Monique Griego has more on the controversial plan.

The vending machine would sell Plan B, also known as the Morning After Pill. But not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

Cookies, chips and soda are commonly found in vending machines. But how about birth control?

Health leaders at Towson University are looking to make Plan B, also known as the Morning After Pill, available in a vending machine at the student health center.

Their move comes after Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania installed one.

“If we can remove barriers to a very useful method of protection and reduce pregnancies in student population, that is something we’re committed to doing,” said Jane Halpern, Student Health Services.

Plan B can be taken after sex to prevent pregnancy. It does not work if you’re already pregnant.

It’s currently available over-the-counter to anyone over the age of 17.

“It’s like buying condoms. People are embarrassed to buy condoms, so they don’t and you end up needing Plan B,” said Alexandra Lyons, student.

Right now students have to make an appointment to get Plan B.

Halpern believes the machine will increase privacy.

“If I really had to talk to a nurse, yeah I’d do it. But now if it is in the vending machine then it’s a lot easier,” said Christian Fangio, student.

Health leaders want to make it clear the vending machine will not be out here in the open. It will be inside the health center and students would have to check in to use it.

“I don’t think it will be a good idea. I think kids would just keep going to it,” said Nicole Hughes, student.

“I feel like it just needs to be more of a conversation than ‘I’m just going to go get a bag of chips’ type thing,” said Alaina Briceland-Betts, student.

Halpern says she expected some backlash, but remains focused on her mission.

“The goal is to prevent unwanted pregnancy, ” she  said.

The vending machine would sell Plan B for $25 a pill. But once again, the university is just considering the idea. So far nothing has been officially approved.

Because the Plan B vending machines have gotten so much attention, the FDA is now looking at the issue.

Ron Matz reports they’re toasting the man known as “the voice of reason” and raising money for the fight against this deadly disease.

The big crowd came to Johansson’s Restaurant in Westminster to remember Ron Smith and toast him with a new beer.

His widow June has been overwhelmed by the support since her husband’s death in December. She says from the time Smith announced his diagnosis, she’s received 12,000 emails, thousands of cards, letters, gifts and books.

“He loved his family, of course, our dog and cat, and he loved his golf and poker, but he really loved his listening audience,” June Smith said. “They were his second family. Ron was provocative, provoking and peerless.”

Team Reason is raising money to fight pancreatic cancer. Reason Saison is the microbrew created in Smith’s honor.

“I know Ron was an avid beer aficionado. I was sad with the loss of Ron. He was part of my drive home for over a decade, so what better way to honor Ron than with a beer,” said Jay Lampart, Johansson’s brewmaster.

Smith spent 28 years at WBAL Radio and took great joy in calling himself Talk Show Man.

“What better legacy could there be for a man who gave a million thoughts and ideas to the people who listened to him all these years. Ron Smith touched thousands of lives,” June Smith said.

And Smith’s extended family known as Team Reason has already raised $38,000 for pancreatic cancer research. Their goal is $1 million.

“I want to thank Team Reason for your fellowship, your friendship and your commitment to raising money for pancreatic cancer research in Ron’s honor. Without you these events would never happen,” June Smith said.

“It’s a great feeling to see all these people come out supporting this cause,” Lampart said. “Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is one of the most underfunded cancers, and it’s deadly.”

Two more fundraisers in memory of Smith are coming up: a dinner at Crush Restaurant in Belvedere Square is set for March 4 and a golf tournament will be held in April.

Capping weeks of growing controversy, Obama announced he was backing off a newly-announced requirement for religious employers to provide free birth control coverage even if it runs counter to their religious beliefs. Instead, workers at such institutions will be able to get free contraception directly from health insurance companies.

“Religious liberty will be protected and a law that requires free preventative care will not discriminate against women,” Obama said in an appearance in the White House briefing room.

“I understand some folks in Washington want to treat this as another political wedge issue. But it shouldn’t be. I certainly never saw it that way,” Obama said. “This is an issue where people of good will on both sides of the debate have been sorting through some very complicated questions.”

Obama’s abrupt shift was an attempt to satisfy both sides of a deeply sensitive debate, and most urgently, to end a mounting political nightmare for the White House.

Although the administration had originally given itself more than year to work out the details of the new birth control coverage requirement for religious employers, the president acknowledged that the situation had become untenable and demanded a swift solution.

Congressional Republicans as well as GOP presidential hopefuls were beating up on Obama relentlessly over the issue, and even Democrats and liberal groups allied with the Roman Catholic Church were defecting.

“After the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks, as well as frankly the more cynical desire on the part of some to make this into a political football, it became clear that spending months hammering out a solution was not going to be an option. That we needed to move this faster,” Obama said.

He said that he directed the Department of Health and Human Services last week to speed up the process from a matter of months to days.

