The fact that Sen. Obama was a smoker is old news, since he quit. Right? Think again.

The stories that have explored this issue all missed the point: Obama's history of smoking raises questions about his current and future health.

Some, like Jake Tapper, have suggested that Obama was...

Turns out the truth doesn't matter. The New York City Health Department is standing by TV ads that show children allegedly sickened by exposure to second hand smoke. Only problem is, the deathly-ill kids weren't actually known to be exposed to smoke. They were just stock footage of diseased kids....

• not as well tested as the product it is meant to replace
• quickly becoming popular in offices and homes -- including homes with young children
• manufactured by some of the world's largest and most profitable companies
• possibly responsible for debilitating migraine headaches
• a risk for...

Be careful!

It turns out that accidents are a fast-growing cause of death in the country. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced last week that there were 167,184 injury deaths in 2004 alone. This news made headlines in your local papers last week. But of the many...

The days when you could count on hard news in the morning are long over. But as the morning news extends from breakfast to brunch, the standards have fallen even more.

As New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley pointed out in a column entitled "Morning TV Veers From...

He finally threw down the gauntlet.

For years, Boston University School of Public Health Professor Dr. Michael Siegel has been skeptically questioning a particularly ominous allegation regarding the dangers of secondhand smoke. According to ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) and other groups, "Even for people without [certain] respiratory conditions,...

The news of a marked increase in adverse drug events reported to the FDA is sure to be one more arrow for those taking aim at "big pharma" and the FDA. The criticism is off target, however, because it fails to take into account the new ways drugs are being...

For once, I agree with the scary tabloid headlines. BBC is reporting that "modern living" is to blame for the "cancer epidemic."

Well, I do agree, but just a little bit. Modern living is playing a major role in the fact that people are dying of cancer. But...

Something unusual happened to me. I wrote an op-ed for the New York Post and nobody wrote to tell me they disagreed. Yet the policies I am arguing for are certainly not the norm. I argued in favor of incentives to promote organ donations.

I suggested that last week's...

In the wake of the contaminated Chinese food scare, there have been calls to require "country of origin" labels on food. While on its face, the prospect of more information sounds appealing, it would actually be a mistake to require country of origin labeling. It's not where your food...

The Vatican's "Ten Commandments" for drivers is pretty unusual. And while it will no doubt be fodder for late-night TV, it has some good messages about being careful. The commandments, predictably enough, also warn that a car can be an "occasion of sin," and I don't think they are...

The New York Blood Center is predicting a real crisis as this summer winds down. They, and other blood centers around the country, are warning that they will run dangerously low as Labor Day approaches. Cancer patients may have to delay life-saving procedures until the blood supply is replenished. But...

New Jersey students may soon have one more weight to carry -- their own. A new state office is considering adding an assessment of students' weight to their report cards.

Clearly, childhood obesity is a problem that needs to be addressed.

While well intentioned, this approach is misguided; it's unlikely...

The Today show's Matt Lauer wins today's award for the sorriest apology.

Lauer, who earlier criticized New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine for not wearing a seatbelt, did an on-air, in-car interview with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Neither man buckled up during their drive through New Hampshire. Oops.

Matt Lauer...

With drugs like Avandia and Vioxx competing for bad news lately, the one with the worst rap deserves it the least.

Its manufacturer lied about its addictive nature and is paying hefty fines, doctors are going to jail for supplying it to drug rings and everyone from Rush Limbaugh to...

Yet again, another study points to the dangers of vitamin supplements. The latest study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that heavy use of multi-vitamins doubled a man's risk of dying of prostate cancer. The study is by no means conclusive. And any college level...

At a time when research dollars are dwindling, this one really leaves me scratching my head: Babies who are conceived between June and August aren't as smart as the rest of us. Or at least they don't score as well on state exams. This, according to Dr. Paul Winchester of...

I've been told by many that you haven't experienced a mango until you've had one from India. But until this week, you'd have had to travel pretty far to get one.

Indian mangoes were barred from the U.S. because they can harbor an insect pest - the mango seed weevil....

You Are What You Grow. That's the title of Michael Pollan's most recent New York Times Magazine article. In it, he argues that the U.S. Farm Bill is a villain in our obesity crisis, especially for the poor. If only the government incented farmers to grow more broccoli instead...

A Food and Drug Administration panel voted overwhelmingly not to approve the Merck painkiller Arcoxia last week. This is bad news for consumers for many reasons.

The 20 of 21 panel members who recommended against approval, presumably, reasoned that this Cox-2 inhibitor, like its relative Vioxx, came with...