Female circumcision, Asians and cancer, Bush vs. Surgeon General, and the case of the tomato
It seems British officials are seeing an increase in female circumcision, the practice in some countries where a young girl's clitoris is snipped for religious reasons. British officials are even offering rewards for information leading to the practice. Alice Walker wrote about it. Tori Amos sang about it. It's back in the news, from Agence France Press.
Researchers have found that Asian-Americans, both those born here and new immigrants, have distinctive patterns of cancer incidence that doctors should consider when treating them. The study was conducted in California and included people of Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean descent. In the New York Times.
Also in the New York Times, former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona loosens his tongue from President Bush's grip and reveals that he was told to hush up on key public health issues. This was in Tuesday's edition, but the photo of Carmona is pretty groovy and it's the kind of story that has legs.
And lastly, the lowly tomato has been toppled off its pedestal, according to Reuters. The FDA tells the American Cancer Society to soften the claims that lypocene helps prevent cancer.