"We think this is a matter of parental rights and parental control," said Peter Sprigg of the conservative Family Research Council. "Parents have the rights to make these decisions for their kids."

Called Gardasil, the vaccine blocks four types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, two of which are believed to be responsible for 70% of the 15,000 cervical cancer cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Worldwide, 400,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and half die.

The four types of HPV blocked by Gardasil cause 90% of genital warts.

The vaccine is most effective when administered to girls before they become sexually active. According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26% of girls have had intercourse by age 15.

Health experts said the vaccine could go a long way toward reducing the 4,000 cervical cancer deaths that occur in the U.S. each year.

Manufactured by Merck & Co., the vaccine is among the most expensive ever produced. A full three-shot series costs $360.

Although private insurers and the federal Vaccines for Children program will cover the vast majority of females, Claire Hannan, director of the Assn. of Immunization Managers, said thousands still fall between the cracks. They include those whose insurance plans don't cover vaccines or have high deductibles. The federal program also does not cover people older than 18.

To provide the vaccine to everyone who should get it, the states would have to pay for those who could not afford it.

Dr. Leah Devlin, state health director for North Carolina and president of the Assn. of State and Territorial Health Officers, said most states did not have the money.

She said the cost of providing Gardasil to all 11- and 12-year-old girls would nearly double her state's vaccine budget, which already had trouble paying for required vaccines.

The federal committee's recommendation will become policy if it is accepted by the CDC, which normally follows the recommendations of its advisory panel.

The CDC's approval is expected in a matter of weeks.

Two national health insurers, Aetna and WellPoint, the parent of Blue Cross of California, said they would follow the committee's recommendations and begin reimbursing for the vaccine immediately.

Cost isn't the only obstacle to widespread adoption of the vaccine. In California, for example, legislation is required to mandate a shot.

Conservative groups have opposed requiring the vaccine, saying it might send young girls an implicit message condoning sex before marriage.

Some school officials also objected, noting that only three vaccines - those against polio, diphtheria and measles - were required in all 50 states.

"This is not a communicable disease that would keep kids out of school like mumps or rubella," said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals, whose members include middle school and high school administrators.

"To make this a condition to enter school - I think parents would become very upset, and many would see this as a signal to their daughters that they can become sexually active," Tirozzi said. "I think there would be a lot of push-back."

"I would urge the public not to exceed four grams a day. This is a drug that has a rather narrow safety window," said a study co-author, Dr. Neil Kaplowitz of the University of Southern California.

Heavy drinkers should take no more than two grams daily, Kaplowitz said.

Another co-author, Dr. Paul Watkins of the University of North Carolina, said he's less worried than Kaplowitz, noting that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been used for 50 years and has a good safety record.

The maker of Tylenol, McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, said its own research found much lower rates of abnormal liver results. The company's studies tracked high-dose users over longer periods than did the new study.

"It doesn't lead to liver disease and it usually resolves as patients continue to take acetaminophen," said Dr. Edwin Kuffner, senior director of medical affairs at McNeil.

The researchers had been hired by the drug company Purdue Pharma LP, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, to find out why abnormal liver tests were showing up in people testing a combination drug containing the acetaminophen and the opiate hydrocodone.

Purdue Pharma stopped its hydrocodone study early because of the abnormal liver tests. Researchers Watkins and Kaplowitz thought they would find the culprit in hydrocodone's interaction with acetaminophen.

"Our jaws dropped when we got the data," Watkins said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the opiate. It's good ol', garden-variety acetaminophen."

Acetaminophen is more popular than aspirin or ibuprofen. Each week, one in five U.S. adults uses it for pain or fever, a 2002 survey found.

Acetaminophen is included in numerous over-the-counter and prescription medications, making overdose possible as people unwittingly combine drugs. Overdoses of acetaminophen are the leading cause of acute liver failure.

"A week doesn't go by when I don't have to talk to someone about how much they're taking," said Kathleen Besinque of the USC School of Pharmacy.

Watkins said people considering switching painkillers should know that others have their own side effects, such as internal bleeding and stomach irritation.

New research under way at the University of North Carolina may determine if acetaminophen's effect on the liver continues for long-term, high-dose users, or if the body adapts, Watkins said.

