Health Highlights: April 26, 2007

Congress Should Limit TV Violence: FCC
Texas Governor's HPV Vaccine Order Rejected
Pull Shrek Exercise Ads for Children, Group Says
U.S. Army Testing Equipment to Check Soldiers for Brain Injuries
Texas Company Stops Illegal Production and Sale of Drugs
Primary-Care Doctor Visits Less Costly
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Congress Should Limit TV Violence: FCC
The U.S. Congress should legislate limits on TV violence in order to better protect children since voluntary parental controls aren't working, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in a report released Wednesday.
The FCC said this kind of regulation is needed because research shows that extended exposure to TV violence can lead to more aggressive behavior in kids, The Washington Post reported.
V-chip blocking technology is only partially effective in screening violent content, said the FCC, which produced the report at the request of 39 lawmakers. The report will be used as a basis to draft legislation, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).
"Clearly, steps should be taken to protect children from excessively violent programming. Some might say such action is long overdue," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a prepared statement.
Giving the government the power to determine what's acceptable for TV concerns some groups, however.
"The job of policing TV for children is one for parents, not the government," Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberty Union's legislative office in Washington, D.C., told the Post. "The government isn't capable of making distinctions about what's violent or gratuitous."
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Texas Governor's HPV Vaccine Order Rejected
Texas Governor Rick Perry's order requiring sixth-grade girls to get the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) vaccine was rejected Wednesday by Texas lawmakers, who sent the governor a bill that would block, for at least four years, officials from requiring girls to get the vaccine.
HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer.
After Perry issued his executive order in February, prominent legislators vowed to overturn the order because they said the vaccine was too new to force on Texas families, the Associated Press reported. The order was to have taken effect in September 2008.
Perry has 10 days to sign or veto the bill passed by the legislature. Even if he does veto it, lawmakers have the two-thirds majority vote in both chambers needed to override the veto.
The vaccine, which protects against four HPV strains, was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26.
To date, about 20 states have introduced bills to require girls to get the vaccine, the AP reported. Critics charge that making the vaccine mandatory promotes promiscuity and infringes on parents' rights.
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Pull Shrek Exercise Ads for Children, Group Says
The animated character Shrek should no longer be used in U.S. Health & Human Services (HHS) public service TV commercials that encourage children to get more exercise, says the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
The Harvard University-based child advocacy group said the animated green ogre is no longer an appropriate spokesperson for healthier lifestyles for youngsters. That's because promotions tied to the May 18 release of the Shrek the Third film also include a number of high-calorie or high-sugar foods, USA Today reported.
"The food industry and the government can't have it both ways. Either (Shrek's) a pitchman for junk food or a spokesman for health and well-being. Those are mutually exclusive roles," said Susan Linn, co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
In the public service ads, which started airing in February, Shrek encourages children to: "Get up and play an hour a day." The ads are popular with children and it would be a mistake to drop them, said Penelope Royall, a deputy assistant secretary for health at HHS.
However, the ads will not air from early next month until 30 days after the end of the new film's run "because we're not in the business of promoting movies," HHS spokesman Bill Hall told USA Today.
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U.S. Army Testing Equipment to Check Soldiers for Brain Injuries
In an effort to better identify hard-to-diagnose brain injuries in soldiers, the U.S. Army says it will soon begin testing new neuroimaging equipment, the Associated Press reported.
A new scanning camera that uses gamma rays and radioisotopes is expected to arrive within two weeks, said Col. John Cho, commander of the Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, Colo.
Soldiers who've already been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury will be used to test the equipment and its effectiveness. The findings will be given to an Army review board, the AP reported.
Thousands of U.S. soldiers have suffered brain injuries in the Iraq War. A recent study at Fort Carson found that 2,932 (18 percent) of 13,400 troops who'd been to Iraq had suffered at least some degree of brain damage after being hit by blasts caused by improvised explosive devices.
Some critics have accused the Army of not doing enough to diagnose soldiers with brain damage.
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Texas Company Stops Illegal Production and Sale of Drugs
A Texas-based company has agreed to stop the illegal manufacture and distribution of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The agreement applies to PharmaFab Inc., its subsidiary PFab LP, and two company officials -- Mark Tengler, PharmaFab's president, and Russ McMahen, PFab's vice president of scientific affairs.
The products made by the company are illegal because they aren't made according to the required current good manufacturing practice and they may lack FDA approval.
PharmaFab made and distributed more than 100 different prescription and over-the-counter drug products, including ulcer treatments, cough and cold products, and postpartum hemorrhage products, the FDA said.
The unapproved drugs made by the company included: De-Congestine Sustained Release Capsules; GFN 1200/DM 60/PSE 60 Extended-Release Tablets; Rhinacon A Tablets; Sudal 12 Chewable Tablets; Histex PD 12 Suspension; Atuss HX CIII; Ergotrate Tablets; and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Time-Release Capsules.
Consumers who have used any PharmaFab products should talk with their doctor, the FDA said.
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Primary-Care Doctor Visits Less Costly
In 2004, primary-care doctors (general practice, family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatricians) accounted for nearly half of all 967.3 million doctor visits in the United States, but totaled only 30 percent of the $152 billion spent on office-based doctor care.
The remaining 70 percent of the $152 billion was spent on specialty care, says the latest News and Numbers from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The agency also found that the average cost of a visit to the doctor's office was $155, but there were wide variations depending on the type of doctor. The average cost for primary-care doctors was about $100, compared with $232 for a cardiologist, $210 for an orthopedist, and $206 for an ophthalmologist.
Other findings:
Private insurance paid for 48 percent of doctor office visits, Medicare paid for 21 percent, and 14 percent was paid out-of-pocket by patients and families.
On average, patients paid 20 percent of total expenses out-of-pocket when seeing a primary-care doctor, compared with 16 percent for an orthopedist visit, 13 percent for a cardiologist visit, and about 25 percent when seeing dermatologists, psychiatrists and ophthalmologists.