TV News LIES

Calcium supplements taken by many older people could be increasing their risk of a heart attack, research shows. The study, in the British Medical Journal, said people who took supplements were 30% more likely to have a heart attack.

Data from 11 trials also suggested the medicines were not very effective at preventing bone fractures. Almost 3m people in the UK are thought to have osteoporosis and many take calcium pills to prevent fractures.

Abnormal brain growth and function are features of autism, an increasingly common developmental disorder that now affects 1 in 60 boys in the US. Now researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, have found remarkably similar brain changes to those seen in autism in infant monkeys receiving the vaccine schedule used in the 1990’s that contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

There's barely enough money to pay for people whose treatment is underway and who will need it for a lifetime. There isn't enough to start treatment for about 5 million more who urgently need it.

Those new concerns about costs dominated the 18th International AIDS Conference, which drew 19,300 participants from 193 countries to Vienna last week.

As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.

The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.

Some major health insurance companies have stopped issuing certain types of policies for children, an unintended consequence of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, state officials said Friday.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said a couple of local insurers in her state have done likewise.

Harvard Medical School's 11,000 faculty will face stricter regulations governing their relationship with pharmaceutical and medical device-making companies starting January, under a new policy designed to prevent conflicts of interest with industry.

The new conflict-of-interest rules, unveiled Wednesday after an 18 month-long review, prohibit faculty from giving industry-sponsored talks and accepting personal gifts. The cap on faculty compensation from outside companies has been cut in half to $10,000 annually.