The current issue of Newsweek chronicles the history of influenza with pictures and illustrations dating back to the eigheenth century. The slideshow of images is available online. "It really puts things in perspective," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "The flu is serious stuff and something we still need to worry about."
The flu kills 30,000 to 40,000 Americans every year, and as ACSH's Jeff Stier points out, "Most of those deaths are preventable through widespread use of the flu vaccine."

Today marks the 33rd annual Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Smokers are encouraged to give up cigarettes today to jumpstart the process of eventually quitting for good.

New York, NY. The widespread belief that organic and so-called "natural foods" are safer than conventional ones is simply not true.
Scientists with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) point out that the foods that make up a traditional holiday dinner are loaded with "carcinogens": chemicals that in large doses cause cancer in laboratory animals. None of these chemicals are man-made or added to the foods. These "carcinogens" occur naturally in foods.

While it has been known for decades that people with HIV have an increased risk for certain types of cancers (such as Kaposi's sarcoma), a new study suggests that they are also more likely to develop cancers that haven't been traditionally associated with AIDS.

A survey finds, disturbingly, that a majority of primary care physicians feel overworked and that many are planning on either cutting back on the number of patients they see or quitting medicine entirely. "This issue says a lot about our healthcare system," notes ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.

As we approach yet another Great American Smokeout -- tomorrow, November 20th -- both good and bad news on smoking abounds.
•The good news is that adult smoking rates in 2007 have dropped below 20% for the first time since this statistic has been recorded with any accuracy. There are now more former smokers than current smokers, and women's smoking rates have declined for the fifth year in a row.

Although Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil is currently approved only for women between the ages of nine and twenty-six, several new studies suggest the vaccine could be beneficial for older women and even men. But should everyone who could potentially benefit from the vaccine be categorically encouraged to receive it -- especially considering Gardasil's high price tag?

Asthma is a chronic condition in which a person s airways occasionally become inflamed, which causes swelling that obstructs airflow to the lungs.

New York, NY -- November 11, 2008. Over 300 million people around the world live with asthma, a chronic condition that causes airways to become inflamed and obstructs airflow to the lungs, often causing shortness of breath and wheezing. Diagnoses of asthma have surged over the past 25 years in most developed countries. Each day, 11 people die from the disease in the United States.

In their Journal of the American Medical Association article (1), Lang et al. conclude that their findings of an association between urinary bisphenol A (BPA) and medical disorders are consistent with studies in laboratory animals -- and that their results support the contention that exposures to low doses of BPA have adverse effects in humans. Although the study deploys sophisticated statistical analyses in exploring this association, a careful examination of the research methodology raises questions about the validity of their conclusions.