It’s very rare that I’m motivated to write a follow up column, but the dangers generated by alcohol’s sacred position in our society demands more attention. Nothing is better to use as comparison than the uproar about the private ownership of guns and the dangers of both.

Drivers beware. The Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety reported that 'drugged' driving is on the rise.

She’s young, tall-model-slender, beautiful and with a song bird voice. I’ll call her Annie. And, today she sits in jail, serving a lengthy term for her history with drugs. Like so many others, her road to trouble started with alcohol.

This is your brain on sugar — for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.

The first rule of drinking on a diet is: Don't. Surely you've heard that Americans get way too many calories — and nutritionally empty calories at that — from alcohol.

Arizona’s health officials are tracking more cases of sexually transmitted diseases, in part because a federal grant.

Arizona’s flu cases more than doubled in the last week, according to the state Department of Health Services.

An unvaccinated woman in her late 50s is the first person identified with the flu this season, the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health confirmed this week.

Arizona women had fewer babies in 2011 for the fifth straight year, due in large part to tighter wallets, social changes, lower teen pregnancy rates and departures among the Hispanic population.

Arizona women had fewer babies in 2011 for the fifth straight year, due in large part to tighter wallets, social changes, lower teen pregnancy rates and departures among the Hispanic population.

New research powerfully strengthens the case against soda and other sugary drinks as culprits in the obesity epidemic.

On Sept. 11, the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee of the Phoenix City Council decided to continue the practice of fluoridating the city’s water after two hours of testimony from pro- and anti-fluoridation advocates. The city of Phoenix has been fluoridating the water supply since 1989.

The Gilbert Public Works director has retired and the water director has been dismissed after the town began investigating why one of its water treatment plants failed to fluoridate the water.

An explosion of West Nile virus cases in Texas sparked a warning from the Centers for Disease Control that this year is one of the worst for the disease.

Two Gilbert employees have been placed on leave while the town investigates why the North Water Treatment Plant failed for the past 13 months to put fluoride in the water.

An explosion of West Nile virus cases in Texas sparked a warning from the Centers for Disease Control that this year is one of the worst for the disease.

ATLANTA — All baby boomers should get a one-time blood test to learn if they have the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

From the Department of Things You Did Not Know You Had to Worry About comes a new advisory: Don’t eat your barbecue cleaning brush.

Finally some good news about cholesterol and kids: A big government study shows that in the past decade, the proportion of children who have high cholesterol has fallen.

Although I happen to agree with David Rich’s lament (Aurora Tragedy, Aug. 9, 2012) about media over emphasis of firearm events, his statistics need clarifying. Wikipedia.org relates these 2007 data: 31,224 firearm deaths of which 17,352 were suicides and 12,632 were homicides. In 2005, of the 10,100 homicides, 75 percent were by handguns, 4 percent rifles and 5 percent shotguns. (This doesn’t add up to 100 percent, so what other types of firearms remains a mystery.) Of note though is data from Philadelphia showing that 93 percent of shooting victims had a criminal record.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Is a gun like a virus, a car, tobacco or alcohol? Yes say public health experts, who in the wake of recent mass shootings are calling for a fresh look at gun violence as a social disease.

For kids with food allergies, and their parents, a new school year can be worrisome.

Parents should be aware that the bacterial infection pertussis, commonly referred to as whooping cough, is being seen at a higher rate than in previous years in the community.

The Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that a health-care technician with ties to two Valley hospitals may have exposed patients to hepatitis C.