Health News Roundup: Dutch government moves to ban laughing gas

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Dutch government moves to ban laughing gas

The Dutch government on Monday announced plans to include nitrous oxide -- better known as laughing gas -- on its "blacklist" of forbidden drugs, in response to a rapid increase in usage of the gas among the nation's youth. In a letter to parliament, Deputy Health Minister Paul Blockhuis said: "recreational use of laughing gas has become a drug problem, and therefore the Opium Law is the right route to tackle this." U.S. Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion restriction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky restriction requiring doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion, turning away a challenge arguing that the measure violates the free speech rights of physicians. The justices declined without comment to hear an appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of a lower court ruling that upheld the law after a federal judge previously had struck it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Caring alone for two small girls, Texas father grapples with the loss

Zak Tiemann picked up his daughters from school early this Halloween. Zayleeana, 3, and Zoey, 5, were beaming with excitement as they donned their "Frozen" costumes and went trick-or-treating in their small hometown of Seguin, Texas. But for their 34-year old father family occasions have been bittersweet. The girls' mother, Amanda Garcia, died three years ago just days after giving birth to Zayleeana. She was 26 years old. France to ban dozens of glyphosate weedkillers amid health risk debate

France's health and environment agency said on Monday it was banning dozens of glyphosate-based weedkillers, most of the volume of such products sold in France, ruling there was insufficient data to exclude health risks. The ANSES agency was withdrawing the marketing license for 36 products which would no longer be authorized for use after the end of next year, it said in a statement. Decorated with butterflies, infant-sized coffins sent to measles-ravaged Samoa

Volunteers in the New Zealand city of Rotorua are preparing two dozen white-lined coffins to be transported to Samoa at the end of the week as the measles-ravaged Pacific island nation languishes under a growing death toll that has now hit 70. The smallest of the coffins, designed for the bodies of babies, are decorated with felt butterflies, daisies, stars and hearts. Volunteers have placed a teddy bear in each of the infant-sized caskets. U.S. Supreme Court rejects Arizona opioid case against Purdue, Sackler family

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a novel case by Arizona seeking to recover billions of dollars that the state has said that members of the Sackler family - owners of Purdue Pharma LP - funneled out of the OxyContin maker before the company filed for bankruptcy in September. The justices declined to take the rare step of allowing Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to pursue a case directly with the Supreme Court on the role the drugmaker played in the U.S. opioid epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans annually in recent years. U.S. kids not getting measles shots before international travel

Even with measles outbreaks common in many parts of the world, doctors and parents are often not opting to have children vaccinated before international travel, a new study suggests. Nearly 60% of children who could have benefited from the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination did not get it during pre-travel doctor's appointments, researchers found.