"Steps such as quitting smoking and controlling blood pressure and cholesterol could save more than 200,000 Americans a year, a report finds."

"The human genome codes for approximately 23,000 genes, yet some experts have suggested that the total information coded by the human genome alone is not enough to carry out all of the body’s biological functions. A growing number of studies suggest that part of what determines how the human body functions may be not only our own genes, but also the genes of the trillions of microorganisms that reside on and in our bodies."

"Marta Cruz left Michoacán, Mexico with her husband and 1-year-old son a decade and a half ago to work in the fields of Homestead, Florida, picking lemons and tomatoes as farm workers. A couple of years ago, she began suffering from headaches but figured it was from the long hours working under the sweltering sun or the stress of figuring out how to pay bills."

"BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) have closed 40 oyster beds in Plymouth Harbor, Kingston Bay, Duxbury Bay, Bluefish River and Back River in the towns of Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury and Marshfield."

"Air pollution causes about 200,000 early deaths each year in the United States, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)."

"There's a heated debate over the use of antibiotics in farm animals. Critics say farmers overuse these drugs; farmers say they don't. It's hard to resolve the argument, in part because no one knows exactly how farmers use antibiotics."

"Federal authorities are struggling to explain why 600 people in 22 states have fallen ill from a foodborne parasite rarely seen in the United States. But some officials are ready to finger one culprit that has hindered their investigation: the sequester."

"Wilma Subra, a diminutive grandmother, has long challenged the corporate polluters in one of the nation's most toxic regions."

"DETROIT -- Remaining mounds of petroleum coke have been removed from the Detroit riverfront ahead of a city-imposed deadline but more time is needed to haul construction materials away from the sites, according to a storage company."

"MONTREAL — Quebecers should be worried that it took 15 years for officials to clue into the fact that a Pointe-Claire company had a yard full of toxic materials, says one environmental expert, and the public should be demanding more transparency in the wake of the discovery."