Bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts are under fire: The World Health Organization threw its global weight behind years of experts’ warnings and declared Monday that processed meats raise the risk of colon and stomach cancer and that red meat is probably harmful, too. Meat producers are angry, vegetarians are… Read More

Marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over a decade, rising to almost 10 percent or more than 22 million mostly recreational users, government surveys show. Almost 1 in 3 users had signs of marijuana dependence or abuse, which – surprisingly – is a slight decline from a decade ago. The… Read More

The Obama administration admitted Thursday it expects to fall short of enrollment goals next year, and indicated that their registration gains may be losing steam. With the 2016 sign-up season two weeks away, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell set a new target of 10 million people enrolled… Read More

How do you curb the alcoholism crisis in Russia? Some Russian officials are daring to think the seemingly unthinkable in the land of vodka — banning the sale of alcohol once a week in the country’s two main cities. Although the initiative is only in its infancy, both the head… Read More

Now you see it, now you don’t. A new type of heart stent that works like dissolving stitches, slowly going away after it has done its job, passed its first major test in a large study, doctors said Monday. Abbott Vascular’s dissolving Absorb stent performed as well as a conventional… Read More

Opponents of an effort to repeal California’s new stricter law requiring mandatory vaccines for school children failed to submit enough signatures to qualify for a ballot initiative asking voters to repeal the law, according to some reports. County election clerks reported receiving fewer than 234,000 of the 366,000 signatures needed to… Read More