Health - AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Lawyers for the biggest US tobacco maker went before the Supreme Court on Monday to argue that Washington is to blame if anyone felt tricked into thinking that light cigarettes are less dangerous than regular smokes.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - French and German scientists credited with the discovery of the viruses behind AIDS and cervical cancer won Monday the Nobel Medicine Prize, the first of the prestigious awards to be announced this year.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Exotic pets such lizards and more common animals like hamsters and hedgehogs pose a health risk to children and the elderly, a new study found Monday.

PARIS (AFP) - Tobacco use and smoke from coal and wood are likely to claim tens of millions of lives in China over the next quarter-century, according to a study published online on Saturday by the British journal The Lancet.

GENEVA (AFP) - Many countries have only recently fixed limits for industrial chemical melamine in food products, a World Health Organisation expert said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy seems more effective in treating complex psychiatric problems than short-term treatments focused more on medications, a meta-analysis has found.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has banned imports of Chinese milk products over a contamination scandal which has left thousands of babies ill in China, local media reported on Monday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - When people feel they have lost control of a situation they are often inclined to use paranoia or superstition as an explanation to establish some control, according to a study published in the journal Science.

PARIS (AFP) - People who take long spells of sick leave at least once in three years face a higher risk of early death, according to a study that could help doctors pinpoint patients with life-threatening problems.

LONDON (AFP) - Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy.

BEIJING (AFP) - China attempted Sunday to contain the fallout from the tainted milk scandal, announcing a new survey of dairy products showed no traces of melamine and promising to subsidise farmers hit by the scare.

PRETORIA (AFP) - South Africa's new health minister vowed Thursday to "get things right" in providing AIDS treatments, after years of missteps by her predecessor who had touted vegetables as a cure.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian public health officials were on the hunt Thursday for 27 bus passengers who came in contact with a man diagnosed with infectious tuberculosis on a US-bound bus.

DHAKA (AFP) - Mohammad Aminul Haq inspects a papaya in a central Dhaka food market but soon after picking it up, he returns it to its place on the fruit cart.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Acclaimed photojournalist James Nachtwey's dream of using images to marshal arms in the battle against tuberculosis is coming true with the help of technology titans.

BEIJING (AFP) - China has recalled milk powder sold abroad, a diplomatic source said Thursday, as it continues moves to contain the scandal over tainted milk that has sickened thousands of children.

BEIJING (AFP) - China has vowed to halt dairy exports until it can eliminate the threat from tainted milk that has sickened thousands in China and led to product recalls worldwide, a Japanese official said Thursday.

TOKYO (AFP) - Chinese authorities have promised not to export dairy products until their safety is guaranteed as a scare spreads over tainted Chinese milk, a Japanese official said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Vitamin C supplements may significantly reduce the effectiveness of several anti-cancer drugs, according to a new study published Wednesday.

GENEVA (AFP) - The health minister for Switzerland's Geneva canton said Wednesday that it could take until 2011 to reinstate a smoking ban overturned by a federal tribunal.

PARIS (AFP) - The AIDS virus, previously thought to have been transmitted from chimps to humans in the 1930s, may have leapt the species barrier more than a century ago in west-central Africa, scientists said on Wednesday.

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese authorities said Wednesday tests had found traces in nearly 12 percent of milk powder products of an industrial chemical that has so far sickened 53,000 children, killing four.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new test that can rapidly diagnose and identify human influenza infections and human bird flu, the agency announced.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy seems more effective in treating complex psychiatric problems than short-term treatments focused more on medications, a meta-analysis has found.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The discovery of a genetic link between obesity and colon cancer may pave the way for more effective screening tests for the disease, according to a study published Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - California on Tuesday became the first US state to force fast-food restaurant chains to post calorie information on menus and indoor menu boards, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said.

BEIJING (AFP) - China police have arrested 27 people as the probe intensifies into those responsible for the baby milk scandal that has sickened 53,000 children and spread around the world, state media said Tuesday.

BISSAU (AFP) - A cholera epidemic in Guinea-Bissau that erupted in May has claimed more lives, as the death toll surpassed 140 people while nearly 7,800 people have now been infected, hospital officials said Tuesday.