A new and legally binding international treaty to reduce harmful emissions of mercury was adopted Saturday by more than 140 nations.

The Justice Department said in a recent settlement with a Massachusetts college that severe food allergies can be considered a disability under the law.

The number of older people hospitalized with the flu has risen sharply, prompting federal officials to take unusual steps to make more flu medicines available and to urge wider use of them as soon as symptoms appear.

People with severe food allergies have a new tool in their attempt to find menus that fit their diet: federal disabilities law.

Nearly as many Americans die from guns as from car crashes each year. We know plenty about the second problem and far less about the first

A study released Thursday compared obesity rates for young poor children in the nation's two largest cities over nine years. Rates dipped in New York from about 19 percent to 16 percent.

People in Venezuela and other parts of the world await word on the fate of a man who once called George W. Bush "the devil" in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

The research found no evidence that the vaccine increases the risk of losing a fetus, and may prevent some deaths. Getting the flu while pregnant makes fetal death more likely, the Norwegian research showed.

A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years.

Twenty flu-related deaths have been reported in kids so far this winter, one of the worst tolls this early in the year since the government started keeping track in 2004.

Mental health experts say a new tougher New York state gun control law might interfere with treatment of potentially dangerous people and even discourage them from seeking help.

As a teenager growing up in Las Vegas, Tanya Angus strutted along fashion runways. She was 5 feet 8 inches tall.

The Knox Co. Community Action Committee will offer the shots at its LT Ross Building, 2247 Western Ave., from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

A new analysis is challenging a report that suggests regular marijuana smoking during the teen years can lead to a long-term drop in IQ.

Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

A scramble for shots is under way as late-comers seek protection from a miserable flu strain already spreading through much of the country.

The annual flu season hit about a month early this year, and illness is now widespread in 47 states. Many cases are caused by a flu strain that tends to make people sicker.

Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.

Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots.

After decades of qualms about lung cancer screening, the American Cancer Society says there now is enough evidence to recommend it

Beijing schools kept children indoors and hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases Monday following a weekend of off-the charts pollution in China's smoggy capita.

Regulators in Oregon and California have quietly directed some health insurance companies to stop denying coverage for transgender patients because of their gender identity.

Drugmaker Merck & Co. is suspending its sale of the cholesterol drug Tredaptive after initial results from a study showed that it wasn't effective and could raise the risk of some serious side effects.

While flu normally doesn't blanket the country until late January or February, it is already widespread in more than 40 states, with about 30 of them reporting some major hot spots.

Lawmakers and reporters had sought the identity of CPRIT Foundation donors in wake of the recent turmoil surrounding the state-run Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.