From the Public Health Law Program, Office of the Chief of Public Health Practice, CDC
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/

*** FERPA Proposed Rule. The U.S. Department of Education has opened amendments to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Education Provisions Act (FERPA) for public comment. The proposed amendments would clarify permissible disclosures to parents of eligible students and conditions that apply to disclosures in health and safety emergencies. The public comment period closes May 8, 2008. To access the Federal Register notice, visit http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/proprule/2008-1/032408a.pdf.

*** Pandemic Planning Update. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released "Pandemic Planning: Update 5," available at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/panflureport5.pdf.

*** Pandemic Preparedness Webinar. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will make available a Webinar about pandemic preparedness on April 7, 2008. For more information, see http://www.pandemicflu.gov/news/panflu_webinar.html.

*** FEMA Hearing (4/3). The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing entitled "The New FEMA: Is the Agency Better Prepared for a Catastrophe Now Than It Was in 2005?" on April 3, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. ET in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 342. For more details, see http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=74d497fd-4337
-4d2d-8c64-e0dff6dd865b.

*** Generation Rx Webcast (4/3). The Alabama Department of Public Health will hold a Webcast entitled "Generation Rx: The Adolescent Pharming Phenomenon," from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. CT on April 3, 2008. To access the Webcast, see http://www.adph.org/alphtn/.

*** National Public Health Week (4/7-4/13). The American Public Health Association will emphasize the public health community's role in lessening the impact of climate change during this year's National Public Health Week, from April 7-13, 2008. For more on this year's theme, see http://www.nphw.org.

*** Arizona Public Health Conference (4/9-4/10). The Arizona Public Health Association will host "Healthcare Reform: What's Public Health Got to Do With It?" on April 9-10, 2008, in Mesa, Arizona. For more information, see http://azphaspring2008.eventbrite.com/.

Top Story

1. EPA issues new rules on lead paint

States and Localities

2. California: Cafeteria inspections falling short

3. California: Cellphone law may not make roads safer

4. Connecticut: A different kind of student exam

5. New York: Real estate companies making it tougher for smokers in their homes

6. Pennsylvania: Bucks jail to better monitor MRSA

7. Washington: Now, not just anyone can be a counselor

International

8. Japan: State to be sued by hepatitis B carriers, who top 1 million

9. South Africa: South Africa ponders how to insure the old ways

Briefly Noted

Georgia menu labeling ban · Missouri bare-knuckle fights · Nebraska MSA decision · New York Passenger Bill of Rights decision · Virginia abusive driver fees repeal · Washington toxic toys law · Navajo Nation uranium mining · National product liability rules · Copper approval · Canada Yukon smoking ban · European Union meat ban ruling · Holland smoking ban exemption · India toxic site cleanup · South Africa TB suit · International tobacco control

Quotation of the Week

Dr. Jonathan Broomberg, of Discovery Health

This Week's Feature

Monthly Quiz. Gentle readers, were you paying attention last month? Let's find out! Play the March Quiz, below.

_____________________________1_____________________________

"EPA issues new rules on lead paint"

Associated Press     (03/31/08)     H. Josef Hebert

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_go_ot/lead_paint

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued new rules for contractors renovating buildings constructed prior to 1978 in which children could be exposed to dust from lead-based paint. The standard will apply to child-care centers, schools, and housing occupied by pregnant women or children less than six years of age. Contractors will be required to post warning signs, contain dust in work areas, close all vents, keep occupants and pets away from lead-tainted dust, verify proper clean-up, and to train workers on handling lead paint. Some critics of the new regulation had sought other requirements including: testing for pregnant women and children after lead remediation is complete; a ban on "dry-scraping" of lead-based paint; and applicability to children over the age of six. Although most newer structures do not contain lead-based paint, two-thirds of homes and half of all schools and child-care facilities built prior to 1960 do, said James Gulliford, EPA's assistant administrator for prevention, pesticides, and toxic substances. If not detected in children early, lead exposure can damage the nervous system, result in behavioral and learning problems such as hyperactivity, or cause slow growth; in adults, it can cause reproductive problems, high blood pressure, nervous disorders, and memory problems. Although the number of children found with elevated blood lead levels declined from 3 million in 1978 to 300,000 in 2002, EPA's ultimate goal is to eliminate childhood lead poisoning, Gulliford said. The new standards, which take effect in 2010, are estimated to protect 1.4 million children, at a cost of $35 per renovation project.

