Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Lithium from electronic waste can contaminate water supply

Lithium from batteries that power smartphones, tablets and electric cars may contaminate tap water, a Korean study suggests. Drinking water can contain a little lithium because the mineral occurs naturally in the Earth's crust and in soil and bodies of water. But even with the rapid rise of consumer electronics powered by lithium batteries in recent years, research to date hasn't offered a clear picture of how much production and disposal of these products might increase lithium levels in drinking water, the study team notes in Nature Communications. U.S. appeals court sidesteps major Obamacare ruling

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a component of the Obamacare law is unconstitutional, but dodged a major ruling by stopping short of declaring that the rest of the landmark 2010 healthcare statute must also be struck down. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a 2-1 vote that the law's individual mandate that directed Americans to obtain health insurance - a provision already gutted by Republican-backed legislation passed in Congress - was unlawful. Canada cannabis patients boost Aurora edible sales as rivals target recreational market

Aurora Cannabis Inc this week became the first major Canadian company to sell edibles and vapes for medical use, a small base that nevertheless helps shore up margins and paves the way for sales in the much larger European medical market. Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, and recreational use since October 2018, but derivatives - products from cannabis extracts, like edibles - were only approved for sales this week for both medical and recreational use. Special Report: FDA targets e-cigs that hook teens but don't help smokers quit

E-cigarette makers face an existential threat. By May, they must submit applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proving that their products provide a net benefit to public health. If a company fails to make its case, the FDA has the power to order its products off the market. The agency will judge that benefit with a two-part test: Are e-cigarettes effective in getting smokers to quit? And, if so, does that benefit outweigh the health damage to new e-cigarette users - including teenagers - who never smoked in the first place? FDA grants accelerated approval for Astellas, Seattle Genetics' bladder cancer drug

U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it approved Astellas Pharma Inc and Seattle Genetics' experimental drug to treat advanced bladder cancer, about three months ahead of schedule. Shares of Seattle Genetics were up 6% at $119.05 after the bell. Novartis plans to give away world's costliest therapy to some patients

Novartis aims to give away 100 doses of its $2.1 million-per-patient Zolgensma for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in 2020 in a free-drug program that one patient group worried was a "health lottery" that could neglect some babies. Starting Jan. 2, Novartis's AveXis unit which developed Zolgensma will allocate 50 doses of the world's costliest single-dose treatment through June for babies under 2 years old, Novartis said on Thursday, with up to 100 total doses to be distributed through 2020. Tobacco epidemic at turning point as male smoking rates stall: WHO

The number of men who smoke and use tobacco has stopped rising and is on the turn for the first time, marking a shift in a global epidemic that has killed tens of millions of people over decades, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The change in global smoking trends shows that governments' efforts to control tobacco are working "to save lives, protect health, beat tobacco", the WHO said in a report. Half of U.S. adults to be obese by 2030 with one in four severely obese

A new analysis is predicting that by 2030, 48.9% of adults in the United States will be obese and 24.2% will be severely obese. In addition, severe obesity - and the serious health problems and extra healthcare costs associated with it - will disproportionately affect women, low-income adults, non-Hispanic black adults and states bordering the lower half of the Mississippi River. Trump proposes rule for importing drugs from Canada; industry says it won't cut costs

The Trump administration on Wednesday said it is proposing a rule to allow states to import prescription drugs from Canada, advancing a plan announced in July that the president has said will bring cheaper prescription drugs to Americans. Importation of drugs from Canada to lower costs for U.S. consumers has been considered for years. Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), called the move "a historic step forward in efforts to bring down drug prices and out-of-pocket costs." Malnutrition curses the children of Venezuela

Last August, Francys Rivero, an unemployed single mother of four, feared for her baby's life. Two months after his birth, even though she was breastfeeding him regularly, Kenai de Jesus wasn't gaining weight. "I feel like my heart is breaking," Rivero, 32, told Reuters in an interview here in the capital of the western Venezuelan state of Lara. "I don't know what's wrong with my son."