"Virginia banned smoking in most restaurants a month ago -- and not all of them mind. North Carolina follows suit."

"Sen. Max Baucus, one of Montana's two senators and a chief figure in the federal government's attempt to pass health care reform, added a provision to the U.S. Senate version of the bill that would expand Medicare coverage to 'individuals exposed to environmental health hazards.'"

The first case of Marburg virus, a deadly relative of Ebola, has been reported in North America. A Colorado traveler brought it home after contact with bats in a cave in Uganda.

"One in 110 American children are considered to fall somewhere along the autism spectrum, according to the latest report released by the federal government. The new figure, which was released initially in October, comes from the most comprehensive set of data yet on the developmental health of eight-year-olds."

"Rates of black-lung disease are growing, most notably among younger miners, reversing decades of progress and prompting more federal scrutiny and calls to lower exposure to coal dust."

"Mercury exposure in the United States increases with age, then starts tapering off when people turn 50, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study released today."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration doesn't plan to propose new rules aimed at ending black lung disease until September 2010, and it remains unclear if those rules will include lowering the legal limit on coal dust that causes the deadly disease."

"In some hardscrabble East Bay neighborhoods, people die of heart disease and cancer at three times the rates found just a few miles away in more well-to-do communities. Children living near busy freeways in Oakland are hospitalized for asthma at 12 times the rate of young people in Lafayette's wooded housing tracts."

"A study released Wednesday which found that nine of 10 babies tested were born with bisphenol A in their systems has renewed calls for the chemical to be banned."

"A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in Scandinavia shows no link between cellphone use and brain tumors, researchers reported on Thursday."

"New horizons in biomonitoring are identifying environmental exposures that may play a role in health problems, including cancer, neurological disorders and diabetes. At their fingertips, researchers already have precise measurements of nearly 150 chemicals in several thousand American adults and children."

Health problems, some fatal, linger for workers at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. It is being closed by Honeywell, the latest in a series of contractors who have operated it for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program. No nuclear weapons were made there -- only non-nuclear components. But some 785 toxic substances were used there. Despite a $65-million cleanup, workers feel abandoned.

A federal agency that is supposed to protect communities from toxic threats is being accused of using bad science to falsely reassure communities, after it reversed its findings in two recent incidents.

"Exposure to both tobacco smoke before birth and lead during childhood increases a child's risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) more than eight-fold, according to new research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center."

"Coal pollutants affect all major body organ systems and contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the United States: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases, concludes a scathing report issued today by Physicians for Social Responsibility."