Alan Blum, MD

Philip Morris International’s call for a smoke-free world echoes cigarette makers’ past efforts to burnish their nicotine-stained image, but what if this time they’re serious?

Quick, what color is menthol? No, it’s not green. That’s the color of the KOOL, Newport, or Salem cigarette pack. Get it? Green is cool. Red is hot.

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic makes it possible to compare and contrast the public health and political responses to previous health crises.

The ink hadn't dried on the headline of the lead story in the Dec. 29 issue of The New York Times when on Jan. 2 HHS Secretary Alex Azar and newly arrived FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn made the following announcement:

Since March 2018, P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an organization founded in 2017 by photographer Nan Goldin, has held demonstrations at art museums in New York, Washington, DC, Boston, London and Paris to protest their acceptance of money from the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, a company that been accused of fomenting the prescription opioid addiction crisis.