Health News Roundup: Trump EPA allows use of controversial pesticide; Illinois to defy Trump administration's abortion referral 'gag rule'

U.S. overdose deaths dropped last year for the first time in nearly two decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday, in a sign that a nationwide epidemic of drug-related deaths is abating. About 68,500 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2018, compared with about 72,000 the year prior, a 5% decrease, according to the CDC's provisional data.

Night shifts, long hours linked to miscarriages and preterm births

Pregnant women who work nights or long hours may be more likely to have a miscarriage or preterm delivery than mothers with day jobs, a research review suggests. With night shifts, pregnant women were 21% more likely to have preterm deliveries and 23% more likely to have miscarriages than women who worked days, the analysis found.

Women doctors skip conferences because of family responsibilities

Female cancer experts are more likely than their male colleagues to skip scientific meetings that could offer networking opportunities and a chance to catch up with the latest developments in their field, a new study finds. One big reason the women oncologists give is the lack of available childcare, according to the report in JAMA Oncology.

Trump EPA allows use of controversial pesticide

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will not ban the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to health issues in children, from use on U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables. The agency denied the petition by a dozen environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, to ban the pesticide. They said studies show that exposures to the pesticide is liked to low birth weight, reduced IQ, attention disorders and other issues in infants and children.

WHO flags Ebola risk in Rwanda, but then withdraws its report

The World Health Organization on Thursday withdrew a report that said an Ebola patient may have entered Rwanda, suggesting the deadly virus could spread to that country for the first time. The report, and others written by Uganda's Health Ministry and published as daily updates by the WHO's Africa office, detailed the case of a Congolese fishmonger who died of Ebola after going to Uganda and vomiting four times.

WHO says investigators conclude Ebola victim did not enter Rwanda

A Congolese woman who may have spread the deadly Ebola virus in Uganda did not go to Rwanda or the Congolese city of Goma while contagious, the World Health Organization said on Friday. On Thursday, a report written by Uganda's Health Ministry and published by the WHO's Africa office had said the woman, a fishmonger, was suspected of going to Goma and Rwanda as well as Uganda before she died.

Exclusive: Canada warns U.S. against drug import plans, citing shortage concerns

Canada opposes any U.S. plans to buy Canadian prescription drugs that might threaten the country's drug supply or raise costs for its own citizens, officials have told U.S. authorities, in a new setback to the Trump administration's efforts to tackle high drug prices, according to documents obtained by Reuters. Canadian opposition is a problem for U.S. lawmakers, who have argued they can lower sky-high prescription drug prices by approving imports from Canada, where prices are lower.

Illinois to defy Trump administration's abortion referral 'gag rule'

Illinois will defy enforcement of the Trump administration's rule barring federally subsidized family planning clinics from making abortion referrals, the governor said on Thursday, vowing the state would step in to fund most of those clinics itself. Illinois' action comes a week after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the administration to cut off Title X grants for reproductive healthcare and family planning for low-income women at clinics that refer patients to abortion providers.

Novartis's older MS drug Gilenya wins Chinese approval

Novartis's Gilenya multiple sclerosis drug has won approval in China, the Swiss drugmaker said on Friday, as the company expands further into the world's most populous country's growing healthcare sector. Nearly a decade after its U.S. approval, Gilenya remains Novartis's No. 2 revenue generator at $825 million in the second quarter. The Basel-based company is defending patents on Gilenya in the United States to block generic rivals while eying countries including China to expand the medicine's international sales.

Second opioid distributor charged over role in U.S. drug epidemic

An Ohio drug wholesale distributor and two former executives were charged on Thursday with profiting from the U.S. opioid epidemic by selling millions of pills despite signs the addictive drugs were being misused. Federal prosecutors in Cincinnati charged Miami-Luken Inc and four people in the second U.S. criminal case against a drug distributor over its role in a crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.