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

U.S. Customs Seizes Fake Tamiflu

More than four dozen shipments of counterfeit Tamiflu pills were seized by U.S. customs agents at a post office in South San Francisco. Tamiflu is one of two drugs believed to be effective against avian flu.

The first of the 51 packages of fake Tamiflu pills, which were marked “generic Tamiflu,” was seized Nov. 26 and the seizures continued through last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“They were actually in containers that stated they were generic Tamiflu, but there is no generic Tamiflu, so that’s a pretty big tip off,” said Roxanne Hercules, spokeswoman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

She noted that this is the first time that fake Tamiflu has been seized in the United States. The pills were shipped from China and had been purchased over the Internet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is testing the fake pills to determine what they actually contain, the Chronicle reported.

Countries around the world are stockpiling Tamiflu in anticipation of a possible bird flu pandemic. The drug can cost as much as $65 for 10 pills.

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Assisted-Suicide Group Allowed into Swiss Hospital

A Swiss hospital has granted permission to an assisted-suicide group to help terminally ill patients take their own lives in the hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Beginning in January, the Vaud University Hospital Center will permit the Exit society to help in the assisted suicide of hospital patients who have no hope of returning home.

However, the hospital will not admit patients whose only goal in being hospitalized at Vaud is to prepare to end their lives, a hospital spokesman said. He noted that the purpose of hospitalization remains therapeutic treatment.

Exit is already permitted to help terminally ill residents of Switzerland take their own lives in places such as a patient’s home or a designated apartment. The location is dependent on local laws, the AP reported.

Swiss law allows passive assistance to terminally ill people who want to commit suicide. The Netherlands legalized euthanasia in 2001 and Belgium did the same in 2002. France allows the terminally ill or patients with no hope of recovery to refuse treatment.

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Panel to Review Independence of Canadian Medical Journal

A companies panel headed by Jerome P. Kassirer, the former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, will draft guidelines to help define the future independence of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The seo tips panel was requested by CMAJ editor Dr. John Hoey in the wake of a recent controversy about a story on the Plan B morning-after contraceptive pill, which is available without prescription in Canada.

A seo services team of the journal’s reporters learned that Canadian pharmacists were asking women who wanted the pill for detailed personal information, including sexual history, that was entered into a computer. The Canadian Pharmacists Association had asked the pharmacists to collect the information, The New York Times reported.

However, before the story was published, Hoey was told he could not publish it. That message came from Graham Morris, the Canadian Medical Association’s executive in charge of publications. Hoey said it was made clear to him that the Canadian Pharmacists Association had complained to the Canadian Medical Association.

It was the first time in 10 years as editor of the journal that Hoey had been ordered to change or cancel a story, the Times reported.

In response, Hoey published a somewhat altered version of the story and also wrote