We can all celebrate today with any large sugary drink of our choosing, as New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg s ban on a wide swath of sweetened beverages was blocked by Justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He called the ban arbitrary and capricious, citing the fact that the ban only applied to some drinks in certain food establishments.

Should we be giving even more shots against pertussis (whooping cough)? A new study is showing that the pertussis vaccine isn t as long-lasting as was originally thought.

In yet another case of a provocative, but largely inaccurate headline, aspirin is a big item in the news today. The 100+ year-old drug in addition to being used for pain and fever is widely used to prevent heart attacks and strokes. But a group at Stanford University School of Medicine believes that, possibly because of its anti-inflammatory properties, aspirin may decrease the risk of malignant melanoma.

Seductive additive boosting addiction or harmless flavoring? ACSH examines the evidence on and complexities regarding menthol as an ingredient in tobacco products, an ingredient whose banning is often debated. This paper updates a previous research paper on the same subject.

In a move that borders on hilarious (unless you happen to live there, in which case it's anything but) Nevada state Sen. Tick Segerblom is pushing for a law that he believes will address the growing problem of opiate addiction. The new measure would permit patients who become addicted to painkillers to sue the doctors who prescribed the medications, as well as the manufacturers that made the drug.

A simple skin exam can significantly reduce the odds of being diagnosed with invasive melanoma, according to a new study. And these results hold true for patients who have had even a single skin exam as compared to those patients with no history of dermatologic examination.

We re not the only ones who think there s something really fishy about how the Obama administration is delaying AquaBounty s application to sell genetically modified salmon.

In a finding that is sure to have the Natural Resources Defense Council ordering their vassals at Mother Jones to insist we are shills for Big Gel Manicure, we have noted that correlation between gel manicures - used to prevent nail from chipping - and cancer was not good science. It wasn't even good epidemiology.
If two women get cancer and have no family of history of cancer but both had gel manicures, that is not worth claiming they cause cancer - it is simply that cancer can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The latest food scare du jour involves an online petition by moms Lisa Leake and Vani Hari of North Carolina asking Kraft to remove Yellow Dyes No. 5 and 6 from their mac and cheese.

U.S. life expectancy at birth is among the lowest of all high-income countries. While analysis of the reasons for this unpleasant reality are complex, one example of the recent research into possible explanations showed that the lower life expectancy was largely due to premature deaths of those age 50 and younger compared to their counterparts in other industrialized nations.