FDA Consumer Magazine -- May 1990
Table of Contents

Brushing Up on Gum Disease
False teeth are becoming increasingly rare as changes in knowledge about periodontal disease and its treatment help Americans to keep their gums healthier longer.

Hepatitis B: Available Vaccine Safe but Underused
There is a safe, genetically engineered vaccine for hepatitis B, a serious disease that is transmitted many of the same ways as AIDS, but is more contagious. Why, then, are some people at high risk of contracting this liver ailment reluctant to be immunized?

Red No. 3 and Other Colorful Controversies
Red No. 3, a color additive used in a number of foods and drugs, causes cancer in animals at very high doses. Current law requires the agency to ban its use, even though the danger to human life is tiny.

Cardiovascular Spare Parts
Using both synthetic materials and biological substances, medical researchers have devised some ingenuious ways of replacing malfunctioning parts of the cardiovascular system.

Contact Dermatitis: Solutions to Rash Mysteries
Doctors sometimes need the wit of Sherlock Holmes to figure out what is causing a rash. Besides skin testing, aids to skin sleuthing include rash location, pattern, and the person's life style.

Improving Blood Glucose Monitoring for Diabetes
Self monitoring of blood glucose can be a boon to persons with diabetes. But the many reports of problems with blood glucose monitoring caused FDA to search for ways in which the process could be improved.

(Hypertext updated by clb March 16, 1998)