Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

RING OF PREVENTION In its ongoing search for the perfect birth-control device, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new one called NuvaRing. It's a clear, flexible plastic ring that's inserted into the vagina once a month and emits the same hormones used in the Pill but in lower (and presumably safer) doses. It should be available by spring.

GLOWING RESULTS What makes ovarian cancer so deadly is that there's no foolproof way to catch it early. Now researchers have developed an extremely sensitive test that finds tumors when they're still tiny--at least in mice. The animals were injected with a gene that infects only cancer cells and produces a protein that glows under fluorescent light.

BUTT-FREE Teenagers may finally be getting the message. From 1997 to 1999, the number of 12- to 17-year-olds who took up smoking dropped by a third. Experts would like to think health concerns are driving the change, but it could be simple economics. A pack in 1999 cost $3, compared with $2 in 1997.

BAD NEWS

MERCURY RISING Without conceding any clear or present danger, a panel of experts has warned doctors against using vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal. Their concern: mercury in thimerosal can cause neurological damage in kids. Vaccines with the preservative haven't been made since 1999, but older lots can still be found on clinic shelves.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Good News--FDA; Gynecologic Oncology; U.S. Dept. of HHS.. Bad News--Institute of Medicine