Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during a press conference in Caracas on October 9, 2012. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with cancer, Vice President Nicolas Maduro has announced. Maduro, flanked by political and military leaders, made the announcement on Tuesday evening on national television. “We have just received the most tragic and awful information.... 

China has acknowledged the existence of so-called “cancer villages” as Chinese people have been concerned about the impact of pollution on their health for years. The environment ministry released its latest report on Friday entitled “Guard against and control risks presented by chemicals to the environment during the 12th Five-Year period (2011-2015)”. “The toxic chemicals... 

An Australian court has ruled in favor of allowing a company to patent a human gene. Concerns have been voiced that allowing a company to monopolize genes will turn the human body into a commodity, and will adversely affect healthcare. The judge argued the act of removing a specific gene from the body and isolating it made it into a product “of new manufacture” and therefore open to be patented,... 

A new genetically-engineered virus has been developed to kill cancer tumors and prevent the growth of new ones, according to a study. It was tested in 30 terminally-ill liver cancer patients and proved to significantly prolong their lives. ­The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Medicine, describes a four-week trial of the vaccine Pexa-Vec or JX-594 marking a step forward towards... 

Cancer wouldn’t be as fatal or as tragic if it didn’t spread. If cancer was a cluster of diseased cells, it would be more easily treatable. But, it’s the spread of cancer, also known as metastasis, that makes it so volatile, so difficult to stop. A study recently published in Cancer and Metastasis Reviews looks at how a plant-based diet can stop this spread, working to halt cancer in its tracks. “Most... 

Selenium is an important chemical that may protect cells against chemicals, pollution and the negative effects that the environment may have on human health, as indicated by Mohamadian Shahzad, a Persian specialist in nutrition and dietetics. “Selenium is considered a substance with high antioxidant properties and is important in preventing human cancer,” said Mohamadian. Similarly, he... 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez waves during the proclamation act in Caracas, October 10, 2012. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s medical team in Cuba has successfully completed an operation that targeted an aggressive cancer. On Tuesday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that the “complex operation” which lasted almost six hours and was “correctly and successfully” completed. Chavez... 

USC researchers have begun examining the link between pesticide exposure and the development of prostate cancer, with scientists documenting an increased prevalence of prostate cancer among older men exposed to certain pesticides. While this news is alarming on its own, it is only one of the many dangers associated with pesticide exposure. Exploring the Cancer Connection Prostate cancer effects one... 

A little-known plant with a truly bizarre name is now making headlines as a cancer killer, with the compound of the plant vanishing tumors in mice with pancreatic cancer. Known as the “Tripterygium Wilfordii” or Lei Gong Teng sometimes called “Thunder God Vine”, the Chinese plant is actually integrated into Chinese medicine and has been used for ages in remedying a number of... 

The European Food Safety Authority has rejected a controversial study by French scientists linking GM corn to cancer. Many in Europe are already calling for stricter controls on GMOs, as farmers weigh the lucrative crops against health concerns. ­In September, French scientists from the University of Caen released a study claiming that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 – a corn seed variety made... 

After a French study suggested that rats fed on Monsanto GMO corn suffered tumors, Russian researches plan their own, this time public, experiment. The unique reality show with rats is expected to prove or deny GMO’s health-threatening influence. ­The Russian scientists, who oppose genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food, expect that their year-long experiment will show whether the controversial... 

Russian authorities temporary suspended the import and sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified corn after a French study suggested it may be linked to cancer. ­The Russia’s consumer-rights regulator Rospotrebnadzor asked scientists at the country’s Institute of Nutrition to review the study. The watchdog has also contacted to European Commission’s Directorate General for Health & Consumers... 

Further presenting non-stick cookware dangers, a new study published in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine reveals a relation between PFOA (the chemical in Teflon, used in nonstick pans among other things) and heart disease. While scientists are cautious, as they always are, to say they are definitively linked, some say steering clear of the chemical “just in case” wouldn’t be a bad... 

A new study conducted by the American researchers demonstrates that married patients who are suffering from various cancers have a better survival rate. Researchers in the University of Maryland’s Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore found that married patients with lung cancer were likely to survive longer after treatment than those ones who were single. The team observed... 

A team of researchers looking into why cancer cells are so resilient accidentally stumbled upon a far more important discovery. While conducting their research, the team discovered that chemotherapy actually heavily damages healthy cells and subsequently triggers them to release a protein that sustains and fuels tumor growth. Beyond that, it even makes the tumor highly resistant to future treatment. Reporting...