Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Walmart to test programs for U.S. workers to cut its healthcare costs

Walmart Inc said on Thursday it will begin several healthcare pilot programs for its U.S. employees starting Jan. 1 as it looks for ways to cut healthcare costs - one of the largest expenses for the retailer after wages. Walmart will pilot a program that will connect patients with local doctors in an effort to cut down on its workers relying on word of mouth or social media to find a doctor. The pilot programs will be held in parts of Arkansas, Florida and Texas. FDA says finds 'unacceptable level' of carcinogen in Zantac and its generics

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it found "unacceptable levels" of a cancer-causing impurity in the popular heartburn drug Zantac and its generic versions known chemically as ranitidine. U.S. and European health regulators said last month they were reviewing the safety of ranitidine, after online pharmacy Valisure flagged the impurities to regulators. Canada's health authorities have asked makers of the drug to halt distribution as it gathers more information. Japan drug price reforms risk hurting investment: Bristol-Myers CEO

Japan's "overly restrictive" drug pricing policies risk diverting foreign direct investment to China and other markets, the chief executive of Bristol-Myers Squibb said on Thursday. The Japanese government made reforms in 2018 that change how its national health system pays for new and innovative drugs. Trump to unveil order aiming to boost Medicare health program, woo seniors

U.S. President Donald Trump will unveil an executive order on Thursday aimed at strengthening the Medicare health program for seniors by seeking to improve its fiscal position and offer more affordable plan options, administration officials told Reuters. The order, which Trump will discuss during a visit to a retirement community in Florida known as the Villages, is the Republican president's answer to some Democrats who are arguing for a broad and expensive expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans, plans that Republicans reject. Philippines polio cases a warning for vulnerable Ukraine

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent The first cases of the child-crippling polio virus in the Philippines for 19 years are a warning for countries such as Ukraine, where low immunity offers fertile ground for viral epidemics, disease experts say. Court rules Northern Ireland abortion ban violates UK human rights commitments

Belfast's High Court ruled on Thursday that Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws are incompatible with the United Kingdom's human rights commitments, in the latest of a series of legal victories for abortion rights campaigners in the region. British-ruled Northern Ireland has some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the world, banning abortion except when a mother's life is at risk, but a change in the law appears inevitable soon. Scientists find toxic fungus near Australia's Great Barrier Reef

A highly poisonous fungus, with toxins that can be absorbed through the skin, has been identified for the first time in the rain forest near the Great Barrier Reef, Australian scientists said on Thursday. The Fire Coral fungus, which is better known in South Korea and Japan as being among the world's most poisonous mushrooms, was found near Cairns in the northern state of Queensland, scientists from James Cook University said. Sanders presidential campaign pivots health scare to Medicare for All message

Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential election campaign on Wednesday sought to use news the candidate had a heart procedure to highlight the benefits of his trademark Medicare for All healthcare plan. Sanders' campaign canceled campaign events and pulled TV ads after the 78-year-old U.S. senator had two stents inserted into an artery after he experienced discomfort during a campaign visit to Nevada on Tuesday. High ambitions: Uruguay cannabis firm targets booming global market for medical marijuana

In a white, sterilized laboratory on the outskirts of Uruguayan capital Montevideo, biochemist Javier Varela and his team are carefully cultivating plants for a booming multibillion-dollar global market in medical marijuana. The company Varela works for, Fotmer Life Sciences, has just made the first commercial shipment of medical cannabis from Latin America, 10 kg (22 lb) of dried flowers with high levels of active ingredient THC destined for patients in Australia. U.S. doctors rule out pneumonia due to inhaled oil as cause of vaping injuries

Doctors studying lung tissue from people with vaping-related injuries have ruled out one diagnosis as a probable explanation of how vaping harms the lungs, further deepening the mystery over the exact cause of hundreds of illnesses in the United States. Pathologists from the Mayo Clinic studied lung biopsies from 17 patients in the vaping-related outbreak that has sickened more than 800 and claimed the lives of 16 people in 13 U.S. states.