Women will still get guaranteed access to birth control without co-pays or premiums no matter where they work, a provision of Obama’s health care law that he insisted must remain. But religious universities and hospitals that see contraception as an unconscionable violation of their faith can refuse to cover it, and insurance companies will then have to step in to do so.

The leader of a Catholic organization and a prominent women’s group both expressed initial support for the changes.

“The framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed,” Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, a trade group representing Catholic hospitals that had fought against the birth control requirement, said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood also backed the revisions, saying the Obama administration was still committed to ensuring all women have access to birth control coverage, no matter where they work.

“We believe the compliance mechanism does not compromise a woman’s ability to access these critical birth control benefits,” Cecile Richards, the women’s group president, said.

By keeping free contraception for employers at religious workplaces — but providing a different way to do it — Obama was able to assert he gave no ground on the basic principle of full preventative care that matters most to Obama.

Yet, it also was clear that the president felt he had no choice but to retreat on a three-week-old policy in the face of a fierce political furor that showed no signs of cooling.

Officials said Obama has the legal authority to order insurance companies to provide free contraception coverage directly to workers. He will demand it in a new rule.

Following an intense White House debate that led to the original policy, officials said Obama seriously weighed the concerns over religious liberty, leading to the revamped decision.

Before announcing the revamped policy at the White House, Obama called Keehan, Richards and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Dolan said Friday afternoon in a written statement that he welcomed President Obama’s decision but also expressed concern about the government’s interference in matters of faith.

“Today’s decision to revise how individuals obtain services that are morally objectionable to religious entities and people of faith is a first step in the right direction,” he said. “We hope to work with the Administration to guarantee that Americans’ consciences and our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations.”

But the change just led to more criticism from some of Obama’s opponents. Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady said the revamped rule marked a “full scale retreat by a disconnected president who now knows that Washington shouldn’t force American to abandon their religious convictions.”

It was just on Jan. 20 that the Obama administration announced that religious-affiliated employers — outside of churches and houses of worships — had to cover birth control free of charge as preventative care for women. These hospitals, schools and charities were given an extra year to comply, until August 2013, but that concession failed to satisfy opponents, who responded with outrage.

Catholic cardinals and bishops across the country assailed the policy in Sunday Masses. Republican leaders in Congress promised emergency legislation to overturn Obama’s move. The president’s rivals in the race for the White House accused him of attacking religion. Prominent lawmakers from Obama’s own party began openly deriding the policy.

The sentiment on the other side, though, was also fierce. Women’s groups, liberal religious leaders and health advocates pressed Obama not to cave in on the issue.

The furor has consumed media attention and threatened to undermine Obama’s re-election bid just as he was in stride with improving economic news. Political reality forced the White House to come up with a solution to a complex matter must faster than anticipated.

Under the new policy, religious employers will not be required to offer contraception and will not have to refer their employees to places that provide it. Instead, the employer’s insurance company must provide birth control for free in a separate arrangement with workers who want it.

The change will still take effect with an extra year built in, in August 2013.

Already, 28 states had required health insurance plans to cover birth control before the federal regulations were issued.

However, they appear to have differing exemptions for religious employers.

Obama’s health care law requires most insurance plans to cover women’s preventative services, without a co-pay, starting on Aug. 1, 2012. Those services include well-women visits, domestic violence screening and contraception, all designed to encourage health care that many women may otherwise find unaffordable.

The White House says covering contraception saves insurance companies money by keeping women healthy. But the plan is likely to meet resistance from insurers. Although administration officials are right that contraception is cost effective, insurers may well argue that it’s not free, either. And the industry might balk at what amounts to a coverage mandate on it.

Without adjusting his stand, Obama has risked alienated Catholics who have become courted swing voters in such pivotal political states as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2008, Obama won 54 percent of the total Catholic vote, compared to 45 percent for Republican John McCain.

As the week wore on, the White House increasingly signaled that a change was coming.

Vice President Joe Biden, a Catholic, said in a radio interview Thursday that “there is going to be a significant attempt to work this out and there is time to do that.”

Outside advocates were urging a quick resolution.

“As a Catholic I don’t want to hear about this in Mass every week until the election,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America. “I don’t think it’s good for the party and I don’t think it’s good for Obama’s re-election chances.”

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Andrea Fujii has reaction to the controversial rule.

Churches would be exempt from that rule but religious schools, charities and hospitals wouldn’t. And that’s got Catholic leaders fighting back.

A battle over birth control. The Catholic Church is firing back at the White House calling the president’s plan to require church-affiliated organizations to provide contraception coverage to employees an attack on religious freedom.

Maryland Republican Congressman Andy Harris tells WJZ he hopes the White House backtracks.

“The indication from the White House over the last few days was that the president is digging in on this. I hope that’s not true,” Harris said.

Supporters say the rule is not about religion; it’s about wellness.

