Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 3.71 percent. That's up from 3.67 percent last week, the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

The average rate on the 15-year mortgage, a popular refinancing option, rose to 2.98 percent. That's up from 2.94 percent last week, also a record low.

The rate on the 30-year loan has been below 4 percent since early December. Low rates are a key reason the housing industry is showing modest signs of a recovery this year.

In April, sales of both previously occupied homes and new homes rose near two-year highs. Builders are gaining more confidence in the market, breaking ground on more homes and requesting more permits to build single-family homes later this year.

Low rates could also provide some help to the economy if more people refinance. When people refinance at lower rates, they pay less interest on their loans and have more money to spend.

Still, the pace of home sales remains well below healthy levels. Economists say it could be years before the market is fully healed.

Many people are still having difficulty qualifying for home loans or can't afford larger down payments required by banks. Some would-be home buyers are holding off because they fear that home prices could keep falling.

The economy is growing only modestly and job creation slowed sharply in April and May. U.S. employers created only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year.

Mortgage rates have been dropping because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. Uncertainty about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis has led investors to buy more Treasury securities, which are considered safe investments. As demand for Treasurys increase, the yield falls.

To calculate average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average does not include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year loans also was unchanged at 0.7 point.

The average rate on one-year adjustable rate mortgages slipped to 2.78 percent from 2.79 percent last week. The fee for one-year adjustable rate loans was 0.5, up from 0.4.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that Americans need to become more open about mental health issues so that people struggling with problems are not ashamed to seek help.

More than 60 percent of Americans with mental illness do not receive treatment, many of them because they are embarrassed or afraid of being ostracized, Obama said, speaking at a White House conference on mental health.

"We wouldn't accept it if only 40 percent of Americans with cancers got treatment," Obama said. "So why should we accept it when it comes to mental health?"

Obama promised to start a "national conversation" on mental health after the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut school last year, although he did not mention the tragedy in his remarks on Monday.

The massacre at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14 raised awareness of mental health issues, although little is known about the state of mind of the shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who committed suicide.

Lanza, who has been described as socially awkward and reclusive, also killed his mother.

"Without us knowing if and what Adam Lanza had, we certainly know that something bad was going on, and that Adam Lanza wasn't getting the attention that he needed," said Harold Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute, a psychiatric treatment and research center in New York City, in an interview.

The conference at the White House is one of the less controversial tasks for Obama on his politically tough to-do list to address gun violence in America.

His proposals for new restrictions on guns have stalled in Congress, foiled by a tough fight from the powerful National Rifle Association and other groups defending Americans' constitutional rights to own guns.

But there are signs of bipartisan interest in Congress in taking steps to deal with the lack of access for mental health services and trained professionals in the field, said Koplewicz, whose opinions have been sought out by Republicans on Capitol Hill.

"Sometimes it takes these terrible national tragedies that capture us, that hit us in the pit of our stomach, and we say to ourselves: 'It's a wake-up call. Enough. We just have to do something,'" said Koplewicz.

ONE IN FIVE KIDS

Mental illness is common in America. As many as one in five children suffer from a disorder, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

People with mental illnesses statistically are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators, and the vast majority of gun violence in America is not linked to people with mental problems.

"I want to be absolutely clear the overwhelming majority of people who suffer from mental illnesses are not violent," Obama said.

Yet many Americans fear people with mental illness, part of the hurdle for treatment, said actor Glenn Close, who spoke at the White House about the battles waged by her sister and nephew to recover from mental illnesses.

"The truth is, that stigma has hardly budged," said Close, who has worked to reduce stereotypes.

Treatment for mental illness is most effective when started early, but Obama said only about half of children with mental health problems receive treatment.

The health care reform law will expand insurance coverage for treatment of mental illnesses for about 60 million Americans when it is fully implemented, he said.

"We need to see it that men and women who would never hesitate to go see a doctor if they had a broken arm or came down with the flu, that they have that same attitude when it comes to their mental health," Obama said.

The problem is particularly acute for veterans struggling with brain injuries and post-traumatic stress. Obama said 22 veterans a day commit suicide.

