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MS ‘missing link’; Professor Nutt on drugs an immune mystery solved

By Laura Passi

Our roundup of health news headlines on Monday 6 December.

Professor David Nutt appears in the Guardian to talk about his latest research, which ‘named alcohol as the most dangerous drug'.

The interviewer asks ‘If someone were to invent a perfectly safe ecstasy pill, what would be done about it?' Nutt answers: ‘They would find some pretext to ban it. I think they would, because beneath all their posturing about health lies a moral position where they don't think young people should have fun, other than being drunk.'

This is of course the same man who was fired from his post as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), just over a year ago, for ‘publicly stating that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.'

Breakthrough could lead to MS drug' reports The Independent today, after researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh identified a mechanism that could ‘lead to the development of drugs to reverse the condition'. Professor Robin Franklin the study leader said: ‘Therapies that repair damage are the missing link in treating MS'

Swine flu mystery solved: Elderly survived because they had met similar virus in their youth'. The Daily Mail discovers the power of the immune system.

A Christmas warning to you all - wine bottles shrinking, but for good reason, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The smaller bottles are to be introduced to at Morrisons supermarket ‘to reduce the millions of middle-class households putting their health at risk when drinking at home.' They will sell 50cl as well as normal 75 cl, a spokesperson said: ‘this will particularly suitable for couples aiming to keep below the government's recommended limit of 14 units a week for women and 21 units a week for men.'

Spotted a story we've missed? Let us know, and we'll update the digest throughout the day...

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