Rob Stein

More than 1 million people are dying prematurely every year from air pollution in China, according to a new analysis.

"This is the highest toll in the world and it really reflects the very high levels of air pollution that exist in China today," says Robert O'Keefe of the

A controversial government proposal to test the anthrax vaccine in children would be unethical without first conducting much more research, a presidential commission concluded Tuesday.

"The federal government would have to take multiple steps before anthrax vaccine trials with children could be ethically considered," Amy Gutmann, who chairs the ...

U.S. drivers are much more likely than Europeans to drive while distracted, federal health officials report Thursday.

Nearly 69 percent of Americans who drive say that they talked on their cell phones while driving at least once in the previous month, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease ...

Federal officials warned Tuesday that an especially dangerous group of superbugs has become a significant health problem in hospitals throughout the United States.

These germs, known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, have become much more common in the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...

Hoping to reduce unnecessary antibiotics use, the American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday issued new guidelines for how doctors should diagnose and treat ear infections.

Every year, millions of parents take their children to the pediatrician for ear infections, and most of them end up going home with antibiotics. ...

Technology now exists that makes it possible for doctors to decipher the entire genetic code of a newborn. Should it be done? What about fetuses in the womb? That's now a possibility, and it's stirring intense debate.

For the first time, scientists have created fertile eggs and healthy offspring using embryonic stem cells. The experiments in mice raise the possibility of artificial egg production a...

A woman over 40 who uses eggs donated by a younger woman has essentially the same chance of having a baby as she would have had in her 20s. That's according to a large new study that ...

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded in draft recommendations released Tuesday that taking vitamin D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium every day doesn't reduce the risk for...

The former vice president is recovering from a heart transplant he received over the weekend. Experts say it's unusual for a 71-year-old to get a transplant, but more and more older ...

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation said it regretted the effect of its new funding policy on groups such as Planned Parenthood. But the group denied politics played any role i...

Rob Stein, health reporter for The Washington Post, talks about the new federal advisory panel recommendation that boys receive the HPV vaccine.

Washington Post reporter Rob Stein, explains the new classification for cell phones by the World Health Organization, which placed the devices in the "possibly carcinogenic to humans" category

Rob Stein, Washington Post reporter, discusses his recent article concerning a major policy change for recipients of kidney transplants. He argues the change will have major implications for all organ transplants and has led to a heated discussion amongst bioethicists, doctors, and patients alike. 

Jill McMaster, kidney recipient and a Patient and Donors Affairs representative on the board of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), joins the conversation and talks about what the new kidney donor policy proposal will mean for patients and for those waiting on the list to receive an organ.

The United Network for Organ Sharing's kidney committee is accepting public comments on the proposal until April 1.

A team of international brain researchers recently produced some unbelievable footage: A completely blind man walking down a littered hallway, apparently cognizant of the obstacles before him and avoiding them all. For years, scientists have quarreled over the legitimacy of "blindsight." Now, it seems undeniable - but what will be ...

Rob Stein, National Science Reporter for the Washington Post, discusses the possibility that the Bush Administration with change regulations to redefine certain birth-control methods as abortion.