Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

U.S. House Provision Would Permit Drug Imports

A provision to allow less-expensive prescription drugs from Canada and other nations to be imported into the United States was included in a bill passed Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The provision was included in a billion spending measure for nutrition programs and farm subsidies for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, the Associated Press reported. The bill passed by a vote of 237-18.

The White House opposes the imported drug provision, which would permit individuals, pharmacists, and wholesalers to import lower-cost U.S.-made and FDA-approved prescription drugs from other countries.

Supporters of prescription drug imports say the provision would offer consumers considerable savings. Critics say there's no system in place to protect American consumers from counterfeit or unsafe drugs.

President Bush has said he will veto the bill because of its cost, which is about billion more than he requested, the AP reported.

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Recalled Contact Lens Solution Poses Serious Infection Risk

More than 25 percent of contact lens users who suffered serious eye infections linked to a recalled lens cleaner have required corneal transplants, says an update released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A worldwide recall of Advanced Medical Optics' Complete MoisturePlus lens cleaner was issued in May. For reasons that are not clear, the product fails to protect some soft lens users from an infectious microbe called acanthamoeba, The New York Times reported.

In the United States, there had been 102 confirmed cases of acanthamoeba infections as of June 25. There are about 30 million U.S. soft lens users.

A recent CDC survey of 151 contact lens users revealed that more than half weren't aware of the MoisturePlus recall, and fewer than 27 percent of those who said they knew of the recall could correctly identify the product, The Times reported.

Of the 21 respondents who were using MoisturePlus at the time of the recall, 15 had not heard about the recall and were still using the product.

U.S. health officials are concerned that consumers' and doctors' lack of awareness about the recall may be leading to unnecessary risks, The Times reported.

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FDA Given Access to U.S. Military Health Data

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration soon will have access to data from the U.S. Military Health System that's expected to help the agency better assess the safety of drugs, medical devices and other products that it regulates, it was announced Thursday.

"Currently, most drug studies performed prior to FDA approval involved about 1,000 patients, and follow up studies use similar numbers," Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in a prepared statement. "Data from the Military Health System will expand the possibilities to include millions of patients when it comes to follow up research."

He noted that the data-sharing agreement includes TRICARE, the agency that administers the health care plan for 9.1 million members of the uniformed services, retirees and their families. TRICARE prescription information is likely to be the first data shared with the FDA, Casscells said.

The FDA and Department of Defense will meet later this year to discuss specific procedures and safeguards necessary to implement the agreement.

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Mattel Recalls Nearly 1 Million Toys With Lead Paint

Toy maker Mattel has recalled nearly one million toys in the United States because they are covered in lead paint. The recall covers 83 different kinds of toys -- many of which feature Sesame Street and Nickelodeon characters -- that were made in China.

By halting product shipments from its distribution centers and by contacting retailers last week, Mattel said it prevented more than two-thirds of the 967,000 affected toys from reaching consumers, The New York Times reported. However, more than 300,000 of the lead-tainted toys have already been purchased by U.S. consumers.

The affected toys, made between April 19 and July 6, may have a date code from 109-7LF to 187-7LF on the product or packaging, said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

"These recalled toys have accessible lead in the paint, and parents should not hesitate in taking them away from children," Nancy A. Nord, acting CPSC chairwoman, said in a statement.

This is Mattel's 17th recall in 10 years, the Times reported.

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Botulism Victim in Critical Condition

A Texas youngster with botulism from recalled canned food remained in critical condition Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The youngster's sibling, who also had botulism, was released from the hospital on July 26. Both of them ate Castleberry's Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original for lunch on June 28 and began showing signs of botulism poisoning the next day. The unidentified siblings, both under age 18, are from Abernathy, about 17 miles north of Lubbock.

Potential botulism contamination has prompted a U.S.-wide recall of tens of millions of cans of more than 90 Castleberry Food Co. products, including chili, hash and stew, the AP reported.

So far, there have been four confirmed cases of botulism linked to the products. Along with the two Texas siblings, two people in Indiana have become ill.

In New Mexico, officials are investigating whether a 52-year-old man paralyzed with botulism poisoning ate any of the recalled Castleberry products, the AP said.

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FDA Postpones Field Laboratory Closures

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has postponed the closure of more than half of its field laboratories, Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach said Wednesday. He said he's waiting for recommendations from a presidential panel on how to better ensure the safety of imported food and other products, the Associated Press reported.

The panel, the Import Safety Working Group, was established on July 18 and told to offer recommendations within 60 days. Before proceeding with the field laboratory closures, the FDA wants to hear from the panel to ensure the FDA is "doing the right thing and doing it in the right way," von Eschenbach said.

"Once we have the benefit of that information, we can come back again to the more fundamental question of how do we create a field operation that is adapted to and equipped to manage the converging challenges and converging complexities of our ability to ensure the quality of the products that FDA regulates," he said.

Recently, the United States has seen a flurry of recalls of imported food and consumer products, many of which are regulated by the FDA, the AP said.