U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Myriad Genetics' disputed patent on the BRCA1 breast cancer gene is "surprisingly broad" and could interfere with future research, three experts said on Tuesday.

PepsiCo spent $5 million in 4th quarter lobbying government on food safety, childhood obesity. PepsiCo Inc. spent $5 million in the fourth quarter to lobby the government on taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, food safety and other matters, according to a recent disclosure report.

Anheuser-Busch spent $690,000 in fourth quarter lobbying goverment on taxes, food safety. Anheuser-Busch, the U.S. unit of ABInbev, spent $690,000 in the fourth quarter to lobby the government on excise taxes, food safety and matters relating to the alcohol industry, according to a recent disclosure report.

Beer Institute spent $160,000 in fourth quarter lobbying government on taxes, labeling. The Beer Institute spent $160,000 in the fourth quarter to lobby on labeling, taxes and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday it would reexamine its policy that bans gay men from donating blood. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday it would reexamine its policy that bans gay men from donating blood, the 'Los Angeles Times' reported. The FDA currently imposes a lifetime ban on men who have had a sexual relationship with another man since 1977 from donating blood. But the agency only excludes people who have engaged in heterosexual sexual activity with a person know to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, for one year. Gay rights groups have said the policy creates an unfair double standard and that it stigmatizes gay men. The announcement comes after Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, along with 17 Democratic lawmakers, wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking the agency to reverse the policy. The lawmakers argue that the ban specifically singles out gay men and is ?scientifically unsound,? in their March 4 letter. ?Prospective don

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More 12-year-olds in the United States admit to using potentially deadly inhalants to get high than have used marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens combined, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More 12-year-olds in the United States admit to using potentially deadly inhalants to get high than have used marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens combined, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Pharmaceutical industry group spent $6.3M lobbying in Q4, on health overhaul, other issues. The pharmaceutical industry's main trade group spent $6.3 million in the fourth quarter lobbying Congress, the White House and multiple government agencies on health care provisions and related issues, according to a quarterly disclosure report.

The head of the Health and Human Services Department is sketching out a stark choice for the nation's insurers: oppose reform and eventually lose customers, or work with the Obama administration to improve the legislation.

HHS secretary challenges health insurers to back Obama's system overhaul _ or else. The head of the Health and Human Services Department is sketching out a stark choice for the nation's insurers: oppose reform and eventually lose customers, or work with the Obama administration to improve the legislation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health insurers should post information about rising premiums for certain customers on their company websites to justify rising costs, the U.S. health secretary said in a letter to several insurers on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First, people were clamoring for H1N1 vaccines, but there were not enough to go around. By the time vaccines were available in any quantity, most of the public had lost interest.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With an aim of getting experimental new drugs to people quicker, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health announced a plan on Wednesday to work more closely together.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With an aim of getting experimental new drugs to people quicker, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health announced a plan on Wednesday to work more closely together.

Dozens of workers at a plant in eastern China that supplies parts for Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, are being treated for chemical poisoning, authorities said Wednesday.

Prospects uncertain for Obama's health care compromise; 31 million would get coverage. President Barack Obama is putting forward a nearly $1 trillion, 10-year health care plan that would allow the government to deny or roll back egregious insurance premium increases that infuriated consumers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will pitch his bid to revamp the U.S. healthcare system as a way to control big insurance company rate increases when he releases his healthcare plan on Monday, the White House said.

Orphaned by war, disaster: World's refugee children seeking more foster homes in the US. Hiding from merciless militiamen and trekking through unforgiving mountainous terrain, Madhel Majok escaped the mass slayings and genocide of the Sudan that killed his parents. The 9-year-old orphan fled to neighboring Kenya, where he then survived vigilante shellings on his crowded refugee camp.

Orphaned by war, disaster: World's refugee children seeking more foster homes in the US. Hiding from merciless militiamen and trekking through unforgiving mountainous terrain, Madhel Majok escaped the mass slayings and genocide of the Sudan that killed his parents. The 9-year-old orphan fled to neighboring Kenya, where he then survived vigilante shellings on his crowded refugee camp.

Thanks but no thanks: Most states pass on their share of $5B in stimulus cash for welfare jobs. Desperate though they are to fill gaps in their budgets, more than half the states in the country haven't touched a $5 billion pot of federal stimulus funds meant to find work for welfare recipients.