health news: being a sports fan is good for your health, being an american smoker... not so much

• Being a sports fan is good for your mental health.


• CDC: Cigarettes in the U.S. may be more toxic than those sold in other countries.


• Inappropriate use of prescription drugs now causes as many emergency room visits as illegal drug use.


• A whooping cough epidemic hits California. There is no vaccine shortage, and hospitals and counties receive the vaccine for free from the state health department. The cause of the epidemic? Parents and kids not getting vaccinated.


• Oregon and the District of Columbia have the best comprehensive sexual education programs, in terms of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.


• Amid reports of hundreds of BP oil spill cleanup workers getting sick (including 54 in just two weeks), a study critiques the failure to learn from health effects of the Exxon Valdez spill on those cleanup workers.


• The Pentagon issues a new policy for soldiers at risk of mild traumatic brain injury (concussions), including a mandatory 24-hour rest period after exposure to a nearby explosion.