The Irish government has allayed fears that a cancer-causing chemical found in cattle at three local farms poses a health risk to beef consumers and said it won't ban the export of the meat.

Ireland Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith said Tuesday the level of dioxin detected in the said cattle, while not compliant with EU safety limits, does pose any public health concern.

Following a public consultation which yielded 96,000 responses, U.K. Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced Monday the total banning of cigarette displays in shops beginning 2013. From October 2011, large shops could no longer display cigarette products, while the ban takes effect in smaller shops after two years.

More strict age restriction on sales will be imposed for tobacco sale through vending machines. But earlier proposals to make it illegal to retail cigarette sticks in packs of 10 and to have plain packaging for cigarettes were rejected.

The economic slowdown has caused already congested emergency rooms in the U.S. to be further burdened with more patients including jobless and uninsured Americans. It has prompted the American College of Emergency Physicians to cry for help because of their lack of capacity to absorb further emergency patients.

Even before the recession, overcrowding and long waits were observed in many emergency rooms across the country, resulting in the sending of some waiting patients to other hospitals.

Students from Texas and North Carolina have won the top prizes of a prestigious high school science competition for developing an anti-microbial coating for medical devices and a new genetic research method to identify chemotherapy drugs.

Organizers of the the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology awarded on Monday the amount to Wen Chyan, a 17-year-old senior at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Texas, for topping the individual category with his anti-microbial coating aimed at fighting hospital infections.

To help the British government fight the national battle against obesity, the council of Waltham Forest in east London is set to ban the setting up of fast food outlets 400 meters from schools, parks and youth centers.

Waltham Forest will make history by being the first local authority in U.K. to make the prohibition after a public consultation indicated 93 percent of residents are in favor of the ban.