KATHY SUMMERS . . . writes about health, fitness, nutrition, and the environment

	Six safety tips for health writers. In the competition for assignments, new health writers often rush to pitch newsy health bites based on sensational new research. Readers welcome the breakthrough possibilities and benefits. But without careful attention, writers may unintentionally exaggerate a claim or make light of a new study's shortcomings. read
	Health editors' wish list. New writers are often told they can't get published in top magazines without clips. But that's simply not true. You can get published -- even in your dream market, if you know what editors want and can give it to them. read
	Fact-checkers' popularity test. Every health story tests a writer's mettle for accurate reporting. Health "facts" can be so capricious, with trusted sources contradicting one another and even the strongest expert opinions changing with new information. That makes old news and misinterpreted research results as easy to pass along as a high school rumor. read
	The havoc of "how-to" health. Millions of people seem to have a voracious appetites for health tips, but they aren't always critical readers and most don't have a medical background to help them make accurate evaluations. Still, they may start new diets, change exercise routines, start or stop taking certain drugs, modify childcare practices, and seek or avoid certain forms of care based on nothing more than magazine medical advice. read
	Coping with the mental health article. Severe mental illness affects five million adults, and many more suffer with milder life coping problems. People with psychological issues are looking for answers, and so are the people who live and work with them. Here are five tips for writing salable mental health articles. read
	If you are a mouse with cancer, we can help. Scientists can cure cancer--in a test tube. They can even cure it in a mouse. The problem is curing it in people. If you want to write an article with the headline "Cancer Cure on the Horizon," it will probably sell big time. If you write, Cancer Cure Doesn't Work in Humans, it may not sell at all. So what do you do? read
	Test tube tales: turning chemicals into copy. Writers on the beat say green writing has been lost in the corporate wilderness, but harsh policy changes from the White House stirred a backlash and, of course, Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth shook up everyone's thinking about environmental issues. That means caring about the chemicals in our environment may once again find a place in print. read
	Risky business: writing about health risks. When health risks are involved in a medical treatment or method of prevention--and they often are--readers need to hear about them, and not just from the fine print or fast talk in advertisements.  read