Panel: Ease Blood Donation Restrictions on Gay Men

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Challenge to Obamacare Tied to Contraceptives Is Rejected by CourtCell Phones Linked to Increased Brain Cancer Risk: StudyU.S. Should Ease Blood Donation Restrictions on Gay Men: Expert PanelNew Version of Injectable Birth Control Drug Created for Developing Nations

WebMD News from HealthDay
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Challenge to Obamacare Tied to Contraceptives Is Rejected by Court
A legal challenge by non-profit religious groups against requirements for opting out of contraception programs under the Affordable Care Act was rejected Friday by a federal appeal court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 3-0 that the regulations do not impose a substantial burden on the religious groups, the Associated Press reported.
The groups opposed the opt-out requirement that they must certify to their insurance company that they oppose coverage for contraception and that they are a non-profit organization.
"That bit of paperwork is more straight-forward and minimal than many that are staples of nonprofit organizations' compliance with law in the modern administrative state," wrote appeals judge Cornelia Pillard, the AP reported.
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Cell Phones Linked to Increased Brain Cancer Risk: Study
Long-term cell phone is associated with an increased risk of a certain kind of brain cancer, a Swedish study finds.
People who used cell or cordless phones for more than 25 years were three times more likely to develop glioma brain cancer than those who used those phones for less than a year, the New York Daily News reported.
The more time that people talked on their cell phones, the more likely they were to develop the deadly brain cancer. Cell phone use was not linked with increased risk of any other types of brain cancer, according to the study in the journal Pathophysiology.
Even at triple the risk, the odds are developing glioma are low. The rate of the disease in Europe was just .005 percent between 1995 and 2002, so the rate tripled is just 0.16 percent, the Daily News said.
And while the study shows an association, it does not prove that cell phone use causes glioma.
The study offers more evidence that cell phones and brain cancer may be connected, but further research is needed, according to Dr. Gabriel Zada, a neurosurgeon at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. He was not involved in the study.
In 2011, cell phones were deemed "possibly carcinogenic" by 31 World Health Organization scientists, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reviewing its 1996 safe radiation exposure limits, the Daily News reported.
The largest study to date -- partly funded by cell phone makers -- didn't find strong evidence that cell phone users were at increased risk for brain tumors.
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U.S. Should Ease Blood Donation Restrictions on Gay Men: Expert Panel
A ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood should be partially ended, says a panel of experts who advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.