"We've got to do a better job than that, of preventing these ... all-too-often silent tragedies," he said, noting the administration will hold mental health summits at veterans' health care centers across the country in coming weeks.

(Editing by Eric Walsh and Cynthia Osterman)

The chairman of the 132-year-old orchestra's trustees made the announcement Thursday.

The 34-year-old Nelsons, a native of Latvia, said in a statement that he is "deeply honored and touched" by the appointment and plans to make his first appearance in Boston as the orchestra's 15th music director in June.

Trustees Chairman Ted Kelly says Nelsons' "unique creativity and visionary instincts will bring a remarkable inspiration" to the orchestra.

Nelsons has earned distinction on both the opera and concert podiums, including those of the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera.

James Levine was the orchestra's previous music director. He left in 2011.

The New York Yankees' managing general partner on Monday expressed his disappointment in Rodriguez's behavior at times during the star third baseman's career in pinstripes.

Steinbrenner made the comments after attending a news conference at Yankee Stadium to announce that the Big Ten and the Pinstripe Bowl have agreed to an eight-year deal.

"There have no doubt been times when we've been disappointed in him and we've conveyed that to him and he understands that," Steinbrenner said. "But look, everybody's human and everybody makes mistakes. If you've got a guy over the course of 10 years, there's going to be times any of us make mistakes."

Steinbrenner spoke one day after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told ESPN he didn't think Rodriguez could live up to his record $275 million, 10-year contract that runs through 2017 a deal he signed after opting out of his contract at the end of the 2007 World Series.

"It's a big contract," Steinbrenner said. "We all hope he's going to act like a Yankee and do the best to live up to it."

The 37-year-old Rodriguez has been as much a lightning rod for back-page fodder and the subject of Major League Baseball investigations as he has been a force on the field since joining the Yankees in 2004.

Rodriguez was benched during last season's playoffs and has been ridiculed for repeatedly failing in October. In 2009, he admitted using steroids while with the Texas Rangers. The Miami New Times reported this year that Rodriguez bought human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances in recent years from Biogenesis of America LLC, a now-closed clinic in Coral Cables, near his offseason home. His name has also been mentioned in connection with illegal poker games.

But Rodriguez has also won two MVP awards with New York, been selected to seven All-Star teams and practically carried the club to its most recent World Series title in 2009.

Rodriguez is rehabbing his surgically repaired hip and is not expected back until after the All-Star break. And despite his criticism of A-Rod, Steinbrenner understands the injury-depleted Yankees probably need the three-time AL MVP to be successful for New York to advance deep into the postseason.

"I know he's been working hard and he's been working hard to come back and he does work," Steinbrenner said. "He knows what it means to be a Yankee and he knows what we expect of him and he knows what his teammates expect of him, without a doubt. So we just hope he comes back strong. We need all the help we can get."

On Monday, Rodriguez did agility drills before running hard 10 times at around 120 feet in the outfield at the Yankees' minor league complex in Tampa, Fla. After taking 29 grounders hit at him at third base, A-Rod took 66 swings, including several long opposite-field homers, during batting practice.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- State leaders stand ready to commit up to $15.4 million in taxpayer subsidies to a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company they hope will put an outpost in Minnesota, according to a document made public Wednesday.

After declining to provide details the day before, Gov. Mark Dayton's office released a February letter from the governor and top legislators to a site hunter for Baxter Healthcare Corp. The Deerfield, Ill.-based company is eyeing a property in Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, for an expansion that could result in 200 good-paying jobs.

The initiative was dubbed "Project Fern" in the official communications, because the Dayton administration signed an agreement that barred it divulging Baxter's identity or interest in the state. That agreement was waived late Tuesday as questions began to swirl about the offering and the covert courtship. The process is raising concerns that the pressure to attract jobs is overwhelming transparency at the Capitol.

The letter from the state's political powers went to a Minneapolis consulting firm that is advising Baxter as it considers branching into Minnesota.

"We, leadership of the state of Minnesota, greatly value your investment and by receipt of this letter, state our commitment to pursuing the following special legislation for Project Fern during the 2013 legislative session," the letter reads. It goes on to list five programs the officials were prepared to tap to deliver tax exemptions, forgivable loans, per-job tax credits, working training grants and special assistance on road, sewer and water construction.

