Apparently, the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in sodas has too much fructose. According to researchers at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine who tested 23 cans and bottles of popular sodas, the HFCS in the sodas contains as much as 65 percent fructose, as opposed to the standard 55 percent.

CBS 2 News reported yesterday that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found at “alarmingly high levels” in three New York City schools, falsely reporting the chemicals were banned three decades ago after being “proven to pose serious risks to children’s immune system and brain development.” PCBs were actually banned in 1979 because they were considered carcinogenic, but — as so often is the case — they were labeled “carcinogens” based only on studies of laboratory animals.

Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline and India’s Panacea Biotec have formulated an oral bivalent polio vaccine — capable of protecting against two strains of the virus — that has proven more effective than the previously used vaccines, according to a study published in The Lancet yesterday.

USA Today reports on a rather fragrant University of Washington study alleging that the most popular scented consumer products, including many "eco-friendly" ones, are chock full of “hazardous” chemicals that their labels fail to disclose.

Pregnant women whose doctors recommended the H1N1 swine flu vaccine were almost seven times more likely to get the shot than those whose doctors didn t recommend it,according to a survey of 300 women at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del. An aggressive pro-vaccine campaign at the hospital resulted in 62 percent of admitted pregnant women getting shots, researcher Marci Drees, M.D., told reporters at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

When Roslyn, Washington authorities responded to an off-campus University residence on Oct. 8 and found unconscious and semiconscious party-goers scattered throughout the building, they feared the mostly female victims had been unknowingly fed a date-rape drug.

The World Health Organization is standing by its estimates of malaria deaths following an article in the Lancet last week suggesting that far more die from the disease than previously thought.

Dallas-area black men have been getting more than just fades, buzzcuts and something off the top while visiting their local barbershop. As part of a public health intervention study, barbers in an intervention group of eight black-owned barbershops were trained to take customers blood pressure, and offered patrons a free reading with each cut while telling them a model story about real people getting their blood pressure under control.

After surveying 50 states and the District of Columbia to document their 2009 Medicaid tobacco-dependence treatment coverage, the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the CDC, found that 47 programs offered the coverage. Since Medicaid enrollees have almost double the smoking rate of the general adult population — 37 percent versus 21 percent — insurers should provide better access and support for people who wish to quit smoking in order to improve public

Americans may be singing the obesity blues for a while after the FDA announced Saturday that it has rejected Arena Pharmaceuticals’ weight-loss drug lorcaserin due to tumor findings in animal studies that the agency fears might indicate a risk of cancer in humans. The FDA is also set to announce by Thursday a final decision for Vivus Inc.’s weight-loss drug Qnexa, which a panel voted against by a 10-to-6 vote in July, citing safety concerns such as birth defects, depression, and an increased heart rate.