Mobile phones have been around for more than 20 years, and are now used by more than 3 billion people. Yet questions linger over whether mobile phones can contribute to health problems, including cancer. Cell phones have only been mainstream products for 10 years or so, and it may take much longer than that for adverse effects to show up.

New studies on health and cell phones are tough to get going. In the United States, most research on the topic was discontinued at the beginning of the decade, largely because industry groups and government considered the questions resolved and haven’t been willing to finance new studies.

But scientists are concerned that cutting off studies could be a mistake. “It was 15, 20 years after people began smoking that we saw concerns associated with it,” says Michael Kelsh, principle scientist and epidemiologist for Exponent, a scientific consulting firm. “Down the road, the same could happen with phones.”

The latency period for brain tumors can be 10 to 15 years.

If the trends of the past three decades continue, it’s possible that every American adult could be overweight by 2048. The figure might sound impossible, but two-thirds of the population is already overweight.

The new projections are based on government survey data collected between the 1970’s and 2004. If the trends of those years continue, the researchers estimate that 86 percent of American adults will be overweight by 2030, with an obesity rate of 51 percent. By 2048, all U.S. adults could be at least mildly overweight.

The healthcare costs directly related to excess pounds would also double each decade, reaching $957 billion in 2030 and accounting for one of every six healthcare dollars spent in the U.S.

When Barbara Wagner learned that her lung cancer had returned after being in remission and would likely kill her, her insurance company refused to pay for the drugs her doctor prescribed to her. The Oregon Health Plan would, however, cover drugs for a physician-assisted death.

Says Wagner, “I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won’t give you the medication to live.”

Both critics and supporters of Oregon’s decade-old Death With Dignity Law — the only one of its kind in the nation — are up in arms over the indignity of her unsigned rejection letter. Opponents say the law presents all involved with an “unacceptable conflict” and the impression that insurance companies see dying as a cost-saving measure. They say it steers those with limited finances toward assisted death.

Demand for granite countertops has increased tenfold over the past decade. As their popularity has grown, so have the types of granite available. And along with increased sales volume and variety, there have been more reports of “hot” or potentially hazardous countertops, particularly among the more exotic varieties from Brazil and Namibia.

Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade. Health physicists and radiation experts agree that most granite countertops emit radiation and radon at extremely low levels.

But with increasing regularity in recent months, the EPA has been receiving calls from radon inspectors and concerned homeowners about granite countertops with radiation measurements several times above background levels.

Washington’s largest lobby, the pharmaceutical industry, had a very successful year backed by a record $168 million lobbying effort.

Among the industry’s successes were getting two controversial laws extended, and thwarting congressional efforts to restrict media ads for prescription drugs.

The spending represents a 32 percent jump over 2006 numbers, driven in part by a busy legislative calendar dominated by issues critical to the industry. The amount spent by drug interests on federal lobbying in the past decade now exceeds $1 billion.

More than 90 percent of the total was spent by 40 companies and 3 trade groups.