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The Lancet has gone on an ideological bender against alcohol consumption and refuses to publish data that challenges their shaky assertions.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the extent of permissible federal interactions with private-party decision-making – namely, by social media platforms. The issue is portrayed as a clash between First Amendment rights and public health. This is not a new conundrum, but the involvement of social media is upping the ante. Further complicating the issue is the fact that the platforms acquiesced and voluntarily cooperated with governmental involvement, and while they are the object of the federal “incursions,” the social media platforms are not the aggrieved parties in the case.

DISPATCH: Plastic, Longevity, Gender, and Vitamins
The Anti-Quote of the Day: The dangers of plastic bottles"The truthful answer is that nobody knows" their full health impact yet, said David Ozonoff, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. "And because we don't know, it's prudent to avoid something that is avoidable." --_Boston Globe_, April 23, 2008.

One of the most common complaints about the healthcare system revolves around conflicts of interest, both real and perceived. The wellness industry attempts to pretend as though it doesn’t struggle with them. That couldn't be farther from the truth, because COIs abound.

Many of our national leaders appear to suffer from some sort of cognitive impairment or other mental disorder. Should they undergo periodic intelligence and mental status testing?

Russia's decades-old propaganda machine is vast and vicious. Its goal is to damage the health and prosperity of the country's adversaries, especially the United States.

November 20th, 2009
EPA, Breast Exams, Cervical Exams
By Curtis Porter

Our recent report on the role of beef in the American diet noted some beef benefits, but that didn't please everyone. Below is a prime example of how some of beef's detractors react to such news but we will not be cowed.
Responses:
February 11, 2003

1. Focus your efforts on things that matter; inform yourself about possible risks.

"I confess, that nothing frightens me more than the appearance of mushrooms on the table."
--Alexandre Dumas

The Center for Science in the Public Interest started its campaign against trans fats six years ago, and ACSH warned back then that the folks at CSPI are a bunch of irresponsible scare-mongers, always claiming in the fine print that they don't mean to alarm anyone but always knowing that their periodic anti-food pronouncements do just that. (Trans fats, like any fats, can be bad for the heart if eaten in excess, but there is nothing strange or toxic or especially insidious about them.)

ACSH/Staff, Oprah/Cranks, Meat/Breasts, HRT/Lungs, Sun/Skin, Spice/Island
by Elizabeth Wade
ACSH welcomes two new staffers
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to the two newest members of the ACSH team: art director Anthony Manzo and research intern Curtis Porter. Curtis will be taking over as writer of Morning Dispatch this week, as I prepare to leave to start my Fulbright scholarship in Mexico.
Could watching Oprah be dangerous for your health?

DISPATCH: Hunger, Mercury, Alcohol, Smoke, and Toenails
Norman Borlaug's op-ed on the fight against hunger

You can be blindfolded, throw a stone, and probably hit a writer who gets the opioid crisis all wrong. Today, let's throw one at German Lopez of The New York Times.

"You say tomato. I say tomato." It's not only a saying that fails to work when used in print instead of uttered aloud, it's also the wacky, devil-may-care opening line of a booklet promoting alternative medicine that Oxford Health Plans sent out a few days ago to all of their participants, including, ironically, us skeptics at the American Council on Science and Health.

Yes

by Kenneth E. Legins
In 1903 Mark Twain wrote of Christian Science: "The power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make it sick is a force which none of us is born without. The first man had it, the last one will possess it." The power of the mind over the body is often indisputable, even among the staunchest defenders of the scientific method. The biologic effect of hope or faith, which scientists sometimes refer to as the placebo effect, is little understood in the medical community.

The pediatric group recently issued a policy statement riddled with chemophobic nonsense. Why are officials there whining so much? Here's why.

Another article in the ongoing war over the protective value of masks. The latest report, with senior author Vinay Prasad, effectively builds and demolishes a straw man of the authors’ creation, then does some out-of-season cherry-picking. In the end, the “study” sheds more shade than light.

DISPATCH 6/27/08: Lying Brains, Silent Strokes, Unsafe Sex, and Rotavirus Vaccines

The agency's primary functions are ensuring food safety, regulating tobacco products rationally, and expeditiously approving new drugs and medical devices. It's failing. Instead, we're getting increasingly complex organizational structures and the commissioning of endless reports.

MORNING DISPATCH 10/10/08: Tobacco, Infections, HIV, and Rights for Plants

Introduction
As the year draws to a close, some of us will be reminded that olde acquaintance should not be forgot. So, before we can officially commence the New Year, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) would like to reflect upon this year past. We'd especially like to spend an extra moment considering what we hope the world will eventually learn to forget the most unfounded health scares of 2010.

The recipe for good public health policy is like a souffle- simple ingredients combined in a complex manner. Done well - it’s a delight. Heavy-handed, using sour (outdated) ingredients – it’s a mess, even toxic.

January 12, 2009
PB & Salmonella, Genes and Cancer, Fat and Poverty, Smoke and Alzheimer's, FDA and Gardasil
By Elizabeth Wade
Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter
A large institutional-sized container of peanut butter contaminated with salmonella has been discovered in Minnesota, and public heath officials suspect that the strain is linked to an outbreak that has sickened nearly 400 people in forty-two states since September.

“…the pandemic is over.” – President Biden.
Really? It clearly depends on how, where, and when you look. Overall, we see trends of increasing daily cases, stable death rates, and decreasing case fatality rates. There are significant peaks in these outcomes, up to 100-fold in cases and 10-fold in deaths.