Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday ordered health authorities to buy up swine flu vaccine for the country’s entire 7.5 million population, his office said. The decision came at the end of a meeting with top health officials to discuss measures to tackle the H1N1 virus that has so far killed one person and infected thousands in Israel.|Full Story
Teenagers who live with alcoholic fathers or even dads who drink in moderation are more likely to have used drugs or had drinks themselves in the past year, a US study showed Thursday. Around one in five children aged 12 to 17 whose fathers were teetotalers in the past year had alcoholic beverages themselves.|Full Story
GlaxoSmithKline's chief executive acknowledged on Friday that overhauling its drug discovery machine had been traumatic but said "turning back the clock" on R&D was now delivering results. "It's been a major upheaval and I'd be the first to admit that a year ago morale in our discovery organization was not very good.|Full Story
Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on Friday proposed banning six commonly-used chemicals in soft vinyl toys and child-care articles, as well as new strict limits for lead in products. The regulation would prevent the use of a family of chemicals (known as phthalates DEHP, DINP, DBP, BBP, DNOP and DIDP) in squeeze or inflatable toys, dolls, animal figures, school supplies and vinyl bibs.|Full Story
Global health funding boosted by private donors has quadrupled since 1990, but the extra money has not always gone to the right countries and diseases, according to a pair of studies released Friday. At the same time, the United Nation's once overwhelming role in administering international health assistance has shriveled.|Full Story
Japanese researchers say stress is responsible for graying hair, but it's not psychological stress that damages the cells responsible for the color in hair. Genotoxic stress, or stress from things such as ultraviolet light, certain chemicals and ionizing radiation, mutagens that are capable of altering a gene, damages DNA.|Full Story
A vegetarian version of the Atkins low-carb diet may help people lose weight and lower levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, Canadian researchers said on Monday. A small, month-long study of the so-called Eco-Atkins diet, which stresses plant proteins, worked better than a high-carb diet at reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein or LDL.|Full Story
