Health News Roundup: Vaping may aid smoking cessation; 20 million children miss out on life-saving vaccines, U.N. warns

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Biden cancer group shuts down operations

The Biden Cancer Initiative, a non-profit organization started by former Vice President Joe Biden to support cancer prevention and research, said on Monday it suspended operations last week, two and a half months after Biden and his wife resigned from the group to focus on his presidential campaign. Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015, launched the group in 2017. He has said that he would like to president who presided over the end of cancer as we know it.

Biden healthcare plan draws contrast with White House rivals

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden unveiled a $750 billion healthcare plan on Monday that he said would strengthen the Affordable Care Act, drawing a contrast with rivals who back a more sweeping "Medicare for All" government-run system. Biden portrayed White House rivals led by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who back a single-payer plan that eliminates private insurance, as a threat to former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare.

Vaping may aid smoking cessation but also boost relapse risk

Adults who smoke cigarettes may have an easier time cutting back or quitting altogether if they start vaping, but a new French study also suggests that vaping may make ex-smokers more likely to relapse. "Among adults, electronic cigarette use by never smokers is extremely rare - most users are smokers who want to quit or reduce their tobacco consumption or former smokers who want to prevent a relapse," said Ramchandar Gomajee, lead author of the study and a researcher at Sorbonne University in Paris.

Canada police probing 'possible policy breaches' at National Microbiology Lab

Canada's national police force said on Monday it is investigating a referral by the country's Public Health Agency over "possible policy breaches" at its National Microbiology Lab, whose work includes research on the most dangerous human and animal pathogens, such as Ebola. "We can confirm that we have received a referral from the Public Health Agency of Canada," Julie Courchaine, spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said in a statement. "We will not speculate on the potential outcome of the investigation. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigative process, we have no further comment at this time."

U.S. judge slashes Roundup jury award to $25.3 million; Bayer still plans to appeal

A federal judge on Monday slashed a damages award Bayer AG owed a California man who blamed Roundup weed killer for his cancer, to $25.27 million from $80.27 million, while rejecting the company's bid for a new trial. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said evidence against the former Monsanto Co, which Bayer bought last year, supported the $5.27 million in compensatory damages that a jury awarded Edwin Hardeman. He also said the jury acted reasonably in awarding punitive damages.

Britain tells Canada and France to pull their weight on Ebola

Britain's international development minister Rory Stewart called on France and Canada on Monday to offer more help in tackling the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stewart, who visited the Ebola zone earlier this month, told a U.N. meeting that Britain had donated $45 million towards a previous Ebola outbreak and the current one, and that he had authorized a further $63 million of British spending.

20 million children miss out on life-saving vaccines, U.N. warns

More than one in 10 children - or 20 million worldwide - missed out last year on vaccines against life-threatening diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus, the World Health Organization and the UNICEF children's fund said on Monday. In a report on global immunization coverage, the U.N. agencies found that vaccination levels are stagnating, notably in poor countries or areas of conflict.

Opioid 'kingpin' J&J fueled epidemic, Oklahoma argues at trial's end

Lawyers for the state of Oklahoma on Monday compared Johnson & Johnson to a drug cartel leader as they sought to hold the drugmaker responsible for fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic in the first trial to result from lawsuits over the crisis. Lawyers for the state, including Attorney General Mike Hunter, told a judge in Norman, Oklahoma that J&J's "greed" led the drugmaker to carry out a years-long marketing effort that caused "utter confusion" about the addictive painkillers' risks.

High blood pressure, high cholesterol early in life tied to heart problems later

People with high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol before age 40 are more likely to have a heart attack later in life than other adults, a new analysis suggests. The analysis pooled data from six studies involving a total of 36,030 people. Starting when participants were 53 years old on average, researchers tracked them to see who had heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure.

Changing habits: China's pig farms clean up to beat swine fever

A devastating outbreak of African swine fever that has killed millions of pigs in China is changing attitudes in a country where farm hygiene has often been seen as lax by international standards. From farms to feed mills to transport, people involved in the pork industry say biosecurity has been tightened, with sales of disinfectants and truck cleaning washes booming as farmers try to fend off the virus.

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(With inputs from agencies.)