Extra Commonwealth funded places in 2008 at Melbourne Uni

According to a media release issued by The University of Melbourne late last week, there will be new undergraduate places in the Biomedicine and Environments degrees which are being offered by the University for the first time in 2008.

The University expects to fill around 5000 first-year undergraduate places in 2008, up from 4881 in 2007 and maintaining the average number of commencing undergraduates over the past three years. This is despite several undergraduate professional courses such as Law, Architecture and Nursing moving from undergraduate to graduate entry in 2008 when the number of undergraduate courses will drop from 96 to a total of 28, including the six new Melbourne Model degrees.

The Biomedicine degree will be one of the points of entry to new graduate degrees in dentistry to be offered from 2011. Click here to view a chart explaining how the Melbourne Model will impact on study options in 2008.

ACCC prosecuting Tasmanian orthodontists

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a media release dated 14 September, advising that it has instituted legal proceedings against three orthodontic businesses, each operating in northern Tasmania, for alleged contraventions of section 45 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

The ACCC alleges that the orthodontists, in various combinations, entered into a series of anti-competitive arrangements which had the purpose of:

• fixing the price of the orthodontic services they each provided to consumers in northern Tasmania
• restricting their respective supply of orthodontic services to new patients when an orthodontist had more customers than the others
• restricting the ability of the orthodontists to supply their respective services from separate premises or work with other orthodontists within 20 kilometres of the existing practices in Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, and
• stopping another orthodontist from setting up a competing practice in northern Tasmania.

The ACCC is seeking a range of remedies including injunctions restraining the respondents from engaging in the alleged conduct, and declarations and findings of fact by the court regarding the alleged contravening conduct.

A directions hearing has been set down for 16 October 2007 before Justice Heerey.

Law Reform Commission proposes health privacy changes

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has just published Discussion Paper 72, Review of Australian Privacy Law (DP 72), which sets out the ALRC’s proposals for reform of privacy laws and related practices.

The deadline for feedback on the ALRC's proposal is 7 December 2007. The ADA is currently considering whether it will make a submission on the health privacy recommendations, and member feedback on the proposed changes will be taken into account in this matter.

Key recommendations in the health section of the report are as follows:

• that there should be one set of principles that apply to both public and private sector organisations.
• that new federal privacy laws override state and territory privacy laws in relation to the private sector, so that private and non-government health services only have to comply with one set of privacy laws.
• that there should be nationally consistent laws on health privacy.
• that there should be new regulations under the federal Privacy Act that regulate the handling of health information.
• that there should be specific legislation to regulate any shared
  electronic health record scheme, and unique healthcare identifiers.
  This legislation should address issues including:
  • rights and requirements for participation in the scheme, including consent arrangements;
  • permitted and prohibited uses of unique healthcare identifiers and information in the electronic health record; and
  • safeguards in relation to unique healthcare identifiers, such as a guarantee that it is not required to provide an identifier in order to obtain healthcare.
• that healthcare providers should be able to collect information on third parties without consent, where it is relevant and necessary for treatment.
• that where a health service is closing or transferring to a new owner, the owner or operator should take reasonable steps to ensure that consumers know that the service is closing or transferring.

ADAVB supports ban on body piercing for under-16s

The ADAVB has written to the State Attorney-General, Mr Hulls, expressing appreciation on behalf of the dental profession for the Government’s commitment to legislate to require parental consent for any body piercing for children under 16 years of age.
In an email to Mr Hulls, the Branch's CEO, Mr Garry Pearson, said: "The damage done to both soft and hard oral tissues due to piercing can be extensive, and we welcome the encouragement this legislation will give to parents and children to consider the risks before proceeding with oral piercings.
"The ADAVB would be pleased to assist relevant departmental staff in the preparation of updated public information materials warning of the oral health risks from piercing. We recognise that there may also be a need to update the Health Guidelines for the Beauty and Body Art Industries, and we would likewise be happy to assist in that undertaking should this be helpful.
"Congratulations on this excellent public health initiative."
Link: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/body-pierce-laws-to-be-tightened/2007/09/10/1189276635226.html

Senate committee reports on Medicare dental scheme

The Senate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Dental Services) Bill 2007 has now published its report, and while supporting the legislation, they noted concerns expressed by the ADA that it was inappropriate for the limited funds available to be used for treating people who could afford care rather than being used for disadvantaged Australians.

A copy of the ADA Inc. submission to the Inquiry can be accessed in the Submissions section of the members' only area of the ADA Inc. website (www.ada.org.au).

A minority report was provided by the ALP members of the committee.

The committee's recommendations on the Bill were as follows:

"1.39 That, while noting the Department's acceptance of the need for information and education of dentists, a formal education program targeting dentists be established, including information about the working of the new Medicare rebates relating to dentistry.
1.40 That early monitoring and evaluation of the scheme be undertaken to ascertain who is accessing the rebates and for what conditions, and ascertain if the criterion that a 'patient's oral health must be impacting on, or likely to impact on, their general health' is well understood and consistently applied. Monitoring and evaluation should cover both the immediate recipients of Medicare dental services and the broader population level.
1.41 That the Senate pass the Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Dental Services) Bill 2007. "

Chinese toothpaste banned

Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson has announced that the Victorian Government has banned toothpastes imported from China, which contain unsafe levels of diethylene glycol (DEG). This substance is usually found in anti-freeze or is used as a solvent, and it is known as a "central nervous system depressant" and a potent toxin for the kidney and liver.

This ban follows one issued on June 1, 2007 by the US Food and Drug Administration, who warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in China because of concerns that the toothpaste may contain the poisonous DEG, also known as "diglycol".

FDA suggested that consumers throw away toothpaste labeled as made in China. FDA identified the following brands of toothpaste from China that contain DEG:
Cooldent Fluoride
Cooldent Spearmint
Cooldent ICE
Dr. Cool
Everfresh Toothpaste
Superdent Toothpaste
Clean Rite Toothpaste
Oralmax Extreme
Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor
Bright Max Peppermint Flavor
ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste
DentaPro
DentaKleen
DentaKleen Junior

These products are made by Goldcredit International Enterprises Limited; Goldcredit International Trading Company Limited; and Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company Limited. They are typically sold at low-cost, "bargain" retail outlets.

Until more information is available locally, those interested in more information, including a list of recalled products, are advised to visit FDA's Web page on DEG in Toothpaste from China at www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/toothpaste.html