Meds-for-meth bill drew record lobbying expenses, not even including radio and newspaper ad campaigns

Makers of over-the-counter drugs spent more than any lobbying interest ever had during a single Kentucky legislative session in their effort to defeat a bill requiring prescriptions for the key ingredient in methamphetamine, Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"The Consumer Healthcare Products Association spent $457,053 on lobbying activities in the first three months of this year's legislative session, according to reports filed with the state Legislative Ethics Commission," Estep writes. "The group's lobbying effort was so dominant that it spent more than the next five groups combined in that period, January through March, according to spending reports."

And the figure doesn't even included hundreds of thousands of dollars that the trade group spent on radio and newspaper campaigns, because the lobby-reporting requirements do not apply to messages aimed only at the general public. The group did report spending on "a phone-bank operation to put people in contact with legislators to voice concerns about legislation to require a prescription for medicine containing pseudoephedrine, which is now available over the counter," Estep writes.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

The efforts, dating back to 2010, were partly successful. The legislature passed a bill "that will require a doctor's prescription for pseudoephedrine, but only after someone has bought 24 grams of the medicine a year," Estep notes. "A 48-count box of the generic medicine with 30-milligram pills contains 1.44 grams of pseudoephedrine. The bill excludes limits on gel caps and liquid pseudoephedrine." (Read more)

The lobbying effort wasn't only about Kentucky. The makers of Sudafed and other pseudoephedrine preparations are trying to stave off similar efforts in other states, and viewed Kentucky as a sort of firewall after seeing prescription-only laws pass in Oregon and Mississippi.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

Growing up on farm helps immune system, study of pigs shows

For the first time, there is conclusive evidence that growing up on a farm is good for the immune system. Researchers from the University of Bristol's veterinary sciences school have published a study showing that "spending early life in a complex farm environment" increases the number of T-cells one has, reports Sarah Muirhead of Feedstuffs. T-cells have been identified as universal regulators of immune systems, with low numbers increasing risk of developing allergies, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Researcher Marie Lewis said it wasn't previously known whether farm life increased immunity to allergies, or if people more prone to allergies weren't living on farms.

Piglets were used in the study since they share many aspects of human physiology, metabolism, genetics and immunity. Some of the piglets were nursed by their mother on the farm, while the others were kept in an isolator unit under hygenic conditions and fed formula milk to reflect the "extremes of environment" in which many humans are raised. Farm-raised piglets had increased levels of T-cells compared to those raised in the isolator. Lewis said it's not clear yet exactly what caused the increase in T-cells in farm-reared piglets, but said previous work shows that intestinal bacteria "plays a pivotal role." (Read more)