More than a fifth of the world's population was infected by the H1N1 virus in the 2009-2010 flu pandemic, according to new estimates released on Friday.

The study confirms warnings that so-called swine flu was highly contagious. It also estimates that the flu's lethality -- as previously reported -- was low.

PepsiCo subsidiary Gatorade said Friday it was removing an ingredient from its popular citrus-flavored sports drink that has a second life as a fire retardant.

Brominated vegetable oil -- patented as a chemical to help prevent flames from spreading -- appears in a number of brands of soft drinks in the United States as an emulsifier.

Burger King has ditched an Irish supplier of beef that is at the centre of a food scare after horse meat was discovered in beefburgers sold in Britain and Ireland, where it is deemed to be a taboo.

The U.S. fast-food giant said Wednesday it has decided to replace all Silvercrest beef products in Britain and Ireland with those from another supplier.

The Dutch food and consumer watchdog issued a warning Thursday about a batch of herbal tea imported from Bulgaria which may have been contaminated by a highly toxic nightshade plant.

The tea, supplied by Dutch herbal tea supplier Jacob Hooy, "has probably been contaminated by deadly nightshade, a plant that's dangerous to peoples' health," the NVWA said in a statement.

It has been called the world's oldest recorded disease, an evil that humans have known for more than 3,500 years, as papyri from ancient Egypt testify.

Yet drugs to cure leprosy are cheap, plentiful and effective.

Scientists have discovered two new genetic mutations that occur together in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors, an aggressive and deadly cancer of the skin, a study published Thursday said.

The mutations, detected in a part of the cancer genome that controls genes but not in the genes themselves, could aid understanding and lead to treatment of one of the world's most lethal cancers or stop its progression.

From breast-slapping and gold thread face-lifts, to vaginal whitening soaps and olive-oil penis enlargements, image-obsessed Thais are going to ever increasing extremes in the quest for beauty.

The colorful self-proclaimed pioneer of breast-slapping says her unusual technique allows clients to boost their bust by at least one bra size without surgery.

Scientists who created a mutant bird flu virus said Wednesday they will resume the controversial research after taking a 12-month break to allay fears of the bug escaping the lab or falling into terrorist hands.

Citing a "public health responsibility" to continue the work, the teams said research will resume in countries whose governments had given the go-ahead, but not in the United States, which is mulling safety guidelines, nor at U.S.-sponsored research projects in other countries.

The intention to turn a St. Petersburg clinic treating pediatric cancer patients into one that would exclusively serve judges and staff of Russia's highest courts spread widespread public dismay.

More than 100,000 people signed a petition to President Vladimir Putin, a city native, urging him to scrap the plan to change City Hospital No. 31. Among those who signed were prominent figures from the worlds of art and sciences, including physicist Zhores Alfyorov, a Nobel Prize winner who is a member of Russia's parliament.

U.S. women who smoke today have a much greater risk of dying from lung cancer than they did decades ago, partly because they are starting younger and smoking more — that is, they are lighting up like men, new research shows.

Women also have caught up with men in their risk of dying from smoking-related illnesses. Lung cancer risk leveled off in the 1980s for men but is still rising for women.