The illicit tobacco trade is running rampant, say some members of Congress, and they re introducing the aptly named Smuggled Tobacco Prevention (STOP) Act as a solution to this black market business. Cosponsored by an additional 118 members of the House of Representatives, the STOP Act hopes to recoup at least $5 billion in lost tobacco tax revenues while also keeping contraband cigarettes off the market. In order to accomplish this, all tobacco products manufactured in or imported to the U.S.

Current FDA conflict of interest rules for advisory panels on drugs and medical devices are stifling innovation and preventing promising new treatments from getting to market, says Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). That s exactly why she, in collaboration with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), is proposing to reverse 2007 legislation that barred experts with financial ties to pharmaceutical companies from serving on an advisory panel without a waiver.

Exciting results from a final stage clinical trial of an experimental malaria vaccine reveal that African children s risk of contracting malaria after being vaccinated was reduced by half.
Called RTS,S or Mosquirix, the GlaxoSmithKline-developed shot was administered in three doses to half of a group of 6,000 five-to-17-month-olds in seven sub-Saharan African countries, while a control group received other vaccines and not the malaria vaccine.

Parents can cut in half the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by making sure their newborns immunizations are on schedule. That s part of the latest recommendation issued yesterday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the organization s national meeting in Boston.

If you happen to be a fan of ACSH Director of Pharmaceutical Sciences Dr. Josh Bloom s frequently irreverent interjections in our Dispatch, we recommend that you check out his blog posts over at Medical Progress Today, where he will be a regular contributor. There, he will have more space to devote to analyzing select issues with his customary cheekiness.

In yesterday s Dispatch, we noted how a disconcerting number of U.S. cities are opting out of fluoridated drinking water. We mentioned that this public health practice reduces the incidence of tooth decay by 25 percent nationwide. Well, it turns out that we actually understated the importance of water fluoridation for dental health. Dr. Chic Schissel, a dentist and friend of ACSH, wrote in to polish up our statistics:

While we d rather not pick up the line, it appears that unnecessary fears about cell phones are in the news again. A study just published in a journal called Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine has called into question the current guidelines for estimating how much microwave radiation most people receive from their cell phones.

There has lately been much debate about how often women should be screened for breast cancer. In 2009 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that the standard age for routine screening be raised from 40 to 50, while advising that the frequency be reduced from yearly to once every other year.

In her latest opinion article for Food Safety News, lawyer Michele Simon sets out to condemn the food industry s influence on the annual conference of the American Dietetic Association.