HEALTH

CANCER NOW A BIGGER KILLER OF AMERICANS THAN HEART DISEASE

For the first time, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the top killer of Americans under 85, health officials said yesterday. The good news is that deaths from both are falling, but improvement has been more dramatic for heart disease.

“It’s dropping fast enough that another disease is eclipsing it,” said Dr. Walter Tsou, president of the American Public Health Association.

The single biggest reason: fewer smokers.

The news is contained in the American Cancer Society’s annual statistical report, released yesterday. In 2002, the most recent year for which information is available, 476,009 Americans under 85 died of cancer compared with 450,637 who died of heart disease.

That trend actually began in 1999, but “this is the first time we’ve looked at this by age,” said Ahmedin Jemal, a cancer society epidemiologist and main author of the report. Those under 85 comprise 98.4% of the population, said Dr. Eric Feuer, chief of statistical research for the National Cancer Institute who also worked on the report. That means that only the very oldest Americans continue to die of heart disease more than of cancer, a trend that is expected to reverse by 2018, said Dr. Harmon Eyre, the cancer society’s longtime chief medical officer.

A third of all cancers are related to smoking, and another third are related to obesity, poor diets and lack of exercise – all factors that also contribute to heart disease.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

FOUR PEOPLE SUSPECTED OF TERROR TIES ARRESTED THIS YEAR

Authorities have arrested four people accused of having ties to suspected terrorists and blocked 12 more from entering America in the first two weeks of this year, according to government documents.

Daily reports from the Homeland Security Operations Center do not contain classified information. But they are not distributed publicly and generally intended to remain secret.

They offer a glimpse into what national security officials are doing to prevent an attack, detailing arrests, criminal incidents, and law enforcement tips.

A counterterrorism official confirmed yesterday that the documents made available online this week were legitimate.

The publication – at http://cryptome.org – initially led to an investigation of a possible security breach, but apparently their Internet posted resulted from an unsecured link on the Energy Department’s Web site that has since been corrected, the official said.

Three arrests came last week in Michigan, New York, and Louisiana, and suspects were either held in connection with terrorism investigations or placed in deportation proceedings, according to the documents. The fourth came January 6. The documents do not provide conclusive evidence of terrorist activity, said national security experts. They described the documents as part of the government’s attempts to share information about possible leads with law enforcement agencies across the country.

-Associated Press

SENATOR WON’T BLOCK CONFIRMATION OF EDUCATION SECRETARY NOMINEE

The lawmaker who had stalled Margaret Spellings’ nomination to be education secretary agreed yesterday to allow a confirmation vote after she promised to review promotional tactics that have the department under fire.

At issue are steps taken to promote President Bush’s education law. The Education Department hired a public relations firm and paid for advertising and access with a prominent commentator.

“I made clear to Ms. Spellings that these propaganda efforts at the Department of Education must stop,” Senator Lautenberg told The Associated Press.

“Too often the administration has misspent taxpayer funds to further President Bush’s political agenda … Ms. Spellings assured me that she takes the propaganda problem very seriously, and will meet with me” when Congress’ investigative arm finishes a report, said Mr. Lautenberg, a Democrat of New Jersey.

The Government Accountability Office is trying to determine whether the department violated a federal ban on propaganda.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy confirmed that Ms. Spellings committed to “reviewing the recommendations of the GAO report.” He also reiterated the administration’s view that the department’s deal with commentator Armstrong Williams “should be looked into.”

The maneuver that Mr. Lautenberg used allows senators to prevent a confirmation vote until they resolve an outstanding issue. Mr. Lautenberg agreed to lift his hold on the nomination after speaking with Spellings yesterday, according to two of the senator’s aides.

That should clear the way for Senate confirmation today of Ms. Spellings, Mr. Bush’s domestic policy chief, as well as agriculture secretary nominee Mike Johanns.

– Associated Press