Food and Drug Administration

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Free our food

"From farm to table" isn't just a meaningless foodie slogan anymore. It's the rallying cry for the smallest of small-scale farming operations in Maine, which are fighting against what they consider to be burdensome state and federal regulations.
Small farmers demand independence from agrobusiness industry rules
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 06, 2011

Flashback: Love is the Drug

When the government cast the fisheye over aphrodisiacs a few weeks ago, it sent the hopes of countless philophiles into the deep freeze. Well, I've read the summary report of the US Food and Drug Administration denouncing over-the-counter love drugs as

By BROOKE GLADSTONE | March 19, 2010

Operators are standing by

Here's the ugly truth about Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Jason Levesque.
Blah Blah Tourism
By AL DIAMON | February 05, 2010

Living with HPV

The results are “normal.” I breathe a sigh of relief. But should I be relieved? It’s been two years since I heard a registered nurse tell me “You have HPV,” and I am still getting scraped from the inside out, still making appointments to see doctors, and
Getting the news that one has human papilloma virus can seem like a cancer-causing death sentence. Our reporter disregards the stigma and shares her most intimate experiences.
By LISA SPINELLI | September 04, 2009

Weathering the weather

Sweltering summer heat is finally upon us, along with how-to-keep-cool considerations.
Going Green
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 07, 2009

Factory food

Since Squanto taught the Pilgrims to plant maize, no food has been more emblematic of the evolution of American eating habits than corn. That's been true from the sepia-tinged golden age of the Midwestern breadbasket to the present day, where those yello
Why the cheap, mass-produced food we eat is killing our environment, our economy — and us
By MIKE MILIARD | June 26, 2009

The DEA says no (again) to medical marijuana. Now what?

Rick Doblin, president of Belmont-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), can't believe how long it's dragged on.
High on Obama?
By MIKE MILIARD | January 14, 2009

Understanding the stink factor

What is that smell?
Eat raw
By CHRISTY MCKINNON | December 17, 2008

20 reasons the Earth will be glad to see Bush go

The planet Earth usually tries to stay out of politics. It doesn't endorse candidates. It doesn't run attack ads. It doesn't even register as a lobbyist.
As our 43rd president scrambles to screw further with Mother Nature, a look at the ways our planet will be better off under Obama
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 17, 2008

Letters to the Portland Editor, October 3, 2008

If a pregnancy is endangering a woman’s life, the woman’s life needs to be saved. But I feel this way because I’m pro-life.
Sex is risky
By LETTERS TO THE PORTLAND EDITOR | October 01, 2008

Will Harvard drop acid again?

In a moment of delightful whimsy in the annals of drug history, Albert Hofmann, after purposely ingesting LSD for the first time, rode his bicycle home and experienced all manner of beatific and hellish visions.
Psychedelic research returns to Crimsonland
By PETER BEBERGAL | May 28, 2008

Everything is coming up bacon

Pigs are noble creatures, selflessly giving of their delectable flesh — and we need as many of them as we can get.
That intoxicating smell, the siren-call sizzle — looks like pop culture has gone hog wild
By MIKE MILIARD | February 22, 2008

Dance, Monkey: Kathleen Madigan

The problem is that at the end of the day, when the clone figures out they’re a clone, they get mad and kill you.
We put a visiting comic on the hot seat
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | February 05, 2008

A tragicomedy of errors

It was not until after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were narrowly re-elected that many Americans began to realize that the Iraq War represented a dangerous moment in American history.
In an excerpt from his new book, The Fall of the House of Bush, author Craig Unger details how Bush is, well, screwing up the world
By CRAIG UNGER | November 20, 2007

Xanax junkies

This article originally appeared in the November 6, 1992 issue of the Boston Phoenix.

A popular drug for panic attacks can cause life-threatening addiction. But that hasn’t stopped Upjohn from marketing it to an unsuspecting public

By CYNTHIA COTTS | November 19, 2007

Maggots ate my flesh!

If you met Dana — attractive, athletic, and tan, somewhere in her 30s — you’d never guess her secret.
As antibiotics increasingly lose their potency, medical professionals are turning to (yecch!) fly larvae to take a bite out of wound recovery
By AUDREY SCHULMAN | July 16, 2007

Does this cheese taste funny?

You thought maggot therapy was bad?
By DOMINIQUE HENDELMAN | July 11, 2007

I feel pretty...healthy

If anyone wants some big almost-full bottles of TRESemme shampoo and conditioner, shoot me an e-mail.
Going green
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 27, 2007

The No-’Poo Do

Halfway through my last haircut, the stylist asked me what kind of “products” I used. “Not that many,” I mumbled.
If you want to lose the ‘fright wig,’ try ditching your shampoo
By AUDREY SCHULMAN | May 25, 2007

Who’s afraid of medical marijuana?

Two hits of marijuana in the morning, and two in the evening before he goes to sleep.
Opponents’ fears go unrealized with the impementation of rhode island’s law
By TE-PING CHEN | May 02, 2007

The Reaping

Mixing CSI talk with a lot of evangelical mumbo-jumbo, this over-serious eye candy keeps you on the edge of your seat but never freaks you out.
Over-serious eye candy
By CHRIS WANGLER | April 11, 2007

Brain-O-Matic

Stuart Gromley sits hunched over a desk in his bedroom, groping along the skin of his forehead, trying to figure out where to glue the electrodes.
Can a jolt from a nine-volt battery make you smarter? Happier? Medical researchers revive a discarded technology and set the stage for the ‘brain pod’
By PAGAN KENNEDY | February 07, 2007

Nailing the GOP

New England Congressmen are sitting on some key committees
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 24, 2007

The Pah-ty's ovah

For the past six years, the Republican-run federal government has been free to waste money, reward friends, and act incompetently, knowing that their misdeeds would go unexposed by the legislative branch. Nailing the GOP: New England Congressmen are si
Congressional reps from New England are poised to lead the attack on Republican waste and fraud
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 24, 2007

Grains make you whole

Every New Year, my mother resolved to give up whalemeat sandwiches.
Eat better — without the pain or mess
By JESSICA PORTER | January 03, 2007

Technopolis lost

It was a grand vision. Maybe even a noble one. “TECHNOPOLIS.”
A development dream that didn’t come true
By MARTY D. WOLFAND | December 06, 2006

Crazy talk

Part horror story, part psychological thriller, part radical feminist statement, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper has been adapted for the stage as a one-woman show.
Feeling much better, thank you
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 19, 2006

The Pill + Me

My story with the Pill begins at the vulnerable age of 18; I’ll begin at the point when I knew something was wrong.
Pill pressure and reproductive rights
By CAITLIN SHETTERLY | May 09, 2006

Med school drug pushers

You may have heard of a little ongoing row about a Merck drug called Vioxx, which was pulled from the market in 2004 due to evidence that it caused serious heart problems in some users.
How scientists are selling out to drug companies
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 12, 2006

Grow jobs

Until a few years ago, Tom Hubbard didn't put much stock in penis enlargement.
Why penis enlargement is poised to become the next big thing
By CHRIS WRIGHT | March 27, 2006

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