Exposure to radon gas in homes is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, according to a study carried out by researchers from the University of Cantabria and the Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. The team has studied data on exposure to this element in a uranium mining area in Transylvania and in an [...]

Public health officials’ concerns about the possible dangers of radiofrequency emissions are intensifying as wireless devices proliferate amid a lack of research on the impact.  There have been several studies that indicate that high cell phone use can result in brain damage.   Recent scientific studies have produced evidence linking brain and salivary gland tumors [...]

Confirming illegal activities by drug companies for years, in an historic case against a major drug company, the U.S. Justice Department today announced the largest health care fraud settlement in history, for the illegal marketing and of paying kickbacks to doctors as incentives to perscribe drugs.
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & [...]

By Barbara Loe Fisher, National Vaccine Information Center
The summer of 2009 revealed two inconvenient truths about vaccination: first, the Gardasil vaccine is not as safe for girls as the government, medical organizations and Merck have said it is; and second, the H1N1 influenza pandemic is not as serious as health officials are telling us it [...]

FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that a laboratory analysis of electronic cigarette samples has found that they contain carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.
Electronic cigarettes, also called “e-cigarettes,” are battery-operated devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. The electronic cigarette turns [...]

Young You Corporation has been informed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that four weight loss dietary supplements sold and marketed by the firm contain an undeclared drug ingredient. FDA lab analyses of dietary supplements distributed by the company were found to contain undeclared Sibutramine, an FDA-approved drug used as an appetite suppressant [...]

Blood tests and better communication skills could cut over-prescribing of antibiotics.
Improving communications skills and the use of a simple blood test could help cut the growing number of inappropriate prescriptions of antibiotics, a joint Cardiff University trial has discovered.
In a major new clinical trial, published in the British Medical Journal, a team of researchers [...]

To remind Americans to practice sun-safe behaviors on Memorial Day weekend and the rest of summer, EPA’s SunWise Program and the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention have designated the Friday before Memorial Day as “Don’t Fry Day.” Skin cancer is largely preventable; however, new cases of melanoma, the most deadly of skin cancers, continue [...]

The finding has important political implications for the management of air polution.
After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding Friday that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.
Based upon the court ruling, the [...]

A new study should add weight to the growing call to increase the cost of smoking.
Blood tests reveal that more than half of non-smoking New Yorkers have elevated levels of cotinine in their blood – meaning that they were recently exposed to toxic second-hand smoke in concentrations high enough to leave residues in the [...]