After 300,000 job losses in the pharmaceutical industry in the past decade, some Novartis employees in Switzerland finally took a stand, writes ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom in his latest blog post for Medical Progress Today. Read his Occupy Route de l Eztraz entry here.

The winner of today's "Too Little, Too Late" contest goes to the workers at Novartis' Nyon-Prangins site in western Switzerland. Upset by the announcement that Novartis would be closing the plant and firing more than 300 people, the plant workers went on a one-day strike, shutting down all operations at the site where consumer products OTC manufacturing and R&D are based. Even some of the scientists got involved. These job cuts are part of 2,000 announced worldwide layoffs, half of which will be in Switzerland.

Recent statistics on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States offer mixed news about the prevalence of these illnesses among Americans. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that, while new syphilis infection rates have fallen slightly in 2010, STDs still take an enormous toll on the country, with 19 million new STD infections each year in the U.S., costing the country $17 billion on an annual basis.

Continuing the long but not so honorable tradition of slinging anti-chemical accusations against safe consumer products, the Breast Cancer Fund, a group that targets environmental factors they claim are related to breast cancer, has reported that a variety of canned Thanksgiving foods contain concerning levels of bisphenol-A (BPA).

In a typically misguided effort, the organization Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), which purportedly advocates for public health, testified to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that there should be more stringent regulation of the supposedly dangerous chemicals in our environment.

Being able to treat a bacterial infection with an effective antibiotic is something that we in the developed world have come to take for granted. But the ease with which we're currently able to conquer so many bacterial illnesses may soon come to an end, according to an article in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Birth control pills are one of the most effective methods of preventing unintended pregnancy so one wonders how the pills could give men cause for concern.

True to form, the E.U. continues down the path of hyper-caution and decided Monday to ban the use of X-ray body scanners in all European airports in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens health and safety, the European Commission stated.

The evidence supporting the benefits of using statins to reduce cardiovascular events has been well documented, especially in the prevention of subsequent events in people who have suffered a heart attack (secondary prevention). But do different statin drugs differ in their ability to reduce plaque build-up and reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels?

Today marks the 36th annual Great American Smokeout a yearly event sponsored by the American Cancer Society that encourages smokers to quit for at least one day in the hope that it will eventually lead to quitting for good.