The term "political science" used to mean public policy studied not just as opinion but based on empirical, documentable evidence. Today it's come to mean something darker--the subversion of science in the hands of ideologues committed to manipulating public policy to their end. This new, and disheartening use of the...

Mexico today increasingly resembles Colombia 25 years ago, but President Obama has demonstrated insufficient leadership against illegal drugs and his administration seems to have no consensus on the severity of the problem.

India's major pharmaceutical companies and its public health community want to establish a modern drug regulatory system.

Clinical trials cover a broad range of medical matters, including the testing of new devices, theories and approaches to care. But the most extensive clinical-trial testing is done on new drugs.

Changes to Medicare will give the federal government control over surgical decisions.

Medicare is a social insurance program that has the unfortunate characteristics to be expected from any centrally controlled provision of services. We do indeed have a system-wide problem, but if we expect to solve it we have to start with Medicare.

When or if dedicated anti-BPA campaigners yield to the emerging science remains to be seen. Let's hope the OEHHA has the wisdom and courage to base its decision on science rather than on a narrow interpretation of Proposition 65.

If the Bush administration decides to buy generic drugs it should ensure that those drugs are bioequivalent to branded drugs, and not something different.