HEALTH

STUDY: ASPIRIN PREVENTS STROKES, NOT HEART PROBLEMS, IN WOMEN

In a stunning example of gender differences in medicine, a major new study found that aspirin helps healthy women avoid strokes but makes no difference in their risk of heart attacks unless they’re 65 or older – the polar opposite of how the drug affects men.

Aspirin is recommended now for both men and women at high risk of heart disease. Many doctors have assumed it also prevented heart problems in healthy women because of research showing it helped healthy men.

The new study “raises issues about the dangers of generalization,” said Dr. Paul Ridker of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Boston, one of the researchers. “This is an issue we thought we already had an answer to.”

The Women’s Health Study was the first rigorous test of aspirin and vitamin E in women. It found that taking vitamin E did no good, adding to a large body of evidence that such supplements don’t help and might even be harmful.

“Bottom line: There wasn’t a benefit but there wasn’t harm” from vitamin E in the new study, said Harvard epidemiologist Julie Buring. “The better thing to do is to have a heart-healthy diet.”

She presented results yesterday at the American College of Cardiology meeting. They also were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

SENATE DEFEATS PROPOSALS RAISING MINIMUM WAGE

The Senate defeated dueling proposals yesterday to raise the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage – one backed by organized labor, the other salted with pro-business provisions – in a day of skirmishing that reflected Republican gains in last fall’s elections.

Both plans fell well short of the 60 votes needed to advance, and signaled that prospects for raising the federal wage floor, unchanged since 1996, are remote during the current two-year Congress.

“I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world,” said Senator Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat arguing for the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum wage by $2.10 over the next 26 months.

Republicans countered with a smaller increase, $1.10 in two steps over 18 months, they said would help workers without hampering the creation of jobs needed to help those with low skills. “Wages do not cause sales. Sales are needed to provide wages. Wages do not cause revenue. Revenue drives wages,” said Senator Enzi, a Republican of Wyoming. The Democratic amendment was defeated with 46 votes for and 49 against. The GOP alternative fell by a wider margin, 38 for and 61 against.

– Associated Press

WEST

RAIL CAR THAT LEAKED CHEMICALS NOT DESIGNED TO HANDLE CONTENTS

SALT LAKE CITY – A railroad tank car that leaked toxic fumes, forcing thousands of people from their homes, was not designed to hold the mixture of highly corrosive acids with which it had been filled, the tank car’s owner said yesterday.

Some 6,000 people were allowed to return home and highways were reopened yesterday after crews pumped the hazardous brew of waste out of the tank car.

Tests showed the tank car had been filled with a mixture of acetic, hydrofluoric, phosphoric, and sulfuric acids, which easily corroded the car’s lining, said Louie Cononelos, a spokesman for Kennecott Utah Copper of Magna, Utah.

Mr. Cononelos said the car was supposed to be used only for hauling sulfuric acid. The copper mining company owned the car, but Philip Services, a hazardous waste handler, had leased it, and was using it to haul waste belonging to its customers. Philip Services spokesman Paul Schultz said the load complied with federal Transportation Department guidelines on the shipment of hazardous materials. South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steven Foote said the incident could lead to a criminal investigation. Officials said 6,000 gallons of liquid was pumped out of the car and it was believed about 6,500 gallons more had leaked and soaked into the ground. Contaminated soil will have to be neutralized with lime and removed, they said.

– Associated Press