A company that is promoting a “revolutionary slimming product” has issued an $800,000 damages claim against a prominent health marketing watchdog and public health advocate, Dr Ken Harvey, writes Loretta Marron.
Public health
Why doctors should give climate change the right treatment
Public health organisations and the peer-reviewed literature increasinge recognised the serious impacts for our health should we fail to tackle climate change, write David Shearman, George Crisp and David King.
‘Incompetence’ at peak doctors’ body split by climate change
A furore has erupted within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians over how it investigates the effects of climate change on public health, amid claims of management incompetence within the peak body.
healthcare 
A wrap of recent public health related developments in journalism
In this collection of stories circulated via Twitter Melissa Sweet summarises recent developments in journalism that have a bearing on public health.
Why the mining tax is a win for public health
A tax on mining profits may be causing palpitations amongst mining industry chiefs, but it may be a positive for the broader population’s health, explains Professor Gavin Mooney.
Rudd’s health plans look like a schoolboy’s Sunday night homework
Kevin Rudd’s plan for a structural overhaul of the health system still looks like it was knocked together at the last minute, says political editor of Australian Doctor Paul Smith.
How Australia can save billions in health costs
Centre for Policy Development Board Director John Menadue and health economist Ian McAuley explain how billions could be trimmed from health budgets.
Your chance to win a terrible deathly disease…
Back in a Bit blogger Scott Bridges turned over his menu in Mysore, India to discover a helpful little public health message about the golden opportunities available to smokers. First prize: death!
Drugs vs. booze
Debate is heating up in the UK after the government’s former chief drugs adviser, Dr David Nutt, was sacked over his views that cannabis is less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol. Now the scientific community is coming to his defence.
Keane: Everything that’s wrong with the Preventive Health scheme
Bernard Keane is not a fan of the government’s proposed National Preventive Health Agency, and it’s not just the Nanny State thing (though there is that): it’s because the bulk of the agency’s funding will be directed to pointless “social marketing campaigns”.
The soft drink wars heat up
Discussion about the soft drink industry’s recent forays into public health is heating up, with PepsiCo, the Cancer Council, obesity experts and a host of others weighing-in.
Drinking with the enemy: the soft drink marketing wars
Soft drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are locked in a neck-and-neck battle to become new best friends of public health. It’s what you do when your industry is facing flak as an enemy of public health, writes Melissa Sweet.
Nerve-sparing surgery for prostate cancer in trouble
The prostate cancer debate has taken yet another interesting turn. Just weeks after all Australian men over 40 were urged to get screened, a new major study has thrown another spanner in the works of screening advocates, writes Simon Chapman.
Why aren’t we making better use of pharmacy?
Australia could learn a thing or two from South Africa and the US on how to better use our pharmacy resources, says health consultant Simon Burrow: in-house nurses make healthcare far more accessible to the wider community.
Grocery retail dominance is a threat to public health
It is easy to bash the grocery heavies, but to really address the issue of healthy eating, a multi-faceted approach is required — one that looks at social and health factors as much as economic ones, writes Jon Wardle.
Influenza vaccination: the case for
Dr Michael Wooldridgeresponds to Peter Collignon in the debate about swine flu vaccination: “vaccination will stop this epidemic in its tracks”.
Indigenous smoking is finally out of the too-hard-basket
The federal government has put tackling high smoking rates amongst Indigenous people at the centre of its plans to “close the gap”, writes David Thomas.
NYC goes hard on soft drinks
New York City’s health department has launched a new ad campaign warning New Yorkers from “pouring on the pounds” with sugary beverages, in an effort to tackle rising obesity rates. Predictably, the American Beverage Association is not a fan.
Health Taskforce wishes you all a long, dull life with nanny
People get fat because they eat too much and don’t exercise enough. Yesterday’s National Preventative Health Taskforce’s report was full of surprises, writes Tim Wilson.
Some ideas for health reform that could happen NOW
CEO of Cancer Council Australia, Professor Ian Olver, has some ideas for reforms to Australian health care that could be introduced without waiting for further reviews, reports and consultations.
We’re not homebirth wingnuts, we just want equal treatment
The issue of homebirth is up there with abortion — it divides the community into those who think it is OK, and those who don’t, writes Homebirth Australia’s Justine Caines.
Guy Rundle: Those crazy ole Republicans aren’t funny anymore
The US is heading towards a health care bill of 20% of GDP, at which point the country has, economically, become one huge hospital. If Obama is not allowed to fix it, it will crash and burn.
Why alcohol should carry a health warning
We provide consumers with information that some foods contain traces of nuts; that excessive consumption of some mints has a laxative effect, and that some products cause drowsiness. Why let alcohol off the hook? asks VicHealth CEO Todd Harper.
Actually, preventative healthcare has been a spectacular success
Simon Chapman responds to Bernard Keane’s contention yesterday that prevention is not always the best cure when it comes to health reform.
Public health doesn’t cut it in Food Standards Board
Nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton reveals the low profile of public health in new Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Board appointments.