“This is an issue of women’s health and I think Catholic charities believe very deeply that women get the health care they need,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of the nonprofit Catholic Democrats said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 99 percent of sexually-active women use birth control, including 98 percent of Catholic women.

Baltimore Cardinal Edwin O’Brien threatens to drop health coverage for 3,500 diocese employees saying, “We cannot, we will not, comply with the unjust law.”

WJZ talked to parishioners at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, where there seemed to be a divide.

“I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think anyone should tell anyone else that they can’t do something. It’s a free country,” Christine Collins said.

“When I grew up, as a child I learned something– a term called reverence for life,” another parishioner said.

Many are now hoping for a compromise as the battle brews.

Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden indicated the White House may also be looking for a compromise on the rule.

Also on Thursday, worldwide Catholic broadcasting network EWTN filed a lawsuit against the White House over the policy.

Political reporter Pat Warren explains the tanning industry is fighting back.

“I started going with friends after school every single day. It was almost like a competition to see who could get the darkest,” said Rachel, a cancer survivor.

If tanning is a question of health or beauty, the Maryland Senate panel is going for health.

“Lucky for me, my dermatologist detected my cancer at a very early stage,” Rachel said. “So they were able to cut it out of me, and that was that. But when I told her how much I was using tanning beds she freaked out and told me if I ever wanted to live I could never step foot in a tanning bed again.”

Health experts say evidence is mounting that young women in particular are risking their lives in tanning beds.

“The tanning causes cancer. It causes absolutely horrible cancer and people suffer tremendously,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Maryland Health Secretary.

But the Senate committee also heard testimony that such cancers aren’t necessarily the result of tanning beds alone and that salons provide a benefit by regulating exposure to ultraviolet rays.

“I view my role as a mother and a tanning salon operator as almost one and the same. The same passion and care and effort that I put into educating my clients and educating myself for decisions for my son are identical,” said Jessica Hilger, salon owner.

“If we were doing things that were unscrupulous we would be out of business,” said Luke Golueke, salon owner.

Local officials still have the authority to regulate tanning salons in their own jurisdictions.

Howard County was first to implement an outright ban on the use of tanning beds by minors under the age of 18.

Alex DeMetrick reports that’s prompted legislation to bring new chemotherapy costs down to save lives.

Chemotherapy drugs delivered by IV were once state-of-the-art, but a new generation of cancer-fighting drugs comes in pills.

“And I take two capsules every morning before breakfast, that’s it. No visits to the hospital. It works,” cancer survivor Coard Simpler said.

But it isn’t cheap. Because chemo delivered by IV takes medical personnel, it is covered by medical insurance, with co-pays of $50 to $100. But the pills are a prescription and that co-pay can soar.

“They can run $300 to $2,000 per month for each prescription,” Cindy Carter of the Cancer Support Foundation said.

To equalize those costs, a bill is being pushed in the Maryland legislature, named for Senator Jim Mathias’ wife who died from breast cancer.

“And for the Stage Four community: We all do have terminal cancer. We realize that,” said CJ Corneliussen-James, president of METAvivor Support, a nonprofit organization that promotes breast cancer research and awareness. “But some of us can do for a long period of time with different drugs. What we need is the flexibility to take whatever drug our doctor believes is the absolute best drug for us, and will sustain our lives the longest.”

A life and death decision may sound clichéd, but it’s exactly what people supporting this legislation are facing.

“I have a gentleman now that says I can only do two months, and after that I can’t do it. I have no more money. I’m just going to have to die,” Carter said.

Several states already have laws placing pills at the same co-pay rate as IVs. More than a dozen, including Maryland, have bills and patients pending.

Supporters of the bill say in the 15 states that have parity between chemotherapy treatments, there is no evidence of increased health insurance premiums.

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced the 15 awards Wednesday.

Baltimore city tops the list, with three grants totaling $183,000. The largest is $109,000 to Catholic Charities’ Esperanza Center. The center provides services to new immigrants.

The biggest single grant of $140,000 is to the Community Clinic Inc. in Montgomery County. It serves people who are uninsured or under-insured.

One unusual grant is a $100,000 award to the Bel Alton High School Alumni Association of Charles County. The group worked in the last 20 years to turn what was once an all-black high school into a community center. The grant will help provide pediatric dental care at the group’s new health center.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Mary Bubala has the story.

The Catholic Church says the mandate violates its First Amendment right to religious freedom.

Under the Affordable Care Act, companies must cover contraceptives and that includes faith-based organizations.

In a letter to parishioners across Baltimore, Cardinal Designate Edwin O’Brien says, “We cannot, we will not comply with this unjust law.”

“This isn’t something we can compromise on because it’s fundamental to our teachings, and we have to be consistent. We are talking not just about contraception, it’s about drugs that induce abortion,” said Archdiocese spokesperson Sean Caine.

