Made in India Event

On February 23, 2011 CHMP will host the second event in our Film & New Media series.  MADE IN INDIA, a film by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha, is about the journey of an infertile American couple, an Indian surrogate and the reproductive outsourcing business that brings them together. The film weaves together these personal stories within the context of a growing international industry and explores a complicated clash of families in crisis, reproductive technology, and choice from a global perspective.

The event honors the 55^th UN Commission on the Status of Women (February 22-March 4) and will be held at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. After the screening, the filmmakers, Dr. Carole Vance of Columbia University and CHMP Co-Director Barbara Glickstein will moderate a discussion about the issues the film raises, the media’s role in reporting the growing phenomena of outsourcing surrogacy and how we can advocate for the health and human rights of the women involved.

Screening Info (link to the event page):

MADE IN INDIA: screening & discussion

February 23, 2011 – 6pm

ROOSEVELT HOUSE AT HUNTER COLLEGE
47-49 East 65th Street (between Park & Madison)
Event is FREE, but please RSVP: CHMP@hunter.cuny.edu

On February 23, 2011 CHMP will host

Second Judge Rules Against Health Care Reform

Florida Federal Judge Roger Vinson ruled yesterday that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, a move characterized by Politico as “the most striking blow yet to President Obama’s signature domestic legislation.”

Like the recent ruling in Virginia, yesterday’s decision addressed the legality of the mandate to buy insurance.

However, the Florida-based lawsuit is considered a more significant attack than the Virginia ruling, both because the lawsuit represents a coalition of 26 states and because the judge goes on to rule that because the mandate provision is unconstitutional, so is the entire law. You can read some of the legal debate around this issue on this Washington Post blog.

Another interesting read is The American Prospect’s take on opposition to Health Care Reform in the context of attempts to dismantle The New Deal.

The Florida lawsuit is now headed for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Atlanta-based court is “considered one of the country’s most conservative appellate benches” according to the New York Times’ coverage of the case.

[caption id="attachment_10535" align="alignleft" width="190"] Judge Roger Vinson[/caption] Florida

Can Breast Implants Cause Cancer?

The FDA released a report Wednesday regarding recent findings of a link between persons with breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a rare form of cancer involving the immune system.   The FDA stresses that too few cases (37 identified cases since 1997) of ALCL have been recognized among those with breast implants for them to make a causal link between the two.

A registry of breast implant recipients has been proposed by the FDA and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in order to identify people with breast implants who go on to develop ALCL.  Clinicians can report confirmed cases to the FDA safety information program, MedWatch.  Physician and FDA scientist, Binita Ashar took part in a Q&A on the FDA website regarding the issue.  He noted ALCL has been identified in those with both silicone and saline-filled implants.

The FDA identified this potential connection through their own surveillance, not from agreed upon post-approval studies by makers of breast implants that have enrolled very few women.  At the present time the FDA is not suggesting people remove their implants, but it is important to understand this recently identified potential risk.

The FDA states the information they will have to share about this link will be solely based upon the number of reports the registry receives.  It will be interesting to see if the increased attention to this issue increases monitoring, and thus case-finding, among breast implant recipients.  However, considering the 5-10 million people worldwide with breast implants and 37 confirmed cases of ALCL among them, is this just another media-hyped story adding to cancer-hysteria?

The FDA released a report Wednesday regarding