Prescription-drug ads prompt nearly one-third of Americans to ask their doctors about an advertised medicine, and 82% of those who ask say their physicians recommended a prescription.

The federal agency that oversees buprenorphine treatment for narcotics addicts learned more than two years ago of illegal sales and abuse of the pills but did not reveal the findings as officials campaigned to expand use of the drug.

Should the government start handing out prizes for science breakthroughs?

Senator Bernie Sanders announced his opposition to President Bush's nominee for attorney general. Legislative action heated up on global warming. A Senate panel took a hard look at how American toymakers' run sweatshops in China. Community health centers got a big boost, and lawmakers renewed an effort to help lower prescription drug prices.

Senator Frank Lautenberg and Sanders released a set of global warming principles in anticipation of a compromise measure offered by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner. "This is no time for timidity" and "dealing with scientific reality is more important than cutting deals," Sanders said.

Senators who raised millions of dollars in campaign donations from pharmaceutical interests secured industry-friendly changes to a landmark drug-safety bill, according to public records and interviews.The bill, which passed 93-1, grants the Food and Drug Administration broad new authority to monitor the safety of drugs after they are approved.

The Food and Drug Administration would have to establish new systems to monitor the safety of medicines after they hit the market and for the first time could fine drugmakers for false or misleading advertising under a bill approved yesterday by the Senate.

Senator Bernie Sanders voted against a Food and Drug Administration bill that failed to legalize the importation of lower-priced drugs from Canada and other countries. He told The New York Times he was "extremely disappointed" that the bill did not legalize imports.

By a vote of 93 to 1, the Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would give the Food and Drug Administration new power to police drug safety, order changes in drug labels, regulate advertising and restrict the use and distribution of medicines found to pose serious risks to consumers.

A plan to allow consumers to purchase prescription drugs from Canada has suffered a major setback in the U.S. Senate.The legislation is a long time priority of Senator Bernie Sanders.Sanders says today's vote is an indication of how much clout the pharmaceutical industry has in Congress.VPR's Bob Kinzel reports:(Kinzel) Currently consumers must to travel to Canada if they want to take advantage of lower cost prescription drugs.

The Senate grappled Wednesday with the hot-button question of whether to allow the importation of cheaper drugs from other countries and debated the influence of the drug lobby, as it moved closer to passing the most significant changes to drug-safety rules in decades.

Today a visibly emotional Senator Robert Byrd stood to say, "Thank God for Bernie Sanders, the Senator from Vermont. Thank God." That was all he said - it was all he had to say.The reason for his remark was the speech Senator Sanders had just delivered. In a scathing rebuke of the nine-year congressional deference to the pharmaceutical industry, Senator Sanders told the nation what has been going on during that time.

The Senate voted 63 to 28 to advance an amendment cosponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders to allow importation of safe, FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. "The unfortunate reality is that Americans continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

The Senate opened debate on a proposal to allow re-importation from Canada and other countries of safe, low-cost prescription medicine. The proposal, cosponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders, was offered as an amendment to a measure that would overhaul the Food and Drug Administration drug approval program. "Some years ago, as the congressman from Vermont, I put together what turned out to be the very first bus trip to take constituents over the Canadian border to buy lower-cost prescription drugs.