Schwarzenegger, Blair ink green pact

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced an agreement Monday to bypass the Bush administration and work together to explore ways of fighting global warming.

They agreed to collaborate on research into cleaner-burning fuels and technologies, and look into the possibility of setting up a system whereby polluters could buy and sell the right to emit greenhouse gases. The idea is to use market forces and market incentives to curb pollution.

Environmental groups questioned the value of the agreement, calling it little more than a symbolic gesture.

California is looking to cut carbon dioxide – a byproduct of coal, oil and gasoline combustion – and other heat-trapping gases that scientists say are warming the planet. President Bush has rejected the idea of ordering such cuts.

WASHINGTON

Morning-after pill may be available

A three-year effort to allow at least some women unrestricted access to the morning-after birth-control pill could end in just weeks.

The Food and Drug Administration told Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Monday that it wants to meet within seven days to discuss how to allow women 18 and older to walk into pharmacies and buy Plan B without first getting a doctor’s prescription. Minors still would need a prescription for the emergency contraceptive.

The FDA said it hopes to wrap up discussions in a matter of weeks.

The surprise announcement came just 24 hours before President Bush’s nominee to lead the FDA, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, was to appear before a Senate committee.

Journal backtracks on breast implants

A study that spurred concern about high concentrations of platinum in women with silicone breast implants seems to contain flaws and should be viewed “with caution,” the scientific journal that published the work warned Monday.

Questions about platinum, a heavy metal that is a fairly common pollutant, come as the Food and Drug Administration nears a final decision on whether to allow the sale of silicone breast implants.

The FDA maintains on its Web site that while small amounts of platinum can leak from implants, it is in an inert state that doesn’t pose any significant risk.

A study published this spring in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Analytical Chemistry, came to the opposite view. Those researchers reported high concentrations of platinum in the hair, nails, urine and breast milk of about 18 implant recipients – and called it a highly reactive form of platinum associated with allergic responses.

On Monday, the editors of Analytical Chemistry stopped short of calling those results wrong, but concluded the evidence “falls short of this journal’s standards.”

Compiled from news wires