Battle to stem childhood obesity expected to be a focus of 2012
Some 48.5 million children live in the United States. Of them, one-third are overweight or even obese.Some two-thirds of American children regularly eat school lunches, prepared under the auspices of...
View ArticleFDA makes confusing, conflicting statements on antibiotic use in farm animals
If you’ve been following the latest moves by the Food and Drug Administration about antibiotic use on farms, there’s a good chance you’re confused.The agency recently withdrew a promise to regulate...
View ArticleBioethicist discusses why hospitals may deny transplants for intellectually...
Three-year-old Amelia Rivera has a rare genetic disease called Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome.She suffers from mental impairment, epileptic-like seizures, and she can't walk or talk. She's also in desperate...
View ArticlePaula Deen says she has diabetes, will endorse pharmaceutical company
Paula Deen made waves this week when she announced that she'd be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.Deen isn't just any other American, though. She hosts a cooking show, renowned for its liberal use of...
View ArticleRomney, Obama tangle on issue of access to contraception
Abortion and healthcare are two particularly thorny issues for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Once upon a time, the front-runner to be the Republican nominee was both pro-choice and...
View ArticleAtlanta ad campaign uses obese kids to try and shock parents
Approximately one-third of adults and 17 percent of children in the United States are obese.While this public health crisis has spawned a billion dollar diet industry, reality shows dedicated to weight...
View ArticleDoctor suggests social media may be cause of a viral twitching disorder
Seventeen teenage girls, a teenage boy and a woman in the small rural community of LeRoy, in western New York, have developed mysterious physical and verbal tics.Experts say social media may be helping...
View ArticlePoll finds vast majority of Massachusetts residents like Romneycare
About 62 percent of Massachusetts residents surveyed support the healthcare law that Mitt Romney approved five years ago, and just 33 percent oppose it, a new poll from WBUR Radio in Boston found.The...
View ArticleFDA panel recommends approval of anti-obesity drug
A FDA panel this week recommended that the weight loss drug Qnexa be approved for sale on the U.S. market.The pill is only for clinically obese people, and, if approved, would be the most effective...
View ArticleColor-blind artist uses sounds to 'see' color
When you walk into the produce section of a supermarket, you see yellow bananas, red peppers, green spinach. For Neil Harbisson, though, it’s all shades of gray.He’s color-blind.Harbisson, who’s...
View ArticleRecent studies show early exposure to everyday chemicals may have negative...
There are tens of thousands of chemicals in everyday products, but only a fraction of these have been tested for toxicity and health effects in the United StatesPerchloroethylene, also known as PERC,...
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New study says eating red meat increases risk of early death
Vegetarians have something to hold over their meat-eating friends.A new study from Harvard University suggests that eating red meat — practically any amount — increases your risk of early...
View ArticleControversy swirls over British plan to fitness test police officers
There's a debate raging in London, where people are talking about the physical fitness necessary for police officers.A recent survey found that 53 percent of officers were overweight and one in 100 was...
View ArticleIsrael passes law banning use of overly thin models
Israel passed a law earlier this week that bans local advertisers from using overly thin models in their campaigns.It also requires publications to disclose when images are altered to make models...
View ArticleNew report finds huge barriers for Native Americans needing emergency...
A new report from the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center found that women living on Native American reservations have a difficult time gaining access to Plan B emergency...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court begins considering constitutionality of healthcare reform
Some 25 states and a record 136 organizations, including the Montana Shooting Sports Association, filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to President Barack Obama’s landmark 2010 law to...
View ArticleCanada's First Nations communities wrecked by OxyContin addiction
Some 9,000 residents of Canada's First Nations communities are estimated to be addicted to OxyContin.That's readily apparent in Fort Hope, a small community some three hours by airplane from Toronto in...
View ArticleGermans struggle to understand American resistance to healthcare reform
Berlin, Germany’s biggest city, is a lot like many U.S. cities its size: There’s some violent crime, and there’s lots of traffic.But what Berlin doesn’t have, unlike a comparable American city, is a...
View ArticleRate of autism diagnoses rises dramatically, cause unknown
The rate of diagnoses for autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger syndrome, is on the rise. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of children...
View ArticleReligious, public health officials try to find common ground in fight against...
In the history of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, there’s long been a divide between public health advocates and churches.Religious leaders often promote ideas about HIV and the use of condoms that run...
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