[Editor's note: To read the prepublication version of the final "Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule" projected to appear in the Federal Register during the week of April 7, 2008, see http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/lrrpfinal.pdf.]

_____________________________2_____________________________

"Cafeteria inspections falling short"

Contra Costa Times     (03/29/08)     Shirley Dang

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8740051

The Contra Costa County (California) Grand Jury has issued a report concluding that cafeterias in most of the county's schools are not being inspected, as required by federal law. Schools that receive funding under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) are required to be inspected twice during each school year or risk losing the funding. According to the Grand Jury report, only 16 percent of the 253 Contra Costa schools receiving funding under NSLP were inspected twice in 2005, and one-fifth of schools were never inspected that year. "How can you fail to do the required number of inspections for the schools, possibly jeopardize the health of the students?" said Grand Jury Foreman Jerry Holcombe. Contra Costa Health Services Department Director William Walker defended his agency, citing a shortage of inspectors. School food poses relatively little danger, compared with other sectors, he said. "We concentrate on the highest risk to public health. It generally is from restaurants." After the federal requirement went into effect in July 2005, school districts asked the health services agency to inspect their campuses, but found the agency to be shorthanded. Since 2007, the agency's Environmental Health Division, which performs the food inspections, has added a number of new inspectors and is hoping to add more to meet the school inspection requirements. The Grand Jury report issued a series of recommendations and milestones for the Health Services Department to meet the federal requirements.

[Editor's note: To read Contra Costa Grand Jury Report 0802, "Delinquent School Food Safety Inspections Place Student Health and Public School Lunch Program Funding at Risk," visit http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/sc/grandjury/0708/0802rpt.pdf.]

_____________________________3_____________________________

"Cellphone law may not make roads safer"

Los Angeles Times     (03/25/08)     Myron Levin

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-distract25mar25,1,434745.story

On July 1, California joins five other states requiring drivers to use hands-free devices when chatting on cell phones, but some studies indicate the safety law will produce negligible results. "There's a common misperception that hands-free phones are safer when the research clearly suggests that they're both equally risky," said Arthur Goodwin, a researcher at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. Goodwin and other scientists are concerned that hands-free laws will give drivers the false impression that it is safe to use hands-free devices while driving. For instance, a 2006 study conducted at the University of Utah found that drivers tested on simulators performed better in braking and avoiding rear-end collisions when alcohol-impaired than when they were talking on hand-held or hands-free phones. But, said California Senator Joe Simitian, no studies show that "you're safer driving with a cell phone clutched to your ear than when you are driving with both hands on the wheel." According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 95 bills in 28 states relate to cellular use by drivers, but none would totally prohibit cell phone use in cars; most prohibit talking by teenagers or school bus drivers, or require hands-free devices -- all measures the cell phone industry does not oppose. "I think a number of sponsors of the hands-free legislation would tell you ... that they're interested in prohibiting more than just the hand-held device, but it's just not something that's politically feasible," said NCSL's Matt Sundeen.

[Editor's note: To read the California Wireless Telephone Automobile Safety Act of 2006, see http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_1601-1650/sb_1613_bill_20060915_chaptered.html.]

