News in brief - Jan. 24, 2000

High court denies union bid for tobacco payment - Virus linked to ALS for first time

High court denies union bid for tobacco payment

Washington -- In a big win for cigarette makers, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a review of lawsuits by union health funds in New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania against tobacco companies to recover the costs of tobacco-related illness.

The union plans were seeking damages under federal racketeering and antitrust laws, following the model used by state attorneys general. But federal appeals courts had earlier ruled that health funds could not sue because they were seeking payment for harms suffered by their members, who could sue on their own.

Some experts said the refusal represents the end of this type of legal threat to big tobacco. Already, federal appeals courts have disallowed smoking-related suits by Blue Cross, foreign countries and smokers' employers. Only one union health fund suit lives on in the District of Columbia.

Virus linked to ALS for first time

Irvine, Calif. -- The finding of a virus in the spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis provides the best evidence of a possible viral cause of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and in Lyon, France.

Researchers found that 15 of 17 patients with ALS showed evidence of a virus in the motor nerve cells of their spinal cords, while the virus was found in only one of 29 people who died of other causes.

Many researchers have long suspected a viral link to ALS, "but in this study we were able to identify a virus known for nerve damage in the exact areas of the nervous system that are affected by this disease," said Martina Berger, a UCI researcher.

The researchers used a highly sensitive technique, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, to detect the presence of the virus using trace amounts of its genetic material. The researchers' findings are reported in the January issue of Neurology.