W.R. Grace proposes $19.5M asbestos settlement

A proposed settlement in the W.R. Grace and Co. bankruptcy case would pay $19.5 million into a trust for people sickened by asbestos exposure from the company's now-shuttered vermiculite plant in Libby, Mont.

First lady Michelle Obama is joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the future site of a Northgate Market in Inglewood, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Michelle Obama says the proposed new supermarket in the middle of a blue-collar Hispanic neighborhood in Southern California is an example of how the effort to bring healthy foods to low-income communities is paying off.

First lady promotes healthy food in California

First lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday said the campaign to bring healthy food to all Americans is happening neighborhood by neighborhood. Photo Gallery Available

Study questions proton therapy for prostate cancer

A warning to men considering a pricey new treatment for prostate cancer called proton therapy: Research suggests it might have more side effects than traditional radiation does.

FILE - In this April 12, 2005 file photo, the world headquarters of Pfizer Inc. is seen in New York. Pfizer Inc. is recalling 1 million packets of birth control pills due to a packaging error that could raise the risk of an accidental pregnancy by leaving women with an inadequate dose, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012.

Pfizer recalls 1M birth control packs after mix-up

Birth control pills are known to be nearly 100 percent effective when taken properly, but a recall of the drugs could send a shudder through women of childbearing age.

FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 file photo, some of an estimated 45,000 people participate in the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure in Little Rock, Ark. The nation's leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2012 - creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women. Planned Parenthood says the cutoff, primarily affecting grants for breast exams, results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress - a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups.

Susan G. Komen cancer charity halts grants to Planned Parenthood

The nation's leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates - creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women. Photo Gallery Available

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2005, file photo, the Brattleboro Retreat is seen in Brattleboro, Vt. A Vermont sheriff is expressing frustration and worry over what his deputies are seeing of the mental health system now that the Vermont State Hospital has been closed due to flooding from Irene. Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark wrote to Mental Health Commissioner Patrick Flood to say the system has become a severe burden on his staff and that patients in need aren't getting the care they deserve. Clark writes of one incident at Christmas when a patient was transported from St. Johnsbury to Brattleboro, where there was no bed available in a psychiatric facility.

Vt. struggles to rebuild mental health system

The remnants of Hurricane Irene did what policymakers hadn't been able to accomplish for more than a decade - close the state's antiquated psychiatric hospital. Photo Gallery Available

A woman gets a voluntary swine flu vaccination from a nurse at a subway station in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Federal Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said Tuesday there have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico so far in January, 90 percent of them H1N1. Despite the spike, Chertorivski said the cases are within normal range for a flu season.

Mexico health sec: Swine flu way up after low year

Swine flu is back in Mexico, the epicenter of a world pandemic three years ago that panicked people around the globe. Photo Gallery Available

Drug approved to treat cystic fibrosis' root cause

The first drug that treats the root cause of cystic fibrosis won approval Tuesday, offering a life-changing treatment for a handful of patients with the deadly illness and broader hope for thousands more patients with the inherited disease.

Zimbabwe rations water to poor after typhoid spell

Zimbabwean authorities say they are making sure poor townships get uninterrupted water supplies after a typhoid outbreak, leaving wealthy areas with reduced supplies.

In this photo taken on Jan. 26, 2012, plastic surgeon Dr. Ignacio Sousa holds two PIP breast implants after they were removed from a patient at a clinic in Caracas, Venezuela. The yellow implant at right is broken. Thousands of women throughout Latin America are consulting their doctors, fearing health risks due to faulty silicone implants made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP. The scandal has hit Venezuela particularly hard. About 16,000 Venezuelans have the PIP implants, making the country the per-capita leader in Latin America.

Venezuelans line up to switch PIP breast implants

The office of plastic surgeon Ignacio Sousa is so packed that women are lined up outside the door. College students in their 20s, housewives in their 40s, middle-class office workers: nearly all are fearful that their breast implants may be leaking. Photo Gallery Available

A condom, similar to those distributed at the African National Congress party's centenary celebrations early January, is photographed in Johannesburg Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. A South African health official says that 1.35 million of the condoms are being recalled amid charges some broke during intercourse and were porous.

South Africa recalls 1.35 million condoms

Some condoms burst. Others leaked like sieves. South Africa's leading anti-AIDS group said Tuesday that allegedly faulty condoms are among more than 1.35 million handed out at the African National Congress' 100th birthday party.

ALS researcher succumbs to disease he studied

Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 photo, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. leaves a Republican caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington. When a stroke hits at 52, like what happened to Sen. Kirk, the reaction is an astonished, "But he's so young." The reality is that strokes can happen at any age, even to children - and they're on the rise among the young and middle-aged. The vast majority of strokes do occur in older adults. But up to a quarter of them strike people younger than 65, says Dr. Ralph Sacco, a University of Miami neurologist and past president of the American Heart Association.

Senator's stroke shows they can hit the young, too

When a stroke hits at 52, like what happened to Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, the reaction is an astonished, "But he's so young."

Nevada officials: Luxor guests had Legionnaires'

Health officials in Las Vegas said Monday that the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease was found in water samples at the Luxor hotel-casino this month after a guest died of the form of pneumonia.

FDA approves Roche skin cancer drug Erivedge

Federal regulators on Monday approved a pill that treats the most common type of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma.

Kent State students reclaim wasted food to feed the needy

In a freezer in the kitchen of Beall Hall at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, dozens of deep-dish cheesecakes are stacked up, waiting to be thawed and served as dessert.

Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy

A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

Zimbabwe doctors report 800 typhoid cases

An independent doctors' group in Zimbabwe is reporting 800 cases of the bacterial disease typhoid in a recent outbreak.

Summary Box: WellPoint to revamp primary care pay

NEW PAYMENT PLAN: Insurer WellPoint Inc. plans to boost primary care reimbursement and start paying for care management it doesn't currently cover to improve quality and save money.

Report: Electronic health records still need work

America may be a technology-driven nation, but the health care system's conversion from paper to computerized records needs lots of work to get the bugs out, according to experts who spent months studying the issue.