"The EU s new tobacco policy statement, ostensibly designed to promote public health, will have the opposite effect: Far from reducing the toll of tobacco, millions will be condemned to ongoing addiction to smoking, half of whom will die as a direct result.
The World Health Organization predicts that if current trends continue, the likely toll of tobacco will amount to one billion lives cut short worldwide.

While the flu epidemic rages, reminding us that this viral contagion is nothing to be messed with, an ongoing epidemic has taken a bit of a back seat. Pertussis, or whooping cough, struck the highest number of Americans in 2012 since the days of President Eisenhower.

Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president and founder of the American Council on Science and Health, sent the following letter to the editor of the New York Post in response to their Dec. 23, 2012, article, Big pay, low payoff at NYC nonprofit.

Women who have migraines with aura pre-headache symptoms that include visions of flashing lights or zigzag lines, for example may face a higher risk for cardiovascular problems, a new study suggests.
The study, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in March, included data on close to 28,000 women enrolled in the ongoing Women s Health Study at Brigham and Women s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

It may be beneficial to have the hearing of young children tested more frequently, according to a new study published in the Journal of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics. Currently, children are screened at birth and then just before entering kindergarten.

A randomized, controlled trial is known as the gold standard when it comes to medical research but electronic medical records are paving the way for wily scientists to conduct other types of research.

There has not been a day that has passed in the last few weeks where we have not been bombarded with news stories pertaining to the current flu season and the apparent epidemic. And most of these stories urge individuals to go out and get the flu vaccine if one has not yet done so. However, pertussis (whooping cough) has taken a backseat amidst all this hype, even though in 2012, it struck the highest number of Americans since the days of President Eisenhower, writes ACSH s Dr.

Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? The answer to this thorny question is simple No. Sick and immunocompromised hospital patients should not need to fear being infected with the flu virus by those charged with ministering to them, and healthcare workers should not have to also deal with ill medical workers who didn t get immunized, nor bear their sick co-employees share of the burden.

A recent study examining racial differences in blood pressure and risk of stroke, revealed that African-Americans with hypertension are three times more likely to have a stroke than their white counterparts.
Dr. George Howard and colleagues reviewed files for 27,748 African-American and white men and women over 45 years old, and followed them for 4.5 years. The participants in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) were the subjects of this study.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming very common among children, especially those who have been diagnosed with chronic health conditions such as asthma, says a new study. But your child s pediatrician is not likely to inquire about these practices, and parents may not provide this information voluntarily either, increasing the potential for harmful interactions with conventional treatments.