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A shorter article derived from this "e-monograph" appears in the September/October 2003 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, with the title "Energy, Homeopathy, and Hypnosis in Santa Fe."

By William M. London

Credit: William M. London

Every day a 135-year-old woman smokes two packs of cigarettes, plus at least a pipeful of tobacco.
Colored glasses permit dyslectics to read normally.
In a quiet little Pennsylvania town where radioactive waste is buried, mounds of dirt glow at night as bubbling pools change color.

These are good times for those who grow and sell organic foods. But there may be trouble in paradise.

By treating risky behavior like a communicable disease, the public health establishment invites government to meddle in our private lives.

Peer review has long been considered the gold standard guarantor of good science and medicine. It is also a rubric upon which legal standards of scientific admissibility are based. When the process fails – which is becoming increasingly common – medical practitioners and scientists alike are led astray, as is the law.  But while the scientific establishment is becoming aware of the concerns, such awareness is glaringly absent in the law.  

Her dishonest advocacy does incalculable damage to the most vulnerable.

Due to consumer concerns about the impact of commercial animal production on climate change, sustainable development, and animal welfare, biotech companies are racing to produce meat outside the realm of animal husbandry.  Cultured meat (CM), produced artificially in a bioreactor for human or pet consumption, is both the new commercial food frontier and the darling of venture capitalists. Can biotech companies deliver as promised, or are they blowing smoke at their investors and misleading the public? 

A recent paper in JAMA Internal Medicine was essentially little more than a hit piece on physicians. The authors claim that doctors will write prescriptions for more expensive drugs if they attend a seminar about that drug, and get a cheap meal. But the only thing cheap here is the standards of the authors. Their paper is a travesty.

Deny excellent studies, promote poor studies, and call anyone who disagrees with you a shill for Big Pharma.

There has been a lot of ink spilled, and bytes spent this week discussing the FDA’s approval of aducanumab, brand-name Aduhelm, for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. I have mixed feelings; there are advantages to a Phase 4 study, but how do you say no to hope?

It's impossible not to notice the exponential rise in people, posting on social media, plunging into ice-filled bathtubs or extremely cold waters. It's not because they are masochistic, but rather because of the supposed “benefits” that the practice supposedly offers.

Adderall, one of the primary drugs to treat ADHD, has been in the news lately because of a shortage. But there are a number of different ADHD drugs that contain amphetamine – the active ingredient in Adderall. Perhaps this will help clarify what's going on.

October 22, 2009
ACS, NY Post, ACIP, DioxinBy Curtis Porter
Brawley and JAMA Against The World
Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS), is catching some heat after his recent statement in an interview with the New York Times conceding that breast and prostate cancer screenings have historically been oversold by physicians and misunderstood by patients and the media.

December 10, 2007: A Nice Note of Support, a Less Than Nice Flu Season
- Quote to Note: "I've been a constant reader of [ACSH's website], loving every minute, learning valuable information, finally agreeing with something I read about science/health, and rolling my eyes at the rabid misinformation out there with the knowledge of how much this costs me and ignorant or scared people everywhere." --Anthony, a fan of ACSH.

October 22, 2007: FDA Man Likes Special Cigarettes, Hospital Workers Dislike Flu Shots
-- Quote to Note: “We know that vaccinating nursing home staff reduces influenza-related death rates among frail patients." --Jane Zucker, infectious disease epidemiologist.
-- Unbelievable. Not only does this word describe the weather in New York (high of 78 degrees in late October?), but it also describes several health-related stories published this weekend.

•"The Scariest Health Threat You've Never Heard Of: Autoimmune Disease," from the September 2008 issue of Glamour, quoted Jeff Stier saying, "People want to blame chemicals where they don't have another explanation for the cause of a disease. I think we need more psychologists rather than more toxicologists."
•The September 29, 2008 New York Sun piece "Salt Is Next on City's Hit List" quoted Dr. Gilbert Ross likening New York City's anti-salt plans to the trans fat ban.

Testimony to the New York City Council on the question of whether to tighten lead regulations, given June 23, 2003:
The ACSH is a public-health consumer-education organization, advised by a panel of 350 scientists and physicians. All of our work is peer-reviewed internally and published in independent, peer-reviewed scientific journals. We are about to celebrate our twenty-fifth year of promoting public health, here in New York and around the U.S.

From the same folks who instigated the class action litigation over Zantac, we now have a new class action suit – this one claiming that dry shampoos contain dangerous levels of benzene, a known carcinogen.

For nearly two decades the federal government has provided organic food corporations with a key ally. However, Miles McEvoy, the deputy administrator of USDA’s National Organic Program, is stepping down, so the road may get a bit rockier for that industry.

February 13, 2009
Victories for Vaccines, Soda, Smokers, Cold Sufferers, Eggs, and Vacationers
Elizabeth Wade
Court rules in favor of vaccine safety

The summer months often bring bad news: poolside accidents, amusement park mishaps, and hyponatraemic encephalopathy. What? Yes, drinking too much water can cause a serious condition characterized by a lack of salt in the blood, leading to water imbalance and water build-up in the brain. Hyponatraemia actually means low (hypo) sodium (natr) levels in the body. Most recently, a female marathon runner in a 2002 Boston race died because she ingested excessive amounts of a sports drink before and during the race.

It's an unholy alliance of pseudoscience and selfie sticks. Nothing screams "trust me" like someone with a ring light and a promo code claiming their detox tea will change your life – along with your credit card balance. And let’s not forget: the only thing “natural” here is how naturally gullible their audience can be.

"Follow the money," Deep Throat warned Woodward and Bernstein as the two reporters were about to break open the Watergate scandal. Generally, this is good advice for anyone seeking to understand what is happening in a complicated business story. But not always. Former New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editor-in-chief Jerome Kassirer would have us believe that contemporary medical scientific research is so riddled with financial conflicts of interests as to be all but worthless.

Last week, the media notified us that airplane seats were being downsized. This is at a time when, for a variety of reasons, we are all upsizing. Here are a few fun facts, including a few the media left out.