Environmental Health

"Virginia banned smoking in most restaurants a month ago -- and not all of them mind. North Carolina follows suit."

"Sen. Max Baucus, one of Montana's two senators and a chief figure in the federal government's attempt to pass health care reform, added a provision to the U.S. Senate version of the bill that would expand Medicare coverage to 'individuals exposed to environmental health hazards.'"

The first case of Marburg virus, a deadly relative of Ebola, has been reported in North America. A Colorado traveler brought it home after contact with bats in a cave in Uganda.

"One in 110 American children are considered to fall somewhere along the autism spectrum, according to the latest report released by the federal government. The new figure, which was released initially in October, comes from the most comprehensive set of data yet on the developmental health of eight-year-olds."

"Rates of black-lung disease are growing, most notably among younger miners, reversing decades of progress and prompting more federal scrutiny and calls to lower exposure to coal dust."

"Mercury exposure in the United States increases with age, then starts tapering off when people turn 50, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study released today."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration doesn't plan to propose new rules aimed at ending black lung disease until September 2010, and it remains unclear if those rules will include lowering the legal limit on coal dust that causes the deadly disease."

"In some hardscrabble East Bay neighborhoods, people die of heart disease and cancer at three times the rates found just a few miles away in more well-to-do communities. Children living near busy freeways in Oakland are hospitalized for asthma at 12 times the rate of young people in Lafayette's wooded housing tracts."

"A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in Scandinavia shows no link between cellphone use and brain tumors, researchers reported on Thursday."

"A study released Wednesday which found that nine of 10 babies tested were born with bisphenol A in their systems has renewed calls for the chemical to be banned."