Caine says despite strong wording in O’Brien’s letter stating, “We Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences or to drop health coverage for our employees,” the Archdiocese has an obligation to provide some kind of health insurance.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has about 3,500 employees that would be affected by this, including school teachers and people who work at nonprofits.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore could fight the new law by filing a lawsuit. But for now, area churchgoers are reacting to the controversy.

“People should be given the freedom to choose as to what they want to do,” said one.

“I am not agreeing with it at all,” said another.

The birth control mandate is not in effect yet. It starts in August. But both sides believe there will be a compromise from the Obama administration in the coming months.

Alex DeMetrick reports the risk of becoming sick is why Maryland bans the sale of raw milk.

When it comes to raw milk, Maryland farmers know which way the wind blows.

“I would be fine with raw milk if someone could make it as safe as my pasteurized milk. The dilemma is, no one can,” said dairy farmer Chuck Fry.

And in Maryland, no one is allowed to sell it. But in Pennsylvania it is legal, and 43 cases of a bacterial infection have been traced back to raw milk sales from a dairy there.

Raw milk brought into Maryland produced diarrhea and fever in four of those cases.

Fry says the risks aren’t worth it.

“What’s wrong with raw milk? It’s just like water,” Fry said. “I love water. I drink tons of water, but I would never go down to the Potomac and drink it right out of the Potomac.”

Here’s why. Milk comes out of a cow at 110 degrees, and the longer it stays warm, the greater the chance for harmful bacteria to grow.

So dairy farms immediately move it into huge cooling tanks, where the temperature is lowered. That milk is then shipped cold for processing, where it is pasteurized and bottled. And in most states including Maryland, it is the only kind sold.

Besides state law banning raw milk sales, there is the issue of liability if someone becomes ill.

“And it only takes one incident for a non-insurable problem to lose your farm,” Fry said.

And after four generations, Fry isn’t gambling the farm or the safety of his milk.

Pennsylvania’s health department reports seven disease outbreaks linked to raw milk since 2006.

Children must be 18 months to 4 years old and meet diagnostic criteria. Families can live in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia or Kentucky but must travel to Morgantown or Charleston twice.

Parents who are chosen will get a video camera to record their work and will get individualized feedback.

Pediatrics professor Susannah Poe says West Virginia has too few practitioners to meet demand. Currently, the state has 27 board-certified behavior analysts to treat the one in 100 children diagnosed.

Poe says applied behavior analysis is the most researched and recommended treatment for young children, and this project can help parents use it.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

On the football field, Ravens defensive tackle Orlando Brown could take the hits and push back harder. But it was the hit he never saw coming that brought him down.

Brown died suddenly last September at his Inner Harbor home at just 40 years old. At first, no one knew why.

For 10 days, what killed this giant of a man remained a mystery. An investigation was launched and finally the surprising ruling from the medical examiner: Orlando Brown had died of diabetes.

“There’s a big sense of emptiness that’s just left by him not being around,” said Brown’s best friend and former teammate Wally Williams.

Williams is still reeling from the news.

“I’m still shocked,” he said. “It was just the last person that I expected to hear something like that from. I’m still nowhere near to being over him not being here with us right now.”

Williams is convinced the friend he knew since college never suspected he had diabetes.

“I know for a fact that was something he thought was never going to be a problem and if he knew, he was going to take care of it,” Williams said.

Diabetes is a treatable disease if caught in time. But the tricky part is knowing you even have it. It’s estimated some seven million Americans are walking around with diabetes and they have no clue.

“It just shows that you have to go the extra mile to take care of yourself. Externally, you’re one way but you have to take care of yourself internally,” Williams said.

A simple blood glucose test will tell if you have the disease but many people never get it. By the time you notice symptoms, you’ve had it for some time.

“It’s often called the silent killer because the symptoms can often be confused with something typical,” said Kathy Rogers, American Diabetes Association.

“This disease is so sneaky. It can come and hit you before you know it. It’s like, bam! It’s here,” said diabetic Debbie Holden.

Like Brown, 57-year-old Holden never suspected she had diabetes but found out with a routine medical test.

“I was one of the lucky ones to still be alive ’cause the same thing that happened to him could very well have happened to me,” Holden said.

“It’s a problem with African-American men: that we don’t go to the doctor because we feel that we can just be tough,” Williams said. “You’re coached that way. You’re brought up that way. As a matter of fact, every guy in the NFL has that same feeling.”

Williams is heartbroken, knowing Brown would have successfully dealt with diabetes like he did everything in his life—if he only knew.

“That was the last conversation I had with him, you know, to take care of yourself,” Williams said.

It’s a sad lesson from a life too short. Whether it’s diabetes or another illness with hidden symptoms, get checked out before it’s too late.

“You only get one shot at life and you want to make sure you go about it the right way,” Williams said.

You can find out whether you’re at risk for diabetes by clicking here.

Jessica Kartalija explains the push for improved care comes years after a Maryland child died from a tooth infection.