House Speaker Paul Thissen, a Minneapolis Democrat, has said he signed the letter without knowing the identity of the company or the full scope of its plans. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a Democrat from Cook, said sensitivities involved in recruiting a large company makes the discretion understandable.

Baxter is a $14 billion-a-year company that makes devices and drugs to treat hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease and other acute conditions. It recently bought a building vacated by another biotech company and is considering a two-phase expansion, which could add $300 million in space and equipment to the property and result in permanent jobs that would average $75,000 in base salary plus benefits.

Baxter could also qualify for city subsidies, making the public's commitment to the project even more.

Lawmakers had begun voting on the subsidies without knowing which company could land them. Some now say they are uncomfortable with the secrecy involving a request for taxpayer dollars.

Democratic Rep. Ryan Winkler, a Golden Valley Democrat, said he might have opposed a larger economic development package the House passed Monday if he knew what was transpiring privately. That bill contained $5 million in forgivable loans plus another $2 million incentive based on the number of jobs the company adds to its Minnesota payroll.

"It's a problem that we didn't know and weren't told what the subsidy deal was because most of these are not very good, and without some public scrutiny, we just start throwing money around in an even more egregious fashion than we typically do with these kind of subsidies," Winkler said.

Winkler said the state appears to be bowing too readily to a company for the sake of attracting jobs. "It's a certain kind of desperation to agree to their confidentially terms when they're asking for the taxpayers to give them free money," he said.

Blake Chaffee, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, said the non-disclosure agreement was meant "to protect the business and their competitive interest in terms of proprietary information." He didn't have immediate information on how often such agreements are used, but he stressed that the incentives themselves are subject to public disclosure and examination.

Rep. Kurt Zellers, a former Republican House speaker, said the way this deal played out could come back to haunt state leaders if Baxter wins its subsidies. He predicted more companies and their search firms will insist on non-disclosure agreements that prevent a full public vetting of their requests.

"It's a new precedent for those that do these searches for these companies," Zellers said. "If you go to Minnesota that's what you do."

The Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament had approved the law last month and sent it to the Supreme Constitutional Court to check the legality of the voting procedures for a new lower house.

Opposition politicians had denounced the text of the revised election law approved by parliament and repeated threats to boycott the vote.

The court ruled that four provisions of the bill were unconstitutional, a judicial source said.

In its decision, the court took issue with parliament's removal of a long-standing ban on religious slogans in electoral campaigning.

The ruling said that failing to include a specific clause in the law banning religious slogans could "undermine national unity." The bill will now be sent back to parliament for review.

The ruling is the latest sign of friction between the judiciary, which Islamist lawmakers accuse of being loyal to deposed leader Hosni Mubarak and obstructing elections and legislation, and President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Mursi, an Islamist elected last year, originally called elections for April but postponed them when the court annulled the decree setting the dates.

Mursi has said elections could now begin in October, completing the democratic transition from Mubarak's rule.

A separate court ruling last year dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood-led lower chamber elected in 2011-12.

Egypt has been plagued by political instability since Mubarak's ouster, scaring away investors and tourists who are needed to keep the economy afloat.

Outside parliament, baton-wielding police pushed back activists who were protesting against a controversial judicial reform law that was being discussed inside the chamber.

Parliament voted to continue discussions of the law, angering secular MPs who wore black sashes condemning it.

Islamist lawmakers allied to the Brotherhood are pushing the bill, which would force out more than 3,000 judges by lowering the retirement age.

The bill has also angered liberal, leftist and ultra-conservative Islamist opposition groups which accuse the Brotherhood of trying to control state institutions rather than pressing genuine reforms. The Brotherhood denies this.

Mursi has faced a revolt against Islamist attempts to force out thousands of judges and he has alienated some of his aides.

Earlier this month, senior Egyptian judges halted talks with Mursi on judicial reforms after parliament decided to discuss the proposed laws despite presidential promises to seek consensus first.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Michael Georgy and Mike Collett-White)

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The image was chilling: Snowmobile rider Caleb Moore, launched over his handlebars on a backflip gone wrong, rolled down the landing hill with his 450-pound machine somersaulting behind him.