_____________________________4_____________________________

"A different kind of student exam"

New York Times     (03/30/08)     Fran Silverman

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/30breathalyzerct.html?ex=1364529
600&en=53aabb288288e752&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In tandem with a recent state legislative crackdown on underage drinking, some Connecticut schools are adopting policies that require students to take Breathalyzer tests before entering school dances. Connecticut enacted legislation to fine anyone providing alcohol to minors one year after results from a Connecticut School Health Survey showed that 59 percent of Connecticut 12th graders used alcohol over the course of a month in 2005. The study further found that 48 percent of 11th graders, 42 percent of 10th graders, and 35 percent of 9th graders reported alcohol use during that month. School officials have acknowledged that Breathalyzer tests will not stop teen drinking; some students argue the perceived futility of Breathalyzer policies. "[Kids] will just go to another party rather than the dance," said 17-year-old Darien High School senior Lindsay Gordon. However, Darien Police Captain Fred Koman said Breathalyzer tests could protect schools from liability when students leave a dance intoxicated and have a traffic accident. Also, Simsbury High School Principal Neil Sullivan said it would be more fair to test every student at the door rather than testing only those students who may appear intoxicated. Prior to Simsbury High School's uniform testing policy, 21 students received punishment in 2006 after tests confirmed that the students were intoxicated at the prom, prompting criticism that students were singled out. "It doesn't solve the problem of teenage drinking," said Jack Sennott, chairman of the Simsbury Board of Education. "But it solves the problem of teenage drinking at school dances."

[Editor's note: To read the Darien High School Dance Policy, see page 30 of the student handbook, at http://www.darienps.org/dhs/pdfs/studenthandbook0607.pdf.]

_____________________________5_____________________________

"Real estate companies making it tougher for smokers in their homes"

Daily News     (03/30/08)     Xana O'Neill and Jordan Lite

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/30/2008-03-30_real_estate_companies_making
_it_tougher_.html

Real estate companies in New York City have begun enforcing new policies prohibiting tenants from lighting up in their own apartments. The trend began in 2006, after a Manhattan Civil Court judge ruled that secondhand smoke exposure can violate a residents' warranty of habitability, and after then-U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona issued a report on the health effects of secondhand smoke. Residential buildings are not hindered by either state or federal laws from adopting smoke-free policies, said Jim Bergman of the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project. One opponent of the trend, Audrey Silk, founder of the smokers' rights group NYC Clash, called the efforts of real estate companies and co-op boards an "incremental attack" on smokers. "First," said Silk, "it was planes for two hours, then six hours, then all planes; then half of restaurants, then all restaurants. Now, the home." Since the city's smoking ban was enacted in 2003, smoking among adults in all five boroughs has dropped 19 percent, and health officials estimate that about 240,000 people have quit smoking.

[Editor's note: To read the New York City Civil Court opinion, Poyck v. Bryant, 13 Misc 3d 699, see http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2006/2006_26343.htm.]

_____________________________6_____________________________

"Bucks jail to better monitor MRSA"

Morning Call     (03/28/08)     Patrick Lester

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_2mrsa-r.6333509mar28,0,4211492.story

The Bucks County, Pennsylvania prison has reached a settlement agreement with inmates who filed a class-action lawsuit over a 2002 outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Although the inmates will not receive a monetary award under the settlement, Bucks County agreed to allow environmental health and infectious disease experts to monitor the prison for two years and  report their findings every six months. The county also agreed to establish two nursing positions at the prison's dispensary, to consider the addition of an overnight infirmary, and to create an educational video about MRSA for correctional officers and inmates. Judge Ronald Buckwalter approved the settlement after a hearing at the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, saying it was "fair, reasonable, and adequate." Bucks County has spent more than $2.5 million defending and settling lawsuits related to MRSA claims for more than a dozen suits filed after the 2002 outbreak, during which at least 32 prisoners, guards, and family members became infected. In 2005, a federal jury awarded two inmates $1.2 million in damages, citing the county's slow reaction to the outbreak. Bucks County has already taken some steps to provide health education to inmates, such as new bunking arrangements, screening, and after-care for MRSA-infected patients. Also, county prison officials eliminated inmate washcloths, switched to single-use soap bars, and overhauled the laundry procedures to better prevent bacteria on linens and clothing. County Commissioner James Cawley said the settlement agreement illustrates the county's commitment to the "security, health, well-being, and rehabilitation" of its prisoners.

