearing. "But I haven"t seen that happen," Wallis writes, adding, "In fact, the biggest problem we face isn"t an umpire that has favored one team over the other, but umpires who make mistakes in their rulings and judgment because of their lack of perspective." He adds that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and "others w
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New Book: Are Everyday Products From Cosmetics To Household Cleaners Causing The High Rates Of Breast Cancer?
Has the key to reducing breast cancer gotten lost in the race for a cure? A new book, No Family History, presents compelling evidence that exposure to everyday products such as cosmetics and toiletries, hormones in food, household cleaners and pesticides is behind the dramatic increase in breast cancer and argues that the solution is simple: prevention.
News of the day
OurParents Launches First Independent, Unbiased Online Service To Match Families Of Aging Parents With Senior Care Providers
Millions of Baby Boomers are struggling to care for their aging parents. Many don"t know where to turn or even what their options are in making important decisions about senior care facilities for their parents.
Oncology

Regional Center For Biodefense And Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Funded By NIH

A consortium of research centers in the Tri-state Region, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has received a $46 million grant to conduct research on emerging infectious diseases. The grant, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will allow the continuation of activities of the Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC). Established in 2002, NBC is the largest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases research in the U.S. NBC investigators conduct interdisciplinary research on diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to address the challenges of emerging infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. Highlights of NBC"s work over the past few years include creation of diagnostics used to guide containment of the SARS outbreak in Beijing in 2003, insights into pandemic influenza enabled by resurrection of the 1918 influenza virus, and new vaccines and drugs for emerging infectious diseases. "The magic of the NBC is that it has brought for the first time many regional institutions that had no history of collaboration in a joint effort to protect our society from a wide range of emerging infectious diseases," says NBC"s deputy director Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., the Leo and Julia Forchheimer Professor and chair of microbiology & immunology at Einstein. "Groups that previously had never interacted are now working together to develop diagnostics, vaccines, and drugs against many types of infectious diseases. The net result has been greater progress, communication, coordination, and preparedness to meet existing and future biological threats to our health and wellbeing." "The NBC was established by the local scientific community in response to the vulnerability we recognized acutely in the aftermath of 9/11 and the anthrax attacks that followed," adds the center"s director, W. Ian Lipkin, M.D., the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Mailman School of Public Health and professor of Neurology and Pathology at Columbia University Medical Center. "We have worked together across disciplines and institutions to develop diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to address the challenges of emerging infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. These collaborations have enabled insights into lethal organisms as well as tools to detect, prevent, and treat infectious diseases. With globalization, the need for this type of research has never been greater." Five Einstein researchers are involved in NBC, including Dr. Casadevall, who is developing passive immunization strategies for anthrax. Bettina C. Fries, M.D., associate professor of medicine and microbiology & immunology, is developing monoclonal antibody-based therapies against Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB), a toxin released by Staphylococcal bacteria, the cause of staph infection. "In humans, SEB toxin can cause lethal shock at low doses," says Dr. Fries. "It is commercially available and classified as a category B biological warfare agent, the lower of two levels of biological agents. Toxin-mediated diseases are inherently difficult to treat. At this point, developing neutralizing antibodies remains the best option." Matthew D. Scharff, M.D., distinguished professor of cell biology and of medicine and the Harry Eagle Professor of Cancer Research/National Women"s Division, is conducting studies to improve the efficacy of monoclonal antibody therapies for preventing or treating various infectious diseases. Margaret Kielian, Ph.D., professor of cell biology, is studying the mechanisms that dengue and chikungunya viruses use to enter cells. These viruses infect tens of million of people worldwide, causing serious, debilitating illness, characterized by fever and joint pain. Steve Almo, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and physiology & biophysics, is producing new protein reagents that will be used in animal models to stimulate the production of unique antibodies for novel diagnostics and therapeutics. NBC comprises more than 350 scientists and 28 institutions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Other lead institutions include Cornell University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Public Health Research Institute, Rockefeller University, Stony Brook University, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Wadsworth Center-New York State Department of Health, and Yale University. Deirdre Branley Albert Einstein College of Medicine


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