Run over by his sled, Moore lay on the snow for several minutes before being helped off the course. As of Wednesday, he was hospitalized in critical condition because of bleeding around his heart and a complication involving his brain.

Moore's was the worst accident at the Winter X Games, which wrapped up Sunday night after four days of competition, but it wasn't the only harrowing moment. The wipeouts included a runaway snowmobile that sent spectators scrambling.

Even the highlights were hardly tame. Snowboarding star Shaun White soared a competition record 24 feet into the air during the superpipe competition, and fellow boarder Elena Hight showed off a difficult trick called a"double alley-oop backside rodeo" that involved a couple of backflips and a 180-degree rotation. It had never been seen in a competition.

All that, plus Moore's crash, has some wondering whether dialing up the difficulty each year improves action sports or has simply made them too dangerous.

"Should we be asking these questions? We absolutely should be," said Dan Lebowitz, the executive director of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, which examines the role of sports to promote healthy development and social responsibility.

The people performing these superhuman feats "really are just human," he said. "How do we maintain safety in that progression when that progression sometimes pushes every envelope to some amazingly extreme point?"

Moore's injuries underscore the dangers at Winter X, which was filled with numerous cover-your-eyes crashes.

Halldor Helgason of Iceland over-rotated on a flip in the snowboard big air competition and had to be taken off on a sled with a concussion. Rose Battersby of New Zealand sustained a lumbar spine fracture in a wipeout during practice before the skiing slopestyle competition, which will be an Olympic sport next winter at the Sochi Games.

Then there was this: Summer X Games motocross champion turned snowmobile newcomer Jackson Strong tumbled off his machine during the best trick competition, the throttle sticking and the sled swerving toward fans as they scurried away. The machine came to a rest when it got tangled in some netting and no one was seriously hurt.

Such a scenario had already crossed the mind of Levi LaVallee, a snowmobiler who captured two gold medals only to be sidelined for the final two competitions after tearing a muscle in his back.

"I've always thought about, 'What happens if the thing tips over and the throttle sticks?'" LaVallee said. "It was good, though, because it showed that X Games has a good setup with the fencing."

Whether action sports are too dangerous is an issue that's been raised before.

When freestyle skier Sarah Burke died in a training accident a little more than a year ago in Park City, Utah, there were questions about the halfpipe. Before that, the sport was examined when snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a severe brain injury in a fall in the same pipe as Burke two years earlier. Pearce has recovered and served as an analyst at Winter X.

But in general, the athletes accept the risks and defend their disciplines.

"To lose Sarah was such a blow to this entire industry," said snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, who didn't compete this year as she recovers from a serious eye injury she suffered in training. "This sport brings so much joy, happiness and balance to my life and that far outweighs what could happen. You can't ever live your life with what could happen."

In a statement, X Games officials said they've paid close attention to safety issues over the event's 18-year history: "We've worked closely with athletes, risk management specialists, sport organizers and event managers to present the best possible experience for athletes and spectators. Further measures are constantly being evaluated."

Athletes say they prepare as best they can by trying out new tricks into foam pits and air bags set up at the bottom of courses. But even all the caution in the world can't prevent the fact that sometimes well-practiced maneuvers can go wrong in the air.

"You don't want to live your life in fear because of a situation," LaVallee said. "Look, I'm driving down the road right now and the worst-case scenario is a car could swerve over into my lane and run over me there it is, end of the road.

"That's kind of the same thing we think when we're competing. Hopefully, the preparation and countless hours of training and practicing will prevent the worst-case scenario from happening."

Tucker Hibbert the Shaun White of snowmobiling after winning his sixth straight SnoCross title just hopes casual fans understand that what they see on television is not true snowmobiling.

"You're seeing the most extreme side of what we do," Hibbert said. "That's a lot different than what the average person does on a snowmobile."

Hibbert doesn't participate in events such as best trick because, "I just wasn't born with those skills. I sit back and watch those guys, enjoy what they do."

He paused.

"You just hate to see anyone crash, anyone get hurt," Hibbert said.