_____________________________7_____________________________

"Now, not just anyone can be a counselor"

Seattle Times      (03/26/08)     Michael J. Berens

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004306598_counselor26m.html

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation last week requiring that mental health practitioners meet more stringent standards to receive a license to practice from the state Department of Health. The reform law was designed to better protect consumers from unscrupulous and untrained practitioners, said state representative Don Barlow, a licensed mental health counselor and a co-sponsor of the legislation. The new law will eliminate the "registered counselor" profession, which was created 20 years ago and was not highly regulated. The classification allowed state licenses to be issued to "miracle healers" and psychics, according to a 2006 investigative series by the Seattle Times entitled "License to Harm." According to state records, Washington credentialed high-school dropouts and convicted sex offenders under the old law, and more sexual-misconduct complaints were filed against "registered counselors" than any other health-care profession from 1995 to 2006. Under the new legislation, eight mental-health profession titles are created, each carrying progressively higher standards for education, supervision, and training. For instance, entry-level practitioners must possess at least a two-year associate's degree in a counseling-related field and be supervised by a higher-level professional with a master's degree or doctorate. Current registered counselors have until July 1, 2010 to qualify for one of the new regulatory titles. "This is a good beginning, depending on how the health department implements it," said Laura Groshong, a clinical social worker and lobbyist for mental health organizations.

[Editor's note: For the investigative series "License to Harm" by the Seattle Times, see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/licensetoharm/. To access "An Act relating to modifying credentialing standards for counselors," Chapter 135, Laws of 2008, see http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/Session Law 2008/2674-S2.SL.pdf.]

_____________________________8_____________________________

"State to be sued by hepatitis B carriers, who top 1 million"

Japan Times     (03/27/08)     Akemi Nakamura

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080327f1.html

Hepatitis B carriers in Japan have filed a lawsuit against the government for its alleged role in spreading the virus. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, more than 1 million people are infected with hepatitis B in Japan; the majority of which are believed to have contracted the virus through shared needles. Following the end of World War II, mandatory vaccinations helped prevent the spread of typhoid, diphtheria, smallpox, polio, influenza, and measles. However, until disposable needles and syringes became widely available in the mid-1970s, public health centers and clinics often conducted group vaccinations, sharing needles and syringes among multiple patients. According to Shinsho Yoshiba, a professor of gastroenterological medicine at Showa University Fujigaoka Hospital, the government could have prevented the infections, because the World Health Organization had warned in 1953 that needle sharing could lead to hepatitis infections. "The government was directly involved in the mandatory vaccinations and bears a heavy responsibility for spreading the infections," he said. In 2006, the nation's Supreme Court ruled in favor of five hepatitis B carriers who filed a similar lawsuit, but a health ministry official has since said that the ruling applies only to those five plaintiffs. The plaintiffs who filed suit last week are seeking compensation for treatment and for assistance to patients who can no longer work because of the disease. Like hepatitis C, hepatitis B weakens the liver; about 10 to 15 percent of carriers develop chronic hepatitis, which can progress into cirrhosis and then liver cancer.

