Congress has a weight problem. With an epidemic of obesity enlarging the country, Congress — like many Americans blithely ignoring the gradual tightening of their waistbands — is in denial. Why? No one wants to tell Americans the bad news. And Congress is no model for healthful living. [News Source]

Study finds pesticide link to childhood leukemia. Patients with childhood leukemia have elevated levels of household pesticides in their urine, according to a new study by the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. [News Source]

European Food Safety Authority Completes First EU-wide Assessment Of Vitamin And Mineral Sources Used In Food … (Medical News Today) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has completed the first comprehensive assessment of substances used as sources of vitamins and minerals in food supplements which are currently sold in the European Union. EFSA has examined 533 applications since 2005, relating to 344 different substances. [News Source]

Police warn of ecstasy made to look like vitamins (The Colony Courier-Leader) The Colony Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is seeking to advise residents about a new look for ecstasy pills. According to a statement release Thursday, TCPD detectives recently seized several ecstasy pills that were made to look like children’s vitamins. [News Source]

Fargo vitamin business expanding (The Bismarck Tribune) FARGO (AP) - A Fargo-based vitamin business has announced a $10 million expansion. [News Source]

Which Vitamins Should You Be Taking? (KAAL Austin) Do you take your vitamins? If you don't, you're not alone. You may want to start, as studies show vitamins benefit the length and quality of life. But for many people, knowing what vitamin supplements to take can be confusing, and knowing which brand to buy can be even worse. [News Source]

Which Vitamins Should You Be Taking? (5 Eyewitness News St. Paul) For many people, knowing what vitamin supplements to take can be confusing, and knowing which brand to buy can be even worse... [News Source]

Apocalyptic fish stories hurt health. It's good to get mercury out of water, but it's not the only or even most harmful threat. Apocalyptic fish stories, another kind of pollution, not only don't jibe with science, they carry a real cost for people who believe them. [News Source]

The meat of the problem. The evidence is strong. It's not simply that meat is a contributor to global warming; it's that it is a huge contributor. Larger, by a significant margin, than the global transportation sector. [News Source]

Mercury concerns prompt guidelines on consuming pike. State and federal officials issued guidelines advising pregnant women and children to limit the amount of northern pike they eat from the Kuskokwim and lower Yukon rivers because of concerns about rising levels of methylmercury in the fish. [News Source]

Put down the pack, drop the fork. Stop smoking and drop some weight. That is the advice, essentially, that Jefferson County Health Department officials are giving to many after analyzing their recently completed 2009 Jefferson County Health Assessment. [News Source]

Allergy meds slim down obese mice. Researchers from Harvard and their colleagues found that the inflammatory mast cells are as much as six times more abundant in the fat tissue of obese and diabetic humans and mice than in the fat tissue of normal-weight humans and mice. [News Source]