Yum Brands Inc., parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, says Thursday it has decided to ban smoking at all nationwide restaurants.

The Louisville-based company says it will erect "No Smoking" signs starting next week at the 1,200 KFC and 1,675 Pizza Hut locations across the country that are company-owned

Teenagers who smoke and are around second-hand smoke are putting themselves at more risk for of metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by obesity, high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels and pre-diabetes according to a study printed in the medical journal "Circulation" Monday.

"This is the first study to link this syndrome, which most people associate with obesity, to secondhand smoke," Dr. Michael Weitzman of the University of Rochester in New York, who led the study told Reuters

In a recent government study, levels of lead have dropped dramatically, exposure to second-hand smoke is down, and most women are not burdened by unsafe levels of mercury.

The Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has details on 148 different chemicals found in the blood and urine of 2,400 volunteers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Americans today have lower levels of potentially dangerous substances in their blood than ten years ago.

Such substances include lead and byproducts of secondhand smoke

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Americans today have lower levels of potentially dangerous substances in their blood than ten years ago.

Such substances include lead and byproducts of secondhand smoke