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A doctor s op-ed in today s NYTimes expresses eloquently the frustration felt by conscientious care-givers over the bureaucratic hassles engendered by preferred drug formularies, supposedly aimed at saving money. Do they, really?

The ban on super-sized sodas was finally defeated in New York City, but the attack on sugary beverages is far from over. Last week, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced a bill in the House the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Act of 2014 that would put a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks of a penny per teaspoon

There are now multiple ongoing discussions about Sovaldi, Gilead s revolutionary drug for treating hepatitis C. The arguments are more or less

Dr. Gilbert Ross and Dr. Michael R. Hufford in the National Review Online, August 5, 2014.
Today approximately 14,000 people will die of tobacco-related diseases around the world. The same will

Dr. Gilbert Ross and Dr. Michael R. Hufford in the Nicotine Science and Policy blog
Today approximately 14,000

Catch the latest news on declining sale of traditional cigarettes, how BMI affects mortality in older adults, and how another major case of religious exemptions against vaccines is putting lives at risk in one Florida community

All the Big Tobacco companies who have reported on their latest sales figures have noted significant declines in cigarette sales (in terms of numbers of cigarettes sold). How come no one in public health officialdom has taken note?

For many years Body Mass Index, or BMI, has been the go-to index for establishing trends in population weights, and has also been used to establish what are the best BMIs to avoid certain ailments such as diabetes as well as early death. It has been widely accepted that the relationship of BMI and risk of death, or mortality, is J- or U-shaped.

Over the past couple of years, we ve seen the re-emergence of a number of vaccine preventable diseases, mainly pertussis (whooping cough) and measles. And the majority of these cases are among individuals who have not

New international review of studies of e-cigarettes confirms the obvious (to most): these devices offer much less risk to smokers trying to quit than cigarettes, and regulation should be proportionate not prohibitive.

In a hard-hitting op-ed in today s NY Times, food writer Ruth Reichl takes the FDA to task for not taking strong action to limit or ban the use of antibiotics in food animals.

New York City is now considering putting a ten-cent fee on each plastic bag used by customers, previously provided free of charge. Although this was initially suggested during Bloomberg s term,

In spite of repeated warnings, many Americans run the risk of the potentially lethal skin cancer, melanoma, by insisting on acquiring a tan either from the sun or from indoor tanning beds. According to a call to action by acting Surgeon General Boris D. Lushniak, over 63,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the United States each year, and 9,000 people die from it.0

Maine s toxic chemicals likely to expand, based on science-free consumer concerns: hyper-precaution as usual. This goes way past even the hyper-precautionary federal Environmental Protection Agency.

According to questionnaires administered by the World Health Organization, about 1.5 billion people or 31 percent of the world s population is sedentary, meaning they do not get the 150 minutes

Seems like old times: a few expensive new drugs (although money-saving in the long-term) lead to renewed calls for negotiated prices for Medicare patients price controls. Short-term savings are short-sighted however: politicians think long-term is the next election.

Past research on the efficacy of low calorie sweeteners (LCS) for weight loss has had mixed results, with some studies showing no effect, and some indicating such sweeteners can be helpful. A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition perhaps can explain these discrepancies.

Earlier this month, Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced a bill that would ban BPA from food and beverage containers cleverly titled the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2014.

A Colorado court this past week declared that state law is responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry, including the technology of hydraulic fracturing of shale

Catch the latest news on Ground Zero cancer reports, Kennedy's new anti-vaccine propaganda, and which state jumped on the GMO labeling bandwagon.

The headline blares, 2,500 Ground Zero workers have cancer. Such alarmist headlines serve neither medicine nor journalism, but do get your attention, which seems to be the goal.

Oregon is now joining the ranks of states trying to pass GMO labeling laws. Advocates for the labeling law collected about 118,000

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is putting out a book called, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury a Known Neurotoxin from Vaccines.

The latest news on HPV vaccination rates, GM crop increase, and Dr. Ross' latest speaking engagement

Considering the sound and fury surrounding anti-GMO activists pronouncements on genetically engineered crops, one might think these improved varieties are on the way out that farmers would be shunning them. But recent research from the USDA s Economic Research Service (ERS) demonstrates that nothing could be further from the truth.