Despite evidence that menthol cigarettes are a significant factor in the rise of smoking among adolescents, a federal advisory panel on Friday stopped short of recommending a ban on the cigarettes.
Instead, it urged further study of the issue, which suggested that the Food and Drug Administration would ultimately pursue more modest action, such as marketing restrictions aimed at reducing access for the young.
Tobacco industry brushes off call for FDA restrictions on menthol cigarettes
'Radiation is good for you,' says Ann Coulter as she weighs in on Japan's nuclear crisis
Conservative maverick Ann Coulter has poured scorn on growing fears over the fallout from Japan’s nuclear crisis by claiming that ‘radiation is good for you.’
The right wing commentator was attempting to quell concern that a radiation plume was due to hit America’s West Coast today after travelling 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from the damaged reactor at Fukishima.
Helen Thomas to Playboy: White House in pockets of the Israeli lobbies
Helen Thomas, former dean of the White House Press Corps, reportedly told Playboy in an interview for their April issue that Jews have power over the White House and Congress, who are in the pockets of the Israeli lobbies.
Thomas left her post at the White House after she publicly made anti-Israel comments last May, telling the Jews they should "get the hell out of Palestine." The former reporter told Playboy that the Israeli lobbies "are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There’s total control."
Guantanamo lawyers aren't happy with new work rules
With a new round of Guantanamo prosecutions on the horizon, a senior Pentagon official has ordered war court defense lawyers to sign freshly minted ground rules that not only gag what they can say to their alleged terrorist clients but also to the public.
Retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald issued the 26-page "protective order and procedures" for military and civilian lawyers who already have obtained special security clearances to work at the war court called Camp Justice.
U.S. attacked by opponents at U.N. human rights council
The United States was attacked for its human rights record on Friday as opponents including Cuba and Iran slammed its failure to close Guantanamo Bay and its decision to maintain military trials for terror suspects.
The Obama administration, which two years ago joined the U.N. Human Rights Council shunned by the Bush White House, was in the dock at the Geneva forum, whose 47 member completed an examination of the U.S. record begun last November.
Female soldiers' suicide rate triples when at war
The suicide rate for female soldiers triples when they go to war, according to the first round of preliminary data from an Army study. The findings, released to USA TODAY this week, show that the suicide rate rises from five per 100,000 to 15 per 100,000 among female soldiers at war.
Scientists are not sure why but say they will look into whether women feel isolated in a male-dominated war zone or suffer greater anxieties about leaving behind children and other loved ones. Even so, the suicide risk for female soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan is still lower than for men serving next to them, the $50 million study says.
US Immigrant Detentions Draw International Fire
Immigration enforcement in the United States is plagued by unjust treatment of detainees, including inadequate access to lawyers and insufficient medical care, and by the excessive use of prison-style detention, the human rights arm of the Organization of American States said Thursday.
The group, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, issued those findings in a report that also took aim at a federal program that allows county and state law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws.
Advisers back ban on menthol cigarettes
Banning sales of menthol-flavored cigarettes would improve public health, advisers have concluded in a draft report released on Friday.
"Removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States," said Dr. Mark Clanton of the American Cancer Society in summarizing the panel's findings. The committee was debating the findings before sending a final report to the Food and Drug Administration.
TVNL Comment: Really?! 450,000 Americans die of smoking related diseases every year.Wouldn't banning sales of ALL cigarettes improve public healt far more significantly? Just asking...
A Republican Fund-Raiser Is Indicted in a Ponzi Scheme
A prominent Republican fund-raiser was charged Wednesday in a federal grand jury indictment with orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The fund-raiser, Timothy Durham, 48, was arrested early in the morning at his West Hollywood home and charged with 12 counts of securities and wire fraud in federal court here.
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