_____________________________9_____________________________

"South Africa ponders how to insure the old ways"

Globe and Mail     (03/25/08)     Stephanie Nolen

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?
user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080325.MEDICINE25/TP
Story/International&ord=144256926&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true(fee required)

In response to a global effort launched by the World Health Organization, the government of South Africa is at the forefront of a movement to formalize the use of traditional medicine. An estimated 200,000 unregulated traditional healers now practice in the country, and some 80 percent of South Africans are believed to turn to a traditional healer -- a sangoma (healer) or inyanga (herbalist) -- either instead of or before making use of the country's conventional, Western health system. Last year, the South African Parliament enacted a law to make traditional healing a self-regulating profession. Healers have been working to organize a governing council, adopt standards of training, write codes of practice, and set up disciplinary committees. But the process also involves testing and registering traditional remedies, an endeavor many believe will be complicated, given that traditional healers often rely on dreams and messages from ancestors for direction. "What if tonight I have a dream in which I heal a wound with a pear, where I squeeze pear juice into an abscess and then I cover it over with the skin of the pear? Will you list, ‘One pear cures X number of wounds?'" asked Ntlomo Koka, a sangoma in Pretoria. The South African government is eager to reconcile the two health systems, which some say are not so different, especially when less-tangible disciplines, like psychiatry, are compared. "Healers throw the bones to go into a deep conversation about these things," said Nceba Gqaleni, deputy dean of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. "We need to talk about outcomes, even though the methodology might not be the same. They're all truths, and they're relative."

[Editor's note: To read the text of South Africa's Traditional Health Practitioners Act, 2007, visit http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/acts/2007/a22-07.pdf. To learn about the World Health Organization's traditional medicine strategy, visit http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/traditional/en/.]

_____________________BRIEFLY NOTED______________________

Georgia: Law would prohibit counties from requiring nutrition info on menus

"Bill opposing menu labeling goes to governor"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution     (03/27/08)     Andrea Jones and Elizabeth Lee

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/03/27/nutrition_0328.html

Missouri: State law explicitly allows children to compete in bare-knuckle fights

"Kids encouraged to punch, kick"

Associated Press     (03/27/08)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/27/kids.ultimate.fight.ap/

Nebraska: Court rules dispute over adjustment to annual payment must go to arbitration

Bruning v. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.

275 Neb. 310 (2008)    

Nebraska Supreme Court

Opinion by Justice Miller-Lerman

http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/opinions/2008/march/mar28/s06-1027.pdf

New York: Court finds NY Passenger Bill of Rights preempted by federal law

Air Transport Ass'n of America v. Cuomo

No. 07-5771-cv

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Opinion per curiam

http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysnative/RDpcT3BpbnNcT1BOXDA3LTU3NzEtY3Zfb3BuLnBkZg
==/07-5771-cv_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysquery/irl29ef/16/hilite

Virginia: Unpopular law found not to improve highway safety

"Kaine signs bill to repeal abusive driver fees, give refunds"

Virginian-Pilot     (03/28/08)     Julian Walker

http://hamptonroads.com/node/459285

Washington: New law ban children's products containing levels of lead, cadmium, phthalates

"Gregoire signs measure toughening restrictions on toxins in toys"

Associated Press     (04/02/08)     Rachel La Corte

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004321137_apwatoxictoys2ndldwritethru.html

Navajo Nation: Mining ban on Indian lands could compromise company's plan
"As uranium firms eye N.M., Navajos are wary"

Washington Post     (03/28/08)     Kari Lydersen

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/27/AR2008032703432_pf.html

National: ‘Silent tort reform' said to place new limits on consumer rights

"Federal agencies: our rules pre-empt injury lawsuits"

Associated Press     (03/30/08)     Janet McConnaughey

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-rules-federal-injurymar31,1,5381315.story

National: EPA approves copper alloys for antimicrobial properties

"Regulators stamp copper as a germ killer"

New York Times     (03/26/08)     Barnaby J. Feder

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/business/26microbes.html

Canada: Law includes ban on smoking in vehicles with children

"Yukon bans smoking in public places"

Canadian Press     (03/28/08)

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/252213

European Union: Ban on meat treated with hormones found to violate international trade rules

"E.U. meat hormone law violates trade WTO rules"

Wall Street Journal     (03/31/08)     Matthew Dalton

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120697669865077227.html?mod=googlenews_wsj(subscription required)

