— Current healthcare legislation under debate in the US would give the government’s Preventive Services Task Force the power to decide whether private insurance companies must provide coverage for preventive services, such as cancer screenings. The task force — recently in the news for its controversial mammogram recommendations — would use a letter-grading system to determine necessity, an idea many are already giving an ‘F.’ (Washington Post)

— San Francisco and Maine are playing phone tag — not with each other, but with the phones themselves. SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Maine Congresswoman Andrea Boland are each looking to tag cell phones with labels that warn against cancer risks, a position contrary to the stance taken by the US Federal Communications Commission.

— Julie Gerberding, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was named president of Merck’s vaccine division. Having dealt with avian flu and SARS during her tenure as director, Gerberding will now cover Merck’s $5 billion vaccine business, which includes shots for human papillomavirus and chickenpox. (Reuters)

— The Dutch Health Care Inspectorate last week published a scathing review of a 2008 study of probiotics given to patients with acute pancreatitis in which 24 deaths occurred in the experimental arm. In particular, the report alleges that the trial’s consent forms failed to adequately explain complications for the probiotic. (ScienceInsider)

Image by Oracio Alvarado via Flickr Creative Commons