  We introduce a renormalized Jellium model to calculate the equation of state
for charged colloidal suspensions. An almost perfect agreement with Monte Carlo
simulations is found. Our self-consistent approach naturally allows to define
the effective charge of particles {\em at finite colloidal density}. Although
this quantity may differ significantly from its counterpart obtained from the
standard Poisson-Boltzmann cell approach, the osmotic pressures for both models
are in good agreement. We argue that by construction, the effective charge
obtained using the Jellium approximation is more appropriate to the study of
colloidal interactions. We also discuss a possibility of a fluid-fluid critical
point and show how the new equation of state can be used to shed light on the
surprising results found in recent sedimentation experiments.