Holland: Marijuana exempt from Dutch smoking ban

"No Dutch smoking ... except for cannabis"

Daily Telegraph     (03/28/08)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/28/wsmoke128.xml

India: National, state governments, company fight over responsibility for toxic site

"Indians pressure Dow on Bhopal cleanup"

Washington Post     (03/29/08)     Rama Lakshmi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032803276.html

South Africa: TB patients counter-sue, alleging arrest, detention unconstitutional

"Court challenge of forced treatment by TB patients delayed"

Cape Argus     (03/28/08)     Di Caelers

http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=3179&fRequestedUrl=/index.php?fArticleId=4324980 (subscription required)

International: International experts meet to establish Tobacco Control Convention protocols

"Nations unite to stub out tobacco ads"

Hindustan Times     (03/29/08)     Sanchita Sharma

http://www.hindustandainik.com/news/5922_2111419,0015002500000000.htm

__________PHL NEWS QUOTATION OF THE WEEK___________

"The government currently requires that any claim from a health-care provider have [a code]. What do you do with ‘the ancestors are angry?'"

-- Dr. Jonathan Broomberg, of Discovery Health, South Africa's largest medical insurance company, on the challenge of regulating traditional healers. [See item 9, above.]

______THE MONTHLY QUIZ: MARCH 2008______

Welcome to the Monthly Quiz! To win, be the first reader to answer all the quiz questions correctly. The winner will be recognized in the News (if you prefer not to be recognized, please let us know).

Each quiz contains questions from News stories and other content published in March 2008 (for past issues, visit http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/dailynews/default.asp). Check next week's issue of the News for the correct answers. Submit your answers by email to cseely@cdc.gov

For each of the following questions, choose the one best answer.

1. The Humane Society filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a purported loophole in regulations meant to prevent __________. (March 5, 2008 issue)

A. bovine spongiform encephalopathy

B. E. coli

C. Salmonella enteritidis

D. none of the above

2. Thirty percent of Canada's dentists have failed to reach a 2007 target for limiting ________ used in dental fillings. (March 12, 2008 issue)

A. lead

B. mercury

C. gold

D. silver

3. Texas recently became the first state in the nation to mandate that insurance providers give employees' health records to their employers. True or False? (March 19, 2008 issue)

A. True

B. False

4. Washington state lawmakers have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would set some of the toughest restrictions in the nation on the chemical content of __________. (March 26, 2008 issue)

A. children's toys         

B. pesticides

C. air fresheners

D. synthetic foods

___________________________________________________________

The CDC Public Health Law News is published each Wednesday except holidays, plus special issues when warranted. It is distributed only in electronic form and is free of charge.  News content is selected solely on the basis of newsworthiness and potential interest to readers. CDC and DHHS assume no responsibility for the factual accuracy of the items presented. The selection, omission, or content of items does not imply any endorsement or other position taken by CDC or DHHS. Opinions expressed by the original authors of items included in the News, or persons quoted therein, are strictly their own and are in no way meant to represent the opinion or views of CDC or DHHS. References to products, trade names, publications, news sources, and non-CDC Websites are provided solely for informational purposes and do not imply endorsement by CDC or DHHS. Legal cases are presented for educational purposes only, and are not meant to represent the current state of the law. The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of CDC. The News is in the public domain and may be freely forwarded and reproduced without permission. The original news sources and the CDC Public Health Law News should be cited as sources. Readers should contact the cited news sources for the full text of the articles.

For past issues or to subscribe to the weekly CDC Public Health Law News, visit http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/cphln.asp. For help with subscriptions or to make comments or suggestions, send an email to Rachel Weiss at rweiss@cdc.gov.

The News is published by the Public Health Law Program, Office of the Chief of Public Health Practice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Rachel Weiss, J.D., Editor; Christopher Seely, J.D., Associate Editor; Karen L. McKie, J.D., M.L.S., Editorial Advisor.