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All three networks took a turn from their unwavering focus on financial crisis and campaign politics to revisit the health beat, in normal times a staple. NBC's Robert Bazell and CBS' Nancy Cordes both covered the Food & Drug Administration panel that is contemplating widening the current ban on over-the-counter cold and cough remedies for toddlers. If extended, it would apply to all pre-schoolers. Bazell explained that "by law companies only have to prove the ingredients are safe and effective in adults. There have been few studies in children." As to safety, Cordes offered the statistic that accidental cough medicine overdoses send 7,000 children to emergency rooms each year. As to efficacy, she asked Big Pharma's over-the-counter spokeswoman Linda Suydam how she knew the products worked. "We know that they work because parents use them," came the unconvincing reply.
ABC's A Closer Look chose breast cancer. Laura Marquez, a patient herself, publicized armyofwomen.org, the online registry that is hoping to sign up one million women research volunteers. The registry is being organized by Dr Susan Love and funded by the Avon Foundation. The idea is to study causes and prevention of tumors rather than the current emphasis on diagnosis and treatment. Love herself had appeared with NBC anchor Brian Williams Wednesday where she explained that, because 70% of breast cancers occur in women with no known risk factor, she needed to recruit the healthy as well as patients into the panel. "It may be that we find out that it is a virus," Love suggested.
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