Health Highlights: Oct. 8, 2008

Oct. 9 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Olympic Blood Samples Being Retested for Banned Drug

A test for a banned blood-boosting drug will be used retroactively on samples provided by Olympic athletes before the Beijing summer games, the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday.

The test for the substance known as CERA hadn't been "available and validated" at the games in Beijing, The New York Times reported. Of the 969 blood samples provided by would-be Olympic competitors, it's unclear which ones or how many would be retested.

Urine and blood samples provided by Olympic athletes are typically frozen and kept for eight years, and may be retested if a new anti-doping diagnostic becomes available, the newspaper said. The World Anti-Doping Agency has decided that doping cases can be reopened within eight years of a possible violation.

Three riders at this year's Tour de France cycling race tested positive for CERA, the Times said.

The International Olympic Committee has retested samples once previously, from participants at the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City. Those additional tests were performed to detect a steroid, THG, for which no diagnostic was available at the games. None of the re-tested samples from 2002 were found to be positive, the newspaper said.

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China Announces Melamine Standards for Milk

New standards for levels of the industrial chemical melamine permitted in milk and food products were announced by Chinese officials on Wednesday. Until now, the country has had no such regulations, the Associated Press reported.

The move comes in response to a major scandal in which at least four babies have died and more than 54,000 children have become ill after consuming milk formula tainted with melamine. It's believed that dairy suppliers added the chemical to watered-down milk in order to make it appear rich in protein.

Under the new rules, melamine levels considered safe are 1 milligram per kilogram of infant formula and 2.5 milligrams per kilogram for liquid milk, milk powder and food products that contain more than 15 percent milk, the AP reported.