Smokers going to buy a pack of cigarettes will soon be greeted with a warning label containing graphic images of dead bodies, blackened organs and women crying. As of 2011, the Food and Drug Administration will require cigarette packs and ads to show more detailed images of the consequences of smoking, and 36 images (pdf) (some of them fairly graphic) have been approved. But how effective will this approach be in preventing smokers from lighting up? 

Half a billion eggs suspected of carrying salmonella have been recalled in what’s become the largest egg recall in U.S. history. And many people are wondering: How did this happen? Is it the fault of the factory farming industry? Or the government? And what can be done to prevent widespread food contamination from happening in the future?

More than 23 million Americans suffer from type 2 diabetes. After it was approved by the FDA in 1999, Avandia quickly became the world's most popular drug to treat type 2 diabetes. However, in 2007 studies began to show that the drug increased the risk of cardiovascular problems, and concerns about the drug's safety have persisted ever since. 

Yesterday an FDA advisory committee voted on the safety of Avandia. Although most agreed that the drug increases the chance of a heart attack and stroke, the majority also voted to keep the drug on the market with revisions to its labels and more restrictions on its sale.

Since Viagra hit the market in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies have been racing to come up with an equivalent drug for women. And one German pharmaceutical company is hoping to win the race. Boehringer Ingelheim, a large German drug company, will go before the  Food and Drug Administration today in hopes of gaining approval for a new pill they believe can increase the female libido. Citing hypoactive sexual desire, the company says their female version of that magic blue pill, can cure women of that disorder.

An FDA staff report on Wednesday argued against approval of the drug, saying it has not sufficiently proven to be successful. And many doctors say drug companies are creating pills for a disorder that does not exist.

Over the past three years, the popularity of unpasteurized milk – or raw milk, as it’s sometimes called – has grown across the country. Advocates say heat-treating milk destroys enzymes and nutrients, while detractors say it's necessary to keep people from getting sick. Battles over how milk is sold and regulated have exploded. 

Ten states, including Maine, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, have made it legal to sell unpasteurized milk in stores. Meanwhile, other states are fighting to make it easier to purchase. In Wisconsin, Governor Jim Doyle indicated last month that he’ll sign a bill – already passed by the senate and assembly - legalizing and regulating the sale of raw milk between farmers and consumers. In Massachusetts, raw milk supporters this week protested the fact that they ONLY have this right. They’d like to be able to buy milk from more places than the state’s 27 regulated farms. And in many states like New Jersey, raw milk supporters secretly run unpasteurized milk across state lines.

If you’re not part of the milk wars, you might be wondering: Why are people fighting so hard to drink milk that’s not pasteurized? And is it safe?

Pain medication is one of the marvels of the modern age. But as Americans buy billions of doses of acetaminophen each year, the risk of misuse increases. More than 400 people die and 42,000 are hospitalized every year in the United States from overdoses of the drug. Yesterday a federal advisory panel recommended banning some popular prescription drugs – including Vicodin and Percocet – because of safety concerns. For more we turn to New York Times science writer Donald McNeil.

This week the Senate is expected to pass a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products. The bill does not ban cigarettes, nor does it restrict sales to consenting adults; it largely concentrates on marketing. Terms like "low tar" and "light" are gone, the Surgeon General's warnings will get much larger and brighter-colored, and except for menthol, there will be no more flavored cigarettes. To talk us through the details of the bill, we turn The Takeaway's Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich.

Over the past few years a rash of food-related illnesses caused by everything from tomatoes to spinach to peanut butter has sparked nationwide concern over food safety. Conventional wisdom has always said you can assure your food is safe by buying organic. But New York Times reporter Kim Severson did some digging and she found that organic certification has nothing to do with food safety.

For more, read Kim Severson's and Andrew Walker's article, It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?, in today's New York Times.

Salmonella-tainted peanut butter has sickened close to five hundred people in 43 states, and killed six. People started getting sick back in September, but the FDA has only recently pinpointed the source of the infection as King Nut brand peanut butter manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, Georgia. Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who represents victims of food poisoning and advises companies on food safety joins John and Adaora to explain why it takes so long to trace foodbourne illnesses and how the system could be improved.

FDA website list of recalled products: http://www.fda.gov