Information Security & US & Life & Love & Fashion & Hacking & Passion

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday rescinded guidance it issued 42 years ago that has allowed tobacco companies to make claims about tar and nicotine levels based on testing by a machine.

In its advertising, the cigarette industry uses a test known at the Cambridge Filter Method to support any factual statements of tar and nicotine content in cigarette smoke. But the commission said the test method is flawed. It also said that the resulting advertisements touting tar and nicotine levels could cause consumers to believe that lighter cigarettes were safer.

The commission said it would not allow tobacco companies to use the FTC's "stamp of approval."

"Our action today ensures that tobacco companies may not wrap their misleading tar and nicotine ratings in a cloak of government sponsorship," said Commissioner Jon Leibowitz.

ealthy men and women with good cholesterol levels could significantly reduce their risk of heart disease by taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, better known as statins, according to a study released Sunday.

Nearly 18,000 people in 26 countries, including 7,000 women and nearly 5,000 minorities, participated in the clinical trial, the results of which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

All had very good cholesterol levels, with average LDL -- or "bad" cholesterol -- levels of 108 and average HDL --or "good" cholesterol -- levels of 49.

However, each participant had elevated levels of "high-sensitivity C-reactive protein" or hs-CRP -- a marker that indicates inflammation in the body and can contribute to coronary heart disease, the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States.

Under the current guidelines set for lowering cholesterol levels, none of the participants would have qualified for taking statins.

In the study, the participants took 20 milligrams of the drug Rosuvastatin -- commercially known as Crestor -- or a placebo pill.

The maker of Crestor, AstraZeneca, funded the study.