• BRITAIN SHOULD QUIT EU, FRENCH SAGE SAYS: France's most celebrated living intellectual - and probably its most constant Anglophile - called on Britain yesterday to leave the European Union. Maurice Druon, an author, ex-culture minister and grandee of the Académie Française, said that Britain's aversion to full integration made it unsuited to the full membership for which he campaigned more than 30 years ago.
• BRITISH BILLIONS TO BE SQUANDERED ON EURO-DEFENSE: The cost so far of the MoD's "buy European" policy, according to an analysis of dozens of defence projects by Dr Richard North, is over £5 billion.
  
• BRUSSELS FUNDS 'I HATE THE EU' CAMPAIGN: Roger Helmer, the Conservative Euro-MP for the East Midlands, obtained the funds from the parliament's information budget to print car bumper stickers saying: ''Love Europe. Hate the EU'' next to a picture of a crossed-out EU flag.
  

• MERCURY IN VACCINES, THE APALLING TRUTH REVEALED: Nothing could expose the truth about the drug industry's greed and selfishness more than this must-read Rolling Stone piece by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
• MO MOWLAM: In an interview with the Mail on Sunday it was revealed that [former British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland] Mo Mowlam was killed by the side-effects of the radiotherapy that had saved her life eight years ago when she was treated for a brain tumour.

... AND THE ROUND-UP OF HEALTH NEWS FOR THIS MONTH

• SUNDAY TIMES REPORTS ON FLAWED ADVERSE REACTION REPORTING SCHEME: With latest figures suggesting that prescribed medicines kill up to 20,000 people a year in Britain - six times as many as die on the roads in the UK - the Sunday Times report claimed that the Yellow Card system was failing to tell the whole picture about ADRs.
• ARE WE ALL GOING MAD?: Psychiatric researchers recently estimated that half of the American population has had or will have a mental disorder at some time in their life. A generation ago, by contrast, only a small percentage of the American population was considered mentally ill. Are we all going mad?
  
• CANCER LINK: CHIPS CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS IN LATER LIFE, RESEARCHERS SAY: Pre-school children who regularly eat chips may face an increased risk of breast cancer in later life, research has suggested.
  
• LATEST NEWS FROM THE FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK: Attleboro, Massachusetts and Franklin Tennessee are in the spotlight this month.
• VIOXX LAWSUITS COMING: It appears Merck -- the pharmaceutical firm that pulled Vioxx from the market after studies proved the drug increased cardiovascular risks -- better get ready to rumble; more than 3,800 lawsuits filed for patients allegedly killed or injured by the painkiller are coming down the pipes.
• MICHAEL GEARIN-TOSH OBITUARY: Michael Gearin-Tosh, who died on July 29 aged 65, was, for 35 years, Tutor in English at St Catherine's College, Oxford, but he became famous as the author of Living Proof - A Medical Mutiny (2002) in which he described how he had challenged the medical establishment after he was diagnosed with myeloma - cancer of the bone marrow - in 1994 and given six months to live.
• TAKING A VACATION COULD BE A LIFE SAVER: A recent study provides some interesting statistics on the work habits of people in various countries and the importance of relieving stress.
• LIVING IN AN UGLY AREA 'MAKES YOU OBESE': People surrounded by graffiti, with pavements strewn with litter and broken glass, are more likely to be obese than those living in green and leafy places, said researchers yesterday.
  
• MAILBAG: This month's collection of letters from our new subscribers about these and other subjects.
  

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