Five years ago this month, Deamonte Driver, 12, died from an abscessed tooth. His death led to major changes in the children’s health insurance program.

Now Maryland lawmakers are kicking off National Children’s Dental Health Month in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of oral health.

“We redouble our efforts as a state to ensure we’re doing everything we can,” said Lt. Governor Anthony Brown.

A Metlife study just released finds parents aren’t following recommended guidelines for brushing or flossing. Twenty-three percent of parents have been told their children are at risk for tooth decay.

The agency’s tips include avoid putting babies to bed with a bottle and checking their teeth regularly for spots and stains. For toddlers to teens, health officials say make sure to brush teeth with a fluoride toothpaste and floss regularly.

Following Driver’s death, Congressman Elijah Cummings worked to expand children’s access to include oral healthcare. Thanks to a law passed in 2009, children now receive dental coverage. It’s all in an effort to prevent another tragedy like Driver’s death in the future.

The Office of the Surgeon General reminds parents if you are on a well system or live in a community — like many areas here in Maryland — that doesn’t have fluoride in your drinking water, it’s important to give your children a fluoride treatment.

Some dentests say prolonged use of a pacifier or bottle can increase the likelihood a child will become a candidate for orthodontics.

Officials say confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection include 36 people in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, two in West Virginia, and one in New Jersey.

Health officials said last week that consumers should discard raw milk purchased since the start of the year from the Family Cow farm in Chambersburg in Franklin County.

Meanwhile, the state Agriculture Department said the farm passed a final inspection late Monday afternoon and has been cleared to resume production and bottling of raw milk.

The owners earlier issued a statement of apology, saying the illnesses have made them “sick at heart and spirit.”

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The agency says it will spend nearly $85,000 to launch the D.C. Park Prescriptions program later this year.

It involves the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and other national parks in the District of Columbia and Washington suburbs.

Park Prescriptions is a project that unites health care providers with park managers to promote activities that get people outside and moving.

C&O Canal Superintendent Kevin Brandt says doctors may be encouraged to hand out park and trail information, and parks may hold community events focused on health and wellness.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Kai Jackson has more on the fallout that fueled the change.

The Komen Foundation got an earful over its initial decision to pull Planned Parenthood funding. The outcome indicates it heard that earful loud and clear.

There was no running from the controversy created by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, when the organization yanked funding this week from Planned Parenthood.

“I think we’ve seen this week a disgraceful display of Planned Parenthood using real thug tactics to try to bring political pressure on the Komen foundation,” Charmaine Yoest, of Americans United For Life, said.

Yet, public outrage forced Komen to reverse its decision and reinstate funding on Friday.

“It’s really critical funding and it would have been very devastating to, I mean, not just Planned Parenthood but the women that we serve,” Christielyn Dyller of Planned Parenthood of Maryland.

Komen issued a statement saying, “We want to apologize to the American public for decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.”

“I look at these groups like sister groups, you know,” said Vera Newton, a breast cancer survivor in Randallstown.

Komen broke that bond citing a federal investigation into accusations that Planned Parenthood used federal dollars for abortions– a charge Planned Parenthood denies.

“Planned Parenthood uses the overwhelming majority of its money– nationwide, I think it’s 97 percent– to deal with treatment,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D), said.

Komen raises the most money of any breast cancer organization in the country, and Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of reproductive health services in America, with most clients at or below the poverty level.

Newton supports both.

“It’s what we believe Susan Komen is all about. It’s why we walk 60 miles,” she said.

Planned Parenthood said it received $3 million in three days during this controversy. But critics of Planned Parenthood say that is just further proof that it doesn’t need the $700,000 a year that the Komen Foundation provides.

Planned Parenthood of Maryland says the organization also provides free breast exams to its clients.

Even presidential candidate Ron Paul has joined the cause of consumers looking to buy unprocessed “real foods” straight from the farm, saying government shouldn’t deny them that choice.

An outbreak of campylobacter illness is a reminder of the potential hazards, however. Raw milk from a dairy in Pennsylvania is now linked to 38 cases in four states, and the farm has temporarily suspended sales. Campylobacter can cause diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever and can be life-threatening if it spreads to the bloodstream.

Consumers who want unpasteurized milk have to work to find it. It’s against federal law to transport it across state lines, and most states don’t allow it to be sold in stores off the farm. Twenty states prohibit raw milk sales altogether.

The government says the milk is unsafe because of the pathogens cows may encounter on the farm. A wide variety of pathogens besides campylobacter, can be found in raw milk — including salmonella, listeria, E. coli and others — and those sickened could suffer from stroke, kidney failure, paralysis or death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency points out that raw milk killed many people — especially young children — before the onset of pasteurization, which kills disease-causing germs by heating milk to high temperatures for a specific period of time.

