Ireland Initiates Massive Pork Recall

Ireland has issued an international recall of all pork products because they could contain dioxins, Voice of America News reported.
Prolonged exposure to “some forms” of dioxins can cause cancer, Reuters explained.
The recall applies to all Irish pork products produced since Sept. 1, 2008; up to 25 countries, including the United States, Russia, Japan, China, France and Germany, may have received contaminated pork.
Authorities say the pigs became contaminated after they ate tainted feed. The pig feed was produced at a plant that uses oil as a fuel to dry waste food and then turn it into animal feed. In this instance, a non-food grade oil was used instead of a food grade oil.
Ten of Ireland’s 500 pig farms, as well as nine farms in Northern Ireland, have used tainted feed. Veterinary officials stated that they will not allow pork processing to resume until all producers can demonstrate that their animal feed is safe.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s pork producers are bracing for the financial consequences of the recall. According to VOA News, the Irish pig industry “is worth more than $600 million per year.” The Belfast Telegraph reports approximately 100,000 pigs will be killed because of this scare.

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Link Between Postmenopausal Hormones, Cancer Risk Strengthened

A study involving hormone replacement therapy was stopped in 2002 after researchers saw a higher risk of breast cancer and heart trouble. Since then, the use of hormones for postmenopausal women has dropped by 70 percent.
Though at the time there was confusion over the safety and efficacy of hormones, new study results suggest that taking estrogen and progestin for a couple of years could raise the risk of developing breast cancer.
“Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women,” the Associated Press said.
During the same period that fewer women took hormones, the incidence of breast cancer also dropped.
The findings, from the federal Women’s Health Initiative, were presented over the weekend at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and involved tracking thousands of women.
After the Women’s Health Initiative stopped part of its study in 2002, recommendations were to prescribe the lowest-possible dose of hormones and only to alleviate the most severe of symptoms associated with menopause
Most of the women who are prescribed the hormones for a short period of time won’t get cancer from it, according to AP.
Another study presented at the symposium suggests that women who develop breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy “have a lower risk of dying from the disease,” HealthDay reported.
“We found that women who took hormone therapy before their diagnosis were more likely to be diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive cancer, as well as having breast cancers that were more favorable in other ways, [such as being] smaller and detected at an earlier stage,” said Sarah Marshall, a senior statistician at University of California-Irvine and one of the study’s authors, according to HealthDay.

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