The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers against eating certain frozen cooked mussel products made by Bantry Bay Seafoods, imported from Ireland, because they may be contaminated with azaspiracid toxins, a group of naturally occurring marine toxins known to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Xenazine (tetrabenazine) for the treatment of chorea in people with Huntington's disease. Chorea is the jerky, involuntary movement that occurs in people with this disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers who filled prescriptions at The Medicine Shoppe pharmacies located at 8035A Liberty Road and 5900 Reisterstown Road in Baltimore that they may have received drugs that were either expired or suspected counterfeit. The FDA is particularly concerned because a number of the drugs are for serious diseases and could have an adverse effect on treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it has approved this year's seasonal influenza vaccines that include new strains of the virus likely to cause flu in the United States during the 2008-2009 season. The six vaccines and their manufacturers are: CSL Limited, Afluria; GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Fluarix; ID Biomedical Corporation of Quebec, FluLaval; MedImmune Vaccines Inc., FluMist; Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, Fluvirin; and Sanofi Pasteur Inc., Fluzone.

The Food and Drug Administration today announced several improved policies and procedures strengthening its management of FDA advisory committees. The improvements include stricter limits on financial conflicts of interest for committee members, improved voting procedures, and improvements to the processes for disclosing information pertaining both to advisory committee members and to specific matters considered at advisory committee meetings.

A year-old campaign by Middlebury College's former president to launch a discussion of lowering the legal drinking age from 21 has quietly gained the support of about 100 university presidents.

A survey commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association has found that only one in five Canadians would socialize with someone struggling with a substance abuse problem.

Brewers in the United Kingdom are responding to declining beer sales by establishing brands that they believe will appeal to women.

A 21 percent budget cut at the Illinois Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse is taking a heavy toll on funded service providers, many of whom are being forced to slash staff and show qualified clients the door.

Three years after a federal judge ruled unconstitutional a Pennsylvania ban on shipments of wine from out of state to local consumers, state legislators are considering a bill that would allow small wineries only to conduct direct shipments.

Almost 100 university and college presidents are calling on Congress to reconsider lowering the drinking age from age 21 to 18 claiming that the current laws actually encourage dangerous...

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Alcohol and drug use can progress into abuse and even addiction so insidiously that sometimes people do not realize that it has become a problem for them and those...

The sooner alcohol problems are addressed the better the outcome and the less long-term damage is done from excessive drinking. Physicians and healthcare providers now have a new chemical-based...

The University of Virginia has become the latest college to try to discourage incoming freshmen from dangerous binge drinking by requiring them to attend an orientation session devoted entirely...

Recovery Month effort aims to promote the societal benefits of alcohol and drug use disorder treatment, laud the contributions of treatment providers and promote the message that recovery from alcohol and drug use disorders in all its forms is possible. Please visit the web site

Profound article today (July 8, 2008) in the New York Times highlighting “growing body of evidence that alcohol abuse is rising among veterans of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, many of them trying to deaden the repercussions of war and disorientation of home. While the numbers remain relatively small, experts say and studies indicate that [...]

The recent extraordinary death of a mentally ill person in a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital emergency room is quite ordinary in some ways. Many of the mentally ill on the streets of major cities are ignored. Things are slowly changing however. The public wants to protect Medicaid, care for veterans and give parity to mental healthcare [...]

An historic action only possible from inside the beltway: Bob Beckwith

Agenda for the 2008 ACMHA Summit On March 12-15, the American College of Mental Health Administration will host its annual Summit in Santa Fe, NM. This Summit will discuss mental health and substance use care in the national election, in state health reform initiatives, and in primary care settings.  A major goal of this Summit is [...]

The group has reached out to the party platform committees and is developing post-election plans

Microsoft and HHS IT vendors team up to promote interagency collaboration

It took a lot of hard work, but Congress finally acted to eliminate the higher co-pay for mental health services

Changing programs requires swimming against the tide