The CDC says pasteurized milk is rich in proteins, carbohydrates and other nutrients, and that heat only slightly decreases thiamine, vitamin B12, and vitamin C.

While the government contends that milk is a minor source of those nutrients, raw milk advocates say that’s proof that pasteurization makes milk less wholesome and pure.

The government doesn’t keep records of raw milk consumption or sales, but it’s clear that the product is popularized by a larger food movement that encourages less processing and more “real food.” Raw milk goes a step further than organic milk free of growth hormones. Organic milk, too, has enjoyed a sales boost in
recent years.

“We are pushing for consumer choice and freedom and a variety of dairy options for people,” said Kimberly Hartke of the Weston A. Price Foundation, an activist group that advocates “restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet.” Price was a dentist who studied global nutrition around the turn of the 20th century.

Advocates say far more illnesses are caused each year by leafy greens, deli meats and other products produced in much larger quantities than raw milk.

“To outlaw or ban any natural food because it could possibly make you sick is an extreme position, because there is no safe food,” Hartke said.

That’s a position that presidential contender Paul, a physician, understands. He appears to have acknowledged the potential risks of raw milk when he said last summer that “what I’m doing in politics is not exactly the medical opinion.”

Still, he said, “as long as you don’t force other people, and as long as you don’t defraud people, you ought to have a choice.”

Supporters of raw milk are passionate, and the issue has become one of the most animated food debates. Raw milk consumers and Price foundation representatives have held protests in Washington to fight Food and Drug Administration crackdowns on some farms that sell raw milk.

The fact that there’s even a debate infuriates many in the public health community.

“The intensity with which raw milk supporters believe in this product is almost unheard of, certainly for a food,” said Sarah Klein, an attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “It’s like snake oil.”

Klein says advocates often mislead consumers by describing bucolic settings and happy cows.

“These are still animals; they defecate inches from where the milk is produced,” she said. “They stand in it, they swat their tails through it. That’s all very natural. It’s just a matter of course that raw milk is contaminated.”

The owner of the Pennsylvania dairy, Your Family Cow farm in Chambersburg, posted a message on the farm’s website last week saying that several customers had called them to say they had been experiencing “acute diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps.”

Owner Edwin Shank said in the posting that the farm’s testing had shown samples to be negative for campylobacter and speculated that the illnesses may be from another cause. But the Pennsylvania health department has linked the outbreak to the farm, and a spokeswoman for the Maryland’s health department says an unopened bottle from the farm tested positive for campylobacter.

Raw milk sales are illegal in Maryland, but the state has four illnesses from the outbreak. Those sickened presumably drove to Pennsylvania and brought the milk back for their own consumption, said Maria Said of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

One person is also sick in New Jersey and two in West Virginia, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Thirty one people are sick in Pennsylvania, many of them in Franklin County, where the farm is located.

Pennsylvania has had at least seven disease outbreaks linked to raw milk consumption since 2006, involving almost 200 people, according to the health department. Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where some type of raw milk sales are allowed, according to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Monique Griego has more on how Brady is working with Johns Hopkins to save the life of his childhood mentor.

Brady’s mentor is in desperate need of a kidney transplant, and is currently in a program at Johns Hopkins. The quarterback has since made it his mission to find a donor.

As Brady prepares for the Super Bowl, the childhood mentor who helped get him there is fighting his own battle.

“He’s a special human being he’s just been a great friend,” Brady said of him.

Tom Martinez has been training Brady for more than 20 years. Now 68 years old, the coach is in need of a life-saving kidney transplant and he’s come to Johns Hopkins for help.

“He came out and he was evaluated by our whole team,” Dr. Robert Montgomery at Johns Hopkins Hospital said.

Montgomery says there’s a long list of people waiting for transplants.

“It’s reached a crisis point in terms of there not being enough donors available,” he said.

That’s where Brady’s star power comes in. Recently, the quarterback made a public plea for donors to come forward. He’s also posted a picture of Martinez on his Facebook page with a link to the website MatchingDonors.com.

“That focus, that attention on the problem on the crisis helps tremendously,” Montgomery said.

Out of the 80,000 people currently waiting for donors, only 20 percent will receive one this year. Thirty percent will die waiting.

Doctors say the attention Brady is bringing to the need for donors is invaluable.

“The plea could end up saving several other people, in addition to Tom Martinez,” Montgomery said.

So far, 300 people have come forward wanting to be Martinez’s donor. Montgomery says those who don’t match can donate to others.

“Greater awareness, and on a micro level, more transplants for these individuals,” he said.

Doctors say they’re currently screening possible donors for Martinez, and he could receive a transplant within the next few months.

The average person waits three to five years before a donor is found.

Derek Valcourt has more on the split and the strong reaction it is drawing across the country.

This has set off a wave of anger among women who support both organizations.

Through its massive races and pink ribbon campaigns, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has raised nearly $2 billion for breast cancer research and detection. And for years, the charity giant had been giving grant money to Planned Parenthood– money that has helped fund more than 170,000 breast exams.

