A New York City ban on smoking in bars goes into effect this coming Sunday, and a statewide ban goes into effect four months later. Some see it as reasonable regulation. Others condemn smoking but question the rationale for the regulations. And some see it as a direct blow against liberty. The differing opinions were nicely summed up by the article "Pataki Inks Strict Smoking Law" in today's New York Sun, which quoted, among others, ACSH's own Jeff Stier:
Search results
Last week, President Bush signed a bill allocating $15 billion for AIDS drugs in Africa (and funding efforts