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

Injuries Inflict Huge Costs in U.S.

The lifetime cost of injuries that occur in a single year in the United States total about $406 billion in medical expenses and productivity losses, such as lost wages and fringe benefits and the inability to fulfill normal household responsibilities, a new federal study says.

Of the $406 billion in lifetime costs associated with nearly 50 million injuries that required medical treatment in 2000, medical expenses will account for nearly $80.2 billion while lifetime productivity losses will add up to $326 billion, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The analysis did not include costs associated with police services, caregiver time, or pain and suffering.

“The financial and economic impact of injuries in the United States is serious. However, by expanding our science-based, injury-prevention programs, we can drastically reduce these costs and even more importantly help people live longer and healthier lives,” Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC director, said in a prepared statement.

The research is included in the new publication The Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States. Other findings include:

• Males account for about 70 percent ($283 billion) of the total costs of injuries each year. This is due mainly to higher rates of fatal injury and the amount of lost wages.
• People ages 25 to 44 account for 30 percent of the U.S. population and 40 percent ($164 billion) of the total costs of injuries.
• Motor vehicles account for 22 percent ($89 billion) and fall injuries for 20 percent ($81 billion) of the total costs of injuries.

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Chernobyl Disaster Will Cause 93,000 Cancer Deaths: Greenpeace

Contradicting a United Nations’ estimated death toll of about 4,000 people, a report released Tuesday by Greenpeace said that about 93,000 people will likely die of cancers caused by radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster 20 years ago.

When a reactor in the plant in Ukraine exploded on April 26, 1986, it spewed radioactive clouds over much of Europe. The northern areas of Ukraine, western Russia, and Belarus experienced particularly severe fallout.

Last year, the Chernobyl Forum — a group that included the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and several other U.N. groups — released a report that said only 56 deaths to that point could actually be connected to the Chernobyl disaster. The report said about 4,000 deaths would ultimately be caused by the accident.

However, the Greenpeace report said its analysis of data from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine indicates that the eventual death toll will be much higher, and charged that the Chernobyl Forum report was deliberately misleading, the Associated Press reported.

“It is appalling that the IAEA is whitewashing the impacts of the most serious nuclear accident in human history. Denying the real implications is not only insulting to thousands of victims but it also leads to dangerous recommendations and the relocation of people in contaminated areas,” Ivan Blokov, of Greenpeace’s Russia office, said in a statement.

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3 Convicted in Medical Products Diversion Scheme

Three people have been convicted of an illegal medical products diversion scheme that defrauded the Medicare and Medicaid programs of more than $45 million, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation (OCI) announced Tuesday.

Martin J. Bradley III and Martin J. Bradley Jr. — officers of the Florida pharmaceutical wholesale distributor Bio-Med Plus Inc. — were convicte