But this week, the Komen Foundation announced it is cutting ties to Planned Parenthood. In a web video, Komen’s founder blamed stringent new eligibility standards.

“Regrettably, this strategic shift will affect any number of long-standing partners. But we have always done what is right for our organization,” Nancy Brinker said.

But Planned Parenthood says its history of providing abortions is what is really behind the split.

“This decision, as unfortunate as it is, was the result of a political pressure campaign– a bullying effort against the Komen Foundation, trying to get them to break their relationship with Planned Parenthood,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said.

The split will not affect any of the eight Maryland Planned Parenthood branches which don’t received any of the Susan Komen grant money, though they do conduct 5,000 breast exams in Maryland each year.

And while the Komen decision has upset many Maryland women…

“They shouldn’t have stopped, if it’s going toward breast exams and everything.”

…others support the move, shocked to learn Komen had any connection to Planned Parenthood.

“I think it was unfair for that money, because people were giving it to one charity and one health issue, and really had no idea that money was going to go somewhere else,” Baltimore County resident Pat Jones said.

Planned Parenthood officials say there is an upside. Since the controversy began, they’ve already raised more than $400,000 from people upset with the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision.

Last year alone, Planned Parenthood received $700,000 from the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Maryland health officials also said laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, that causes the illness in two unopened samples purchased from the Family Cow farm in Chambersburg. Pennsylvania officials said their tests had not yet yielded results.

Nineteen of the 23 people who became ill live in Pennsylvania, officials said. They advised consumers to discard raw milk bought from the farm on or after Jan. 1.

Family Cow says on its website that its raw milk is third-party tested for Campylobacter and other bacteria.

The farm says it sells raw milk at its farm store and at drop-offs, grocery stores and markets around Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley and south-central Pennsylvania. Raw milk is milk that hasn’t been pasteurized.

The federal Food and Drug Administration warns that raw, or unpasteurized, milk can contain harmful bacteria and Maryland state law prohibits its sale. However, dairy farmers nationwide say demand is growing, spurred by interest in organic foods and concerns about hormones in traditional dairy products.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Mikulski, D-Md., is scheduled to take part in a news conference on Thursday in Washington with several other senators.

It’s called the Spending Reductions through Innovations in Therapies Act.

Supporters say it will help speed up the development of drugs and therapies to fight the most deadly and costly chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and heart diseases.

The measure calls for investing in public-private partnerships to ensure scientists and researchers are able to develop new safe and effective drugs.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Dr. Steven Brigham, 55, of Voorhees, N.J., lost his New Jersey medical license in 2010 after regulators discovered an arrangement under which he would begin second- and third-trimester abortions in New Jersey, and then have the patients drive themselves to Maryland the next day to complete the procedures.

His attorneys argued in a motion filed last week that the arrangement protects him from criminal prosecution in Maryland because Brigham administered drugs that killed the fetuses while the patients were in New Jersey. He then extracted the fetuses at his clinic in Elkton, Md., a small town in the northeast corner of the state.

Brigham’s lawyers also argue that he is immune from prosecution under Maryland’s fetal homicide law, which was intended to apply to people who kill or do physical harm to pregnant women, causing fetal death. The law includes exemptions for physicians administering lawful medical care, and Brigham’s attorneys say using it against an abortion doctor interferes with a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

“By bringing these charges, the state has placed a chilling effect on doctors who perform abortions and thus will inhibit women from finding doctors who perform abortions even if the procedure is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman,” attorneys Nancy Forster and C. Thomas Brown argue in their motion.

Cecil County State’s Attorney Ellis Rollins declined to comment Monday.

Prosecutors have made few public statements about their rationale for the charges, although Rollins has acknowledged they are in uncharted territory. Experts on both sides of the abortion debate say it is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, to charge an abortion doctor with murder under a fetal homicide law.

Thirty-eight states have such statutes.

At a bail review hearing earlier this month in Cecil County Circuit Court for Brigham’s co-defendant, Dr. Nicola Riley, Deputy State’s Attorney Kerwin Miller suggested that prosecutors believe any death of a viable fetus to be homicide, regardless of the circumstances.

“The law is clear that it is unlawful, as a matter of fact it is homicide, when you kill a viable fetus,” Miller said, according to a transcript of the proceeding. “So an abortion on a viable fetus is not a lawful procedure, is not lawful medical care.”

In their motion, Brigham’s attorneys also take issue with prosecutors’ characterization of the fetuses as viable, arguing that the state has no right to interfere with a doctor’s judgment about the need for an abortion.

Maryland’s fetal homicide law, the attorneys argue, “leaves the determination of viability to the `best medical judgment of the attending physician.’ If a doctor determines that the fetus is not viable, for whatever reason, and the state disagrees with that determination, under their theory, the doctor can be charged with fetal homicide.”

