Health
Latest stories
Stoned Driving Epidemic Puts Wrinkle in Pot Debate

Angeline Chilton says she can't drive unless she smokes pot.

The suburban Denver woman uses medical marijuana to ease multiple sclerosis symptoms and says she'd never get behind the wheel right after smoking. But her case underscores a problem that no one's sure how to solve: How do you tell if someone is too stoned to drive?

W140 Full Story
Venezuela's Chavez to Get Radiation Treatment Soon

Ailing President Hugo Chavez, just back from cancer surgery in Cuba, said Saturday he would start radiation treatments "in the coming days," amid rising drama over his health as he seeks reelection late his year.

"Now I have to start radiation in the coming days to attack any new threat. This cancer is not going to be the end of Chavez," the leftist president told supporters at Miraflores Palace, without saying if he would be treated in Venezuela or Cuba, his main regional ally.

W140 Full Story
Beauty Queen Shaves Head for Cancer Research Money

The Miss Alaska pageant requires contestants to perform a public service project. Under Debbe Ebben's silver tiara is evidence of hers.

W140 Full Story
Dutch Recommend Removal of PIP Implants Done Before 2001

Dutch health authorities on Thursday recommended the removal of breast implants manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese that were done before 2001.

"Women who had a PIP breast implant before 2001 should have themselves examined by a doctor and, in consultation, eventually have the implants removed," the Dutch government's health watchdog said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
'Pink Slime' Critics Fight Ammonia-Treated Meat

"Pink slime" just went from a simmer to a boil.

In less than a week earlier this month, the stomach-turning epithet for ammonia-treated ground beef filler suddenly became a potent rallying cry by activists fighting to ban the product from supermarket shelves and school lunch trays.

W140 Full Story
Study Says White Rice Link Seen with Type 2 Diabetes

Health researchers said on Thursday they had found a troubling link between higher consumption of rice and Type 2 diabetes, a disease that in some countries is becoming an epidemic.

Further work is needed to probe the apparent association and diets that are notoriously high in sugar and fats should remain on the no-go list, they cautioned.

W140 Full Story
U.N. Agency Says 1.4 Million Risk Hunger in Syria

Civil unrest is increasing the risk of hunger for 1.4 million people in Syria, which must raise cereal imports by a third to offset a loss in output, the United Nations' food agency said Thursday.

"Continued civil unrest in the Syrian Arab Republic since mid-March 2011 has raised serious concern over the state of food security, particularly for vulnerable groups," the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Study Shows Sedentary Life Amplifies Obesity Genes

A sedentary lifestyle can amplify a genetic disposition to obesity, but just walking briskly, and briefly, each day can cut that effect in half, a new study showed Wednesday.

"This is the first study that directly looked at the effect of the sedentary behavior of television watching on the body mass index (BMI) of individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity," said study author Qibin Qi authors at a conference by the American Heart Association this week in San Diego, California.

W140 Full Story
Egyptians Design 'Faster, Cheaper' Hepatitis C Test

The American University in Cairo said Wednesday that a team of its researchers has designed a faster and cheaper test for all types of hepatitis C, which it says affects about 10 million Egyptians.

The development "reduces the two-step testing process carried out over a number of days to a one-step process that takes less than an hour... at a fraction of the cost of traditional diagnostic protocols," the university said.

W140 Full Story
S. Korea to Approve Viagra Generics

Three South Korean pharmaceutical firms will soon be allowed to produce generic versions of the anti-impotence drug Viagra despite a row over patents, officials said Wednesday.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration said generic products made by the three local firms have passed a "bioequivalence" test.

W140 Full Story