| N.J.'s Congressman Saxton to retire
U.S. Rep. James Saxton (R., Mount Holly), who worked tirelessly to save local military bases from federal budget cuts, said today that he has decided not to run for re-election in 2008 because of his health. "Although I had intended to run in 2008 and was planning a strong campaign, developments which occurred earlier this year regarding my health have prompted me to make this decision," said a statement today from Saxton, a former public school teacher, business owner, state senator and state assemblyman who has never lost an election. "I plan to serve out the remainder of my current term in the 110th Congress," he said. "I will continue to receive medical treatment, and my health care providers have indicated the prognosis is, in fact, very positive." Saxton, who will be 66 when the current term ends, has been treated for prostate cancer.
Folic acid's trade-offs of concern
It was all about the babies. A decade ago, when the U.S. required flour, bread and pasta to be fortified with folic acid, health experts believed it would help prevent devastating birth defects such as spina bifida.
There's no question that it worked. As many as 1,000 newborns a year in the United States - and many more elsewhere - have been spared so-called neural tube defects because their mothers got a crucial infusion of folic acid before they even knew they were pregnant.
But now some scientists are asking whether there have been unforeseen trade-offs for the population as a whole - including thousands of additional colon cancer cases each year, a somewhat smaller bump-up in prostate cancer, and an increase in cognitive impairment among the elderly.
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Syria arrrests prominent dissident
Syria has arrested prominent dissident Riad Seif as part of an intensifying crackdown on dissent, human rights groups in Damascus reported on Tuesday. Mr Seif, a former MP, was arrested because of his involvement with the “Damascus declaration", calling for democracy in Syria, said Ammar Qorabi, the head of the National Human Rights Organisation. Mr Seif, who suffers from prostate cancer, was denied permission by the authorities to leave the country for medical treatment, a decision he likened to “being sentenced to a slow death." The travel ban was criticised by the US State Department. Syria regularly denies dissidents the right to travel. Mr. Qorabi's statement called Mr Seif who was jailed from 2001 to 2005, a symbol of the Damascus spring. That is a reference to a brief period of more political openness after the current president, Bashar Assad, succeeded his father Hafez Assad in 2000.
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