Doctors generally consider fetuses to be viable outside the womb starting around 23 weeks. Prosecutors have not detailed how they determined the viability of the five fetuses Brigham is accused of killing. One of them was known to have been aborted at 21 weeks.

Riley, Brigham’s former colleague, also has been charged with murder in the death of that 21-week-old fetus. Her attorneys also have argued that she is immune from prosecution under the fetal homicide law. Both Brigham and Riley, of Salt Lake City, Utah, are free on bond.

In the case that led to charges against both Brigham and Riley, the patient suffered serious injuries, and Riley drove her to a nearby hospital rather than call 911. That case alerted medical regulators to Brigham’s unusual arrangement, which authorities described as an effort to take advantage of Maryland’s more permissive abortion laws. Brigham was not licensed to perform abortions after the first trimester in New Jersey.

In Maryland, licensed physicians can perform abortions before the fetus is deemed capable of surviving outside the womb, and abortions of viable fetuses are permitted to protect the life or health of the mother or if the fetus has serious genetic abnormalities.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The Pennsylvania Department of Health said Monday it had confirmed six more cases in the three days since it said the Family Cow store in Chambersburg had voluntarily suspended production.

The department recommends that buyers discard any product purchased after Jan. 1. A message left at the farm wasn’t returned Monday, although it says on its website that its raw milk is third-party tested.

Raw milk hasn’t been pasteurized.

The farm says it sells raw milk at its farm store and at drop-offs, grocery stores and markets around Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley and southcentral Pennsylvania.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The clinic stopped seeing new patients in late October due to a funding shortfall.

The executive director told The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown newspaper Sunday that a fund drive, combined with cost-cutting measures, may make it possible for the clinic to start expanding its patient roster again.

The clinic has about 3,500 active patients.

The clinic said in November it needed about $500,000 to cover operating expenses for the fiscal year ending June 30, and to reopen its doors to new patients.

Officials say demand for clinic services has grown as more people have lost their jobs and health insurance.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

As Mike Schuh reports, the blood drive in Timonium sponsored by WJZ started strongly.

They’re preparing to collect something so precious, it can only be made by the human body.

“That’s why our tag line is, ‘The need is constant.’ We’re constantly replenishing our supply every day,” said Ray Charles, Chesapeake Red Cross.

People like Steven Lewis heard about the need for fresh blood and just walked in.

“We’re all our brother’s keepers. We all need to help one another,” Lewis said.

Because some people are rejected, they need 250 people to show up to meet their goal of 216 units collected Saturday. That’s 20 percent of what they need to send to hospitals Saturday, Sunday and every day.

“I have every good blood,” said Julia Eason.

Eason’s blood type is AB+ and it’s in great demand.

“They tell me they can use it for almost anything, especially newborns,” she said. “I’m fortunate to have good blood. Why can’t I share it with someone who needs it?”

Bryan Boyle needed it, and a lot of it. He was an athlete at 18 but then a dump truck hit his car in southern Maryland. He needed blood or blood products over 50 times and his heart stopped eight times. Now he is a volunteer spokesman for the Red Cross. His story is now his full-time job. He’s an inspirational public speaker who pinpoints when he knew he had to give back.

“I was in Baltimore at Kernan looking around in my wheelchair and said I could one day make a full recovery,” he said.

He’s since gone on to finish the Kona Iron Man.

The Red Cross says they have between 10 and 20 smaller blood drives every day. Click here for more information.

Political reporter Pat Warren has the new tax targets.

Tobacco users who have so far avoided tax increases could now be roped in.

“I think maybe that’s just to get people to quit smoking,” one smoker said.

The tax applies to all cigars, and the same holds true for anybody who likes to chew or dip or stick little packs of tobacco between their gums and lip.

“I imagine everyone’s here because of the public health side of the story,” Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said. “It’s also a revenue generating story but that wouldn’t be why you’re here, but rather to focus on the benefits to health of what we’re proposing.”

Organizations, including Health Care For All, the Cancer Society and Lung Association, are joining forces to support the tax as a deterrent to smoking, with revenues earmarked for health-related programs.

Cancer Society volunteer John O’Hara says both his parents died of tobacco-related illnesses.

“They’d sit around the kitchen table and talk and talk and talk and smoke and smoke and smoke,” O’Hara said.

Tobacco currently taxed at 15 percent will increase to 70 percent, so a single Black and Mild sold for $1.49 would increase to $2.21, and a pack of five from would go up from $4.49 to $6.63. But the Maryland State Medical Society believes the greater price is for people to continue to use tobacco.

“And that’s why we’re here today, to hopefully have the effect of reducing the use and maybe there won’t be any revenue generation and that’s just fine with us,” Dr. David Hexter said.

The tax increase is included in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s budget proposal.

Supporters say the tax increase could raise at least $35 million.