Moore was in the middle of an impressive run in the freestyle event when he caught the top of the hill that was serving as a landing area. He initially walked away with help and went to a hospital with a concussion.

Moore later developed bleeding around his heart and had surgery. His family said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore, Caleb's younger brother and defending champion in the event, separated his pelvis in a crash later that same night.

LaVallee is no stranger to horrific wipeouts.

While training for the "Red Bull: New Year. No Limits" daredevil series two years ago in Southern California, LaVallee lost control of his snowmobile high in the air and landed violently on his side, bouncing down the landing ramp. He broke ribs, cracked his pelvis, collapsed one lung and punctured the other.

But he returned the next year and jumped a record 412 feet, 6 inches.

"We're passionate about the sport that we're in," LaVallee said.

"Anyone who competes has that drive to succeed, to go bigger than the next person or be the first one to do it."

The mentality is similar throughout action sports, even if the bar keeps getting raised.

"There are going to be benchmarks set and people trying to exceed that benchmark," Lebowitz said. "That's just the essence of our society and our social culture."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn spoke out on Tuesday about her decade-long struggle with bulimia and alcohol abuse after her mother's death from breast cancer.

"It was such a challenging time, and it was a time where everything was just bad," Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council, told an audience at Barnard College. "I thought I was the only 16-year-old girl in the world who had no ability to deal with her mother dying."

Quinn, who in polls is leading a crowded field of Democratic candidates running to succeed Michael Bloomberg, would be the city's first lesbian and female mayor.

Her personal history is well known, but her comments marked the first time Quinn, who was elected council speaker in 2006, has so directly addressed her emotional unraveling after her mother's death in 1982.

In a New York Times article on Tuesday, Quinn said that eating and purging and drinking excessively had become habits by the time she entered college.

Quinn, whose memoir will be published next month, entered rehab for 28 days in 1992. A decade later, Quinn began dating Kim Catullo, a lawyer, whom she married last May.

Quinn declined to say if she was part of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"Asking for help, going to the rehab, dealing with bulimia, cutting back on drinking, getting drinking out of my life altogether - all of that helped me put the pieces back together," Quinn, 46, told the Times.

'REALITY ELECTIONS'

Quinn's dominance in the race for mayor has been challenged in recent weeks, as former Congressman Anthony Weiner openly mulls entering the race.

Weiner, an outspoken liberal who resigned from office two years ago after admitting he had sent lewd pictures of himself to women he met online, was the subject of a lengthy article in the New York Times Magazine in April.

Several media reports have suggested Weiner has already begun hiring aides for a mayoral candidacy, which he could announce within days.

Douglas Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch College and a long-time observer of city politics, said the volume of personal information the public has received about the mayoral candidates is "unprecedented."

"It's like reality elections," Muzzio said.

Other candidates, especially Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, have criticized on Quinn for her role in temporarily dismantling the city's term limits law, allowing Bloomberg, Quinn and other city officials to stay in office an extra four years.

Over the weekend, de Blasio held a fundraiser with gay and lesbian New Yorkers in an effort to undercut Quinn's support and exploit disenchantment with Quinn among liberals.

Asked at the Barnard event if Quinn was talking about her past travails in an effort to "soften" her image ahead of what is expected to be a bruising lead-up to the September 10 Democratic primary, Quinn said the timing had nothing to do with the race.

"To some degree I wish I had been ready sooner. But you're ready when you're ready. And no matter who you are these are not easy things to talk about publicly. They're not easy things to talk about at all," Quinn said.

For her part, Quinn said she has learned to cut herself some slack.

"The drive to be perfect as people, but particularly the drive to be perfect as women, is what keeps us from being great. Because we're not perfect," Quinn said. "It's that imperfection, those cracks, those errors and those blemishes that are the most interesting."

(Editing by Scott Malone and Nick Zieminski)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- State leaders stand ready to commit up to $15.4 million in taxpayer subsidies to a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company they hope will put an outpost in Minnesota, according to a document made public Wednesday.

After declining to provide details the day before, Gov. Mark Dayton's office released a February letter from the governor and top legislators to a site hunter for Baxter Healthcare Corp. The Deerfield, Ill.-based company is eyeing a property in Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, for an expansion that could result in 200 good-paying jobs.

