Oxford Health Plans, a rapidly growing HMO is offering an experimental plan to its own employees allowing them to choose a homeopath or naturopath as their primary physician. In related news, a pleurisy patient in Washington State who had failed to respond to antibiotics was placed on a regime of injections of vitamin B along with herbal baths and hot compresses. The patient responded quickly and fully recovered, however, her insurance carrier refused to pay for the alternative treatment or the doctor visits, paying only for the antibiotics. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced that supplements containing iron are now the leading cause of poisoning in children under six. In an eight year study, the CPSC cited 115,000 cases in which thirty three children died.
Fatal doses can occur from as few as four adult strength capsules.
While consumer groups have called for warning labels, the FDA and manufacturers are still in debate on how and where to label bottles. The culprit may be galactose, one of the two sugars found in milk. Rodents fed galactose stop ovulating and their female offspring are born with fewer egg cells. The study goes on to say that women who enter menopause early also show intolerance to galactose. Additional studies on the effect of undigested galactose on the upper colon are still pending.