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Daily Rounds: Politics And The Morning After Pill; Environmental Links To Breast Cancer; Beijing's Pollution; Brigham's $500 Million Expansion

Women's Groups Outraged By Ruling On Morning-After Pill (WBUR | 90.9 FM) "Wood and others said Sebelius' action reminded them of how the Bush administration treated the issue."For me personally this is an incredibly disappointing moment," said Kirsten Moore, president of the Reproductive Health Care Technologies Project. "Because I was in the East Room of the White House in March 2009 when [President Obama] signed an executive order saying this administration was committed to restoring scientific integrity to the policymaking process. And that commitment just went up in smoke today."

Scientific Panel Finds Few Clear Environmental Links To Breast Cancer (The New York Times) "The most consistent data suggest that women can reduce their risk by avoiding unnecessary medical radiation, forgoing hormone treatments for menopause that combine estrogen and progestin, limiting alcohol intake and minimizing weight gain, the report found. (Controlling weight appears helpful only in preventing postmenopausal breast cancers, not those in younger women.) Overuse of CT scans, which deliver a relatively high dose of radiation, was a particular concern, but the report stated that women should not be deterred from having routine mammograms, which use a much smaller dose."

Clean Air A 'Luxury' In Beijing's Pollution Zone | WBUR & NPR "Given the amount of time my kids now spend indoors, I decided to get an expert to check the air inside my apartment. This, it turned out, was a decision that has entirely ruined my peace of mind. "We do that quite a lot," admitted Chris Buckley ruefully, after measuring the indoor pollution in our apartment. The British expat runs a business selling imported air purifiers. I had been expecting the worst, but the readings were more alarming than I had imagined in my worst moments. Inside the living room, where the kids construct dens out of sofa cushions, the level of air pollution — or, more specifically, fine particulate matter — was an estimated 208 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter. That's five times higher than the level considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, in the U.S., the level of pollution inside my living room would be "very unhealthy," verging on "hazardous." (WBUR | 90.9 FM)

Brigham and Women’s aims to expand while cutting back - Business - The Boston Globe "Brigham and Women’s Hospital plans to expand its sprawling campus in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area even as it moves to cut expenses by $160 million over three years to make health care more affordable.The board of the Harvard teaching hospital has approved construction of a 12-story, $450 million clinical and research building near the corner of Brookline Avenue and the Riverway, and a $55 million restoration of the grassy common that once graced the entrance to the former Peter Bent Brigham Hospital at 15 Francis St." (bostonglobe.com)

This program aired on December 8, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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