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

Doctors Dispute New Cloning Claim

An American fertility specialist is the latest to say that he has implanted a cloned embryo into a woman's womb, but other experts immediately greeted the claim with suspicion.

According to the BBC, Dr. Panos Zavos announced Saturday that he had implanted the embryo into an infertile 35-year-old woman. The embryo came from an immature egg from the woman and a skin cell from her husband, he said.

The BBC reports that Zavos claims to have filmed the procedure, which was a "very recent" event that did not take place in either the United States or Europe.

Other specialists were quick to throw cold water on the claim. "Like most scientists and doctors, I remain extremely skeptical of the claims made here today," Dr. Bob Ward of the U.K. National Academy of Scientists told the BBC.

He and others noted that Zavos offered no evidence to back up his claim, and that it is similar to a claim made by a Raelian cult 18 months ago. "One wonders what his motive is," Ward said.

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Drugmakers Urged to Stop Counterfeiting

Congress wants to know what major drug manufacturers are doing to stop the growing problem of counterfeit prescription medications entering the marketplace.

The Washington Post reports that the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee sent letters to Eli Lilly and Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Serono, all of which have drugs that have been the target of counterfeiters.

The letter is the latest attempt to crack down on fake drugs, which can endanger the lives of those who unknowingly take them.

"Despite the best efforts of many companies, the counterfeit drug problem is getting worse every day," committee spokesman Ken Johnson told the Post. "If we're going to turn the tide, clearly it will take a greater cooperation between the private sector and the federal government."

The drugmakers said they welcomed the request, and have tightened their distribution systems, according to the newspaper.

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WHO Dubious of Newest SARS Cases

The Chinese government on Saturday confirmed that it has two new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), but the World Health Organization (WHO) urged China to test further to make sure the diagnosis is correct.

Thus far, China has had three cases of SARS, according to the Associated Press. The latest were a 20-year-old restaurant waitress and a 35-year-old businessman, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesman in Beijing, told the AP that the agency was not convinced. "At this time it's difficult to tell what their antibodies are responding to. It could be the SARS coronavirus or a type of common cold virus," he said. "We encourage a little more testing to be done to be 100 percent sure of the outcome."

On Friday, WHO experts investigating the source of recent confirmed and suspected SARS cases in China's Guangdong province said there is "very good evidence" linking the SARS virus to civet cats.

WHO team leader Dr. Robert Breiman said Friday that the SARS coronavirus was present in animal cages at a restaurant in the southern city of Guangzhou, where the waitress works.

"Not only were there civet cats there, but at some point [there were] civet cats that were carrying the SARS coronavirus," Breiman told reporters.

He added that traces of the SARS virus also were detected on swabs taken from Guangzhou's largest live animal market, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The three cases of SARS recently identified in China appear to represent a milder strain of the virus than the one responsible for the initial global outbreak that began in late 2002, Breiman says.

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Expert: Ban Tanning Beds for Young People

A leading British skin expert says young people should be banned from using tanning beds in order to protect them from skin cancer.

Professor Antony Young of King's College London made the suggestion following his review of more than 60 major tanning bed studies done over the past 20 years, BBC News Online reports.

Young says his study shows "pretty strong" evidence that tanning beds cause skin cancer. His findings appear in the journal Pigment Cell Research.

"The earliest studies did not tend to show a link. However, with time the link becomes more convincing and the studies are better done," Young told BBC News Online.

He recommends that young people who do use tanning beds should limit their sessions to a maximum of 20 per year.

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U.S. Wants Changes in WHO Obesity Plan

The Bush Administration says it wants significant changes to the World Health Organization's plan to fight global obesity, the Washington Post reports.

The Administration says the plan goes too far in suggesting how governments can help stem one of the world's biggest health problems. William Steiger, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says the Administration wants to place much more emphasis on "personal responsibility" instead of government regulation, the Post reports.

The WHO plan is opposed by some food manufacturers and the sugar industry for its controversial proposals, including restricting junk food advertising aimed at children and raising taxes on less-healthy food. Proponents of the WHO plan say the just-announced U.S. opposition is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to placate the food manufacturers, the Post reports.

Steiger, echoing other administration officials, denies those accusations, saying portions of the WHO plan aren't "based on the best practices and the best science."

The WHO's governing board will take up the proposal at a meeting next week in Geneva, Switzerland.

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