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The number of cigarette smokers in the United States has dropped by 8.6 million since 2005 — and that fall could be accelerated by a tobacco tax just passed in California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smoking rates have fallen from 21 percent of the adult population in 2005 to 15 percent in 2015, when the agency conducted its latest survey. The smoking rate fell by 1.7 percentage points between 2014 and 2015 alone — a substantial decline, according to a report Thursday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Harris, 11/10)

Lung cancer, which kills almost 160,000 Americans a year, is among the cruelest of foes. Most patients are diagnosed at an advanced staged after punishing chemotherapy still have a bleak prognosis. More than half die within a year. (McGinley, 11/10)

Mike Baughman considered himself one of the lucky ones, returning from Vietnam without any major injuries or psychological scars. But after falling ill nearly a half-century later, he found out he did not escape the war after all. The 64-year-old is among hundreds of veterans who have been diagnosed with a rare bile duct cancer that may be linked to their time in the service and an unexpected source: parasites in raw or poorly cooked river fish. (McDowell and Mason, 11/11)

Vincristine, widely used to treat leukemia and lymphoma, powerfully blocks the growth of cancer cells. Safeguards exist to make sure it is not injected into the spinal fluid. Among other things, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires syringes of vincristine to be sealed with a sticker reading “For intravenous use only — fatal if given by other routes.” Still, the FDA allows vincristine to be dispensed in a syringe because some clinicians prefer giving it by intravenous injection, called “IV push,” than by dripping it from an intravenous bag. (McCullough, 11/10)