The initiative was dubbed "Project Fern" in the official communications, because the Dayton administration signed an agreement that barred it divulging Baxter's identity or interest in the state. That agreement was waived late Tuesday as questions began to swirl about the offering and the covert courtship. The process is raising concerns that the pressure to attract jobs is overwhelming transparency at the Capitol.

The letter from the state's political powers went to a Minneapolis consulting firm that is advising Baxter as it considers branching into Minnesota.

"We, leadership of the state of Minnesota, greatly value your investment and by receipt of this letter, state our commitment to pursuing the following special legislation for Project Fern during the 2013 legislative session," the letter reads. It goes on to list five programs the officials were prepared to tap to deliver tax exemptions, forgivable loans, per-job tax credits, working training grants and special assistance on road, sewer and water construction.

House Speaker Paul Thissen, a Minneapolis Democrat, has said he signed the letter without knowing the identity of the company or the full scope of its plans. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a Democrat from Cook, said sensitivities involved in recruiting a large company makes the discretion understandable.

Baxter is a $14 billion-a-year company that makes devices and drugs to treat hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease and other acute conditions. It recently bought a building vacated by another biotech company and is considering a two-phase expansion, which could add $300 million in space and equipment to the property and result in permanent jobs that would average $75,000 in base salary plus benefits.

Baxter could also qualify for city subsidies, making the public's commitment to the project even more.

Lawmakers had begun voting on the subsidies without knowing which company could land them. Some now say they are uncomfortable with the secrecy involving a request for taxpayer dollars.

Democratic Rep. Ryan Winkler, a Golden Valley Democrat, said he might have opposed a larger economic development package the House passed Monday if he knew what was transpiring privately. That bill contained $5 million in forgivable loans plus another $2 million incentive based on the number of jobs the company adds to its Minnesota payroll.

"It's a problem that we didn't know and weren't told what the subsidy deal was because most of these are not very good, and without some public scrutiny, we just start throwing money around in an even more egregious fashion than we typically do with these kind of subsidies," Winkler said.

Winkler said the state appears to be bowing too readily to a company for the sake of attracting jobs. "It's a certain kind of desperation to agree to their confidentially terms when they're asking for the taxpayers to give them free money," he said.

Blake Chaffee, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, said the non-disclosure agreement was meant "to protect the business and their competitive interest in terms of proprietary information." He didn't have immediate information on how often such agreements are used, but he stressed that the incentives themselves are subject to public disclosure and examination.

Rep. Kurt Zellers, a former Republican House speaker, said the way this deal played out could come back to haunt state leaders if Baxter wins its subsidies. He predicted more companies and their search firms will insist on non-disclosure agreements that prevent a full public vetting of their requests.

"It's a new precedent for those that do these searches for these companies," Zellers said. "If you go to Minnesota that's what you do."

Growing evidence of a link between GSK's Pandemrix vaccine and an increase in narcolepsy, a rare sleep disorder, among children who received it in Europe has delayed approval of a similar vaccine in the United States.

Data published this year in the British Medical Journal found that children in England who had been vaccinated with Pandemrix during the 2009-10 H1N1 swine flu pandemic had a 14-fold higher risk of developing narcolepsy, equating to about one in 50,000.

Finland's National Institute said an analysis of hospital and primary care data in Finland found that people aged between 20 and 64 who had been vaccinated with Pandemrix were 3 to 5 times more likely to develop narcolepsy than unvaccinated people.

Narcolepsy is a lifelong, incurable and potentially debilitating sleep disorder that can cause hallucinations, bouts of daytime sleepiness and cataplexies - where strong emotions trigger a sudden loss of all muscle strength.

Previous studies in Finland, Sweden and Ireland have also found a link between Pandemrix and narcolepsy, and GSK says more than 800 cases linked to the shot have been reported in Europe.

The British drugmaker says some 30 million doses of the vaccine were administered across Europe during the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic. The pandemic was declared over in August 2010.

The company acknowledges an association but says there is as yet insufficient evidence to show that Pandemrix is the cause.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando in Helsinki and Kate Kelland in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey)