Illegal injections of a cancer-treating chemical pose a risk of death to legions of Filipinos who use them to try to whiten their skin, health authorities warned Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspects the drug glutathione is being injected in high doses as a skin-whitener, but said it can cause serious conditions including kidney failure and blood poisoning.

A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses — from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest — has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.

"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Several lakeside towns in the Philippines on Monday were struggling to cope with mountains of rotting fish that were killed by a sudden drop in water temperatures at the weekend.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said more than 750 tons of fish had died since Friday in Taal Lake near Manila, hitting several towns whose economies are heavily reliant on the fishing industry.

On June 5 1981, American epidemiologists reported a baffling event: five young gay men in Los Angeles, all previously healthy, had fallen ill with pneumonia. Two had died.

They would be the first casualties of a new virus which has now claimed more lives than a world war.

The head of the U.N. AIDS agency told a Vatican conference on AIDS Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI's comments about the use of condoms in preventing HIV transmission had opened new prospects for dialogue with the U.N.

Dr. Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said it will help strengthen the fight for greater access to treatment for those afflicted. Sidibe said Benedict's views were important, even if differences remain between the U.N. and Catholic Church.

Warnings on cigarette packets about the dangers of tobacco push smokers to kick the habit, and graphic images depicting human suffering are the most effective, a study released Thursday shows.

Nearly all adult smokers in countries where a World Health Organization (WHO) convention requires health warnings on tobacco products noticed the warnings, and more than half of smokers in six of 14 countries in the study said the warnings made them think about quitting, says the study.

Germany has warned consumers to be especially careful when eating tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers which are believed to be responsible for an outbreak of food poisoning that has left three dead.

Initial findings by the Robert Koch Institute, the national disease center, "indicate that the most recent contamination by EHEC (enterohaemorrhagic E. coli) is most probably due to consumption of raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leaf salad," the ministry for consumer protection said late Wednesday.

Scientists from the United States, Italy and Mexico, were on Wednesday awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for their research into brain-related disorders.

Joseph Altman, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla and Giacomo Rizzolatti were named joint winners of the Prince of Asturias Prize for Technical and Scientific Research.

German authorities reported Tuesday three suspected deaths from a strain of the E. coli bacterium and warned more were likely because of a "scarily high" number of new infections.

"The number of serious cases in such a short time period is very unusual, and the age groups affected is also atypical," said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease control and prevention agency.

People who go to museums and concerts or create art or play an instrument are more satisfied with their lives, regardless of how educated or rich they are, according to a study released Tuesday.

But the link between culture and feeling good about oneself is not quite the same in both sexes, according to the study, published in the British Medical Association's Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.