Health & Wellness

‘SiCKO’: Michael Moore’s Prescription for Change

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Jun 20, 2007 Michael Moore screened his new film, "SiCKO," on Father's Day at a special New York event honoring Sept. 11 first responders. Moore spoke of their heroism and recognized their role in the film. "SiCKO" is about the broken U.S. healthcare system. Case in point: the 9/11 rescue workers. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Pop-Tart Chronicles

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Jun 19, 2007 Food companies that market obesity-inducing products to young children are taking a lesson from big tobacco and getting ahead of the lawsuit curve. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Michael Moore, Oprah and ‘Sicko’

Staff / Truthdig Jun 12, 2007 Documentarian Michael Moore takes clips from his latest to Oprah for a discussion of the healthcare crisis and why even Republicans are responding warmly to the film: "I don't want this to be a political issue When you get sick, you get sick The illness doesn't care whether you're a Democrat or a Republican". Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Paris Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Jun 9, 2007 Warning: This is a column about Paris Hilton. Those who are trying to ignore the travails of the famous-for-being-famous hotel heiress might want to avert their eyes. The rest of you, join me in honorable surrender. We have no choice but to pay attention. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Tobacco Marketing Leaves Women Seeing Red

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Apr 17, 2007 We've come a long way from seeing ourselves as oh-so-sexy holding a slim cigarette -- all the way to seeing red. Red, the color of angry outrage, could be just the thing to blot out Big Tobacco's latest campaign to hook young women on cigarettes by dressing up death in fuchsia and teal. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Forget Big Tobacco — Big Food Kills

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Mar 29, 2007 If we are what we eat and we eat what is advertised, then American children are facing death by junk food. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Fun With Numbers

Staff / Truthdig Mar 17, 2007 This far out from an election, pundits and statisticians frequently turn to national polls for something to talk about, but there's more fun to be had with polling than a hypothetical showdown between candidates who haven't even secured their party's nomination. For instance: according to Gallup, the percentage of people who object to staying on the 13th floor of a hotel is, oddly enough, 13. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

And They Think Hair Gel Is a Problem

Staff / Truthdig Mar 17, 2007 A different sort of terror took to the skies last week when a man on a SkyWest Airlines flight relieved himself in an air sickness bag after the captain banned restroom use. The airline has since apologized to John Whipple, whose action, remarkably, went unnoticed by any other passenger. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Lost in the Lobbying

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Mar 1, 2007 Merck raised suspicions about its cancer-fighting HPV vaccine with a cluelessly aggressive lobbying campaign, but a lifesaving drug is still a lifesaving drug. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Texas Governor Ignores the Zealots

Staff / Truthdig Feb 3, 2007 Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has issued an executive order mandating the use of the HPV vaccine, which can help prevent cervical cancer. The conservative Christian's decree trumps opposition in the Legislature and elsewhere from opponents who feel the treatment encourages premarital sex. Texas will be the first state to require that schoolgirls receive the vaccine. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Forgetting Addiction

Staff / Truthdig Jan 26, 2007 When a stroke victim and two-pack-a-day smoker woke up having forgotten his habit, researchers went looking for the damaged part of his brain that seemed to have switched off his cravings. Having found it, scientists are hoping to discover new methods to understand and treat addiction. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Follow Soldiers Home

Staff / Truthdig Jan 26, 2007 The US military's evacuation chain that removes wounded soldiers from combat, while effective at saving lives, has helped give rise to an antibiotic-resistant superbug that has spread to civilian hospitals in the U and Europe. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )