John Dalli

With menthol cigarettes to be banned and cigarette packs sold with repulsive images of rotting lungs, the European Union released new anti-tobacco proposals Wednesday, the first in over a decade.

Former Maltese foreign minister Tonio Borg was appointed the European Union's new health commissioner after a vote in the European parliament on Wednesday.

European lawmakers have approved the nomination of former Maltese foreign minister Tonio Borg, a well-known Catholic conservative, to the EU's top health job, according to documents seen by AFP Thursday.

Malta has nominated its foreign minister to replace the EU's top health official after the previous one resigned amid allegations he sought to sell his influence to the tobacco industry.

The EU executive faced a growing scandal Wednesday after its top health official resigned on being cited in a tobacco-linked influence-peddling fraud probe.

The European Union's top health official John Dalli resigned in an almost unprecedented move Tuesday after being cited in an EU anti-fraud probe into a tobacco-linked influence-peddling claim.

A breast implant scandal affecting thousands of women this year damaged confidence and highlighted the need to tighten controls in Europe on everyday medical devices, the European Commission said Wednesday.

Germany's Bayreuth Festival held its opening gala Wednesday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel among the guests, days after weathering a scandal over an opera singer's Nazi tattoo.

Europe last year saw its first drop in the number of toxic toys and skin-irritating textiles stacked on its supermarket shelves, more than half of them made in China, the EU said Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - There is no need for radical reform of Europe's medical device regulation system in the wake of a scandal over French PIP breast implants, Britain's medical regulator said on Thursday, but some improvements should be made to the current system.

The European Union's executive arm urged governments on Thursday to tighten controls of medical devices after faulty French-made breast implants sparked a global health scare.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments should strengthen safety controls on high-risk medical devices by using spot checks on products and manufacturing facilities after the scare over faulty silicone breast implants, the EU's health chief said on Thursday.

Brussels issued an ultimatum to 13 European nations Thursday to improve conditions for tens of millions of laying-hens held in tiny cramped cages -- or face legal action in two months.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Thirteen European Union countries will be told on Thursday that they face legal action for failing to impose an EU ban on keeping egg-laying hens in battery cages by a January 1 deadline, an EU document showed.

World health ministers said Friday they were being vigilant after a Dutch laboratory developed a mutant version of the deadly bird flu virus that is for the first time contagious among humans.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union committee approved more than 200 health claims Monday for use on food products, which could offer a competitive advantage to companies seeking to target health-conscious EU consumers.

The European Union warned Thursday of a sharp rise in deaths across the 27-nation bloc due to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe set out plans to boost research into the neglected area of antibiotics on Thursday by promising to accelerate approval of new drugs, while ensuring adequate prices for their makers and promoting industry-wide R&D.

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe will strictly limit the amount of information that drugmakers can supply to the public on prescription-only medicines and retain a ban on advertising under proposed rules set out on Tuesday.

Cairo denied responsibility on Wednesday for an E. coli outbreak that killed 50 people, mainly in Germany, blamed by the European Union on fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt.