Although some version of the intrauterine device (IUD) has been available for female contraception since the 1970s, side effects both large and small prevented most women from considering it a valid option. However, advances in design and usage have resulted in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists formal endorsement of the device for all healthy adult women.

The Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) has resulted in the Association s adoption of a bevy of new public safety policies that have little (or nothing) to do with the actual safety of the public. Among the Association s new policies are its official stance against bisphenol A (BPA) and their support of the Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) national mercury emissions standards for cement plants. ACHS's Dr.

In Tuesday s Wall Street Journal, Melinda Beck investigates the efficacy of the ubiquitous multivitamin. What she uncovers, in fact, is that the majority of us don t need one at all. Beck points to a 2007 National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel, which concluded that the present evidence is insufficient to recommend either for or against the use of [multivitamins and minerals] by the American public to prevent chronic disease.

The FDA s proposed new graphic warning labels on cigarette packs are causing a stir among pundits and, of course, tobacco companies. The labels depict in lurid detail some of the consequences of tobacco use, such as diseased teeth and gums, and a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole. Yet the real question is whether the imagery will have any impact on the hundreds of thousands of people who take up smoking each year.

Yay! Summer arrived today which means many kids are eager to cool off in a backyard pool. A new study, however, warns that even portable pools can pose a significant drowning risk.

For the first time, FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg is publicly addressing the growing problem of monitoring the safety of imported food, drugs, and medical devices in her new report, Pathway to Global Safety and Quality. Currently, more than 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) sold in the U.S. are manufactured overseas, and in 2008, government officials estimated it would take the FDA 13 years to inspect each foreign drug manufacturing plant. Dr.

ACSH staffers this morning lauded Los Angeles Times writer Elena Conis for her comprehensive and informative article on the many benefits of food irradiation, an effective yet underused method of preventing food-borne infection that has been around for the last century.

A bipartisan bill introduced to Congress by Georgia Republican Phil Gingrey the Generating Antibiotics Incentives Now (GAIN) Act attempts to spur interest among pharmaceutical companies to develop new and effective antibiotics, traditionally an unprofitable sector of the drug market. The new bill hopes to change all that by creating certain incentives.

Speaking of cancer, the American Cancer Society announced some good news on Friday: Cancer death rates are continuing to decline and, best of all, new cases of lung cancer among women are falling after having steadily increased since the 1930s.