Cadbury was forced to recall seven brands of chocolate 10 days ago after admitting that in January it found salmonella contamination in the crumb, or base ingredient, that goes into their manufacture. The company delayed six months before informing the FSA of its latest problem. The same contaminated crumb was delivered into silos at two Cadbury factories that make 30 of its other brands. The authorities and Cadbury are now testing samples from stocks of the other brands and of new products for salmonella.

The heads of food safety at Herefordshire and Birmingham councils, who are investigating the contamination, are focusing on why Cadbury's testing regime let tankers of contaminated crumb continue to be delivered when tests had come back positive for salmonella, and on what advice the company decided that a low level of salmonella was acceptable contamination. More than 30 people have become ill with the same rare strain of salmonella food poisoning since March.

The Guardian has learned that several tankers of crumb from Herefordshire tested positive for Salmonella Montevideo in a three-week period this year. However, Cadbury's just-in-time system of production meant tankers were dispatched and their contents mixed at other factories before test results were seen. Andrew Tector, Herefordshire's head of environmental health, said: "We are looking at why their testing [procedures] were such that results come too late. A tanker leaves every hour. Tests for faecal coliforms and salmonella come back after 27-29 hours. [It] renders the test meaningless."

A spokeswoman for Cadbury said: "Under the legislation, it is left to the manufacturer to determine their testing protocols. We did this based on sound independent science. At all times we have acted in good faith."

The "super mosquitoes" of the Greek capital also beat their wings up to 500 times a second -- compared to 350 beats for other variations -- and are larger by 0.3 microgrammes on average, the paper said, citing a study conducted by Aristotelio University in the northern city of Salonika.

According to the study, the mosquitoes of Athens have adapted to deal with air pollution and insect repellents, and overpopulation in the Greek capital of over four million has provided them with a healthy food supply.

"Mosquitoes can lay their eggs even inside the trays placed beneath thousands of balcony flowerpots," Athens University professor of zoology Anastassios Legakis told the daily.

Although some anti-smoking specialists worry the publication of these positive findings will wrongly convince some smokers that Pfizer Inc.'s varenicline is a panacea, even the skeptics call it "promising."

Most smoking-cessation drugs are nicotine-replacement therapies. But Pfizer's varenicline, which is marketed as Chantix and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May, is a non-nicotine drug that is thought to be beneficial for curbing smoking by stimulating the release of dopamine in the brain to reduce craving and withdrawal.

In the experiment, it was compared with GlaxoSmithKline's sustained-release (SR) bupropion, an anti-smoking treatment without nicotine marketed as Zyban that has been on the market for nearly a decade.

When the FDA approved bupropion in 1997 as an anti-smoking aid, it was an antidepressant being sold as Wellbutrin. When the drug was approved for smoking cessation, its name became Zyban.

In the Oregon-led study, participants were randomly assigned to receive twice daily either varenicline, bupropion or a placebo for 12 weeks. They also underwent 40 weeks of nondrug follow-up.

The researchers found that continuous abstinence rate for weeks nine through 12 was 44 percent for those on varenicline, 29.5 percent for those on bupropion and 17.7 percent for those on placebo.

The abstinence rate for weeks nine to 24 was 29.5 percent for those on varenicline, 20.7 percent for those on bupropion and 10.5 percent for those on placebo.

For weeks nine through 52, the continuous abstinence rate was 2? times greater for those on varenicline than on placebo.

Mr. Gonzales and colleagues also said varenicline effectively reduced nicotine cravings and withdrawal. And those who smoked while receiving the drug said it reduced their smoking satisfaction.

A second large study by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found similar results.

"At the end of the treatment period, the odds of quitting smoking with varenicline were significantly greater than the odds of quitting with either placebo or bupropion SR," the authors said.

A third study in JAMA by Norwegian researchers evaluated the benefit of an additional 12 weeks of varenicline treatment compared with a placebo in relapse prevention among smokers who achieved abstinence after an initial 12 weeks of varenicline therapy.

"Extended use of varenicline helps recent ex-smokers to maintain their abstinence and prevent relapse. Varenicline is the first smoking-cessation treatment to demonstrate a significant long-term relapse prevention effect," investigators at Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo concluded.

The Oregon and Norway studies were supported by Pfizer. The data reported in the Wisconsin research were from a clinical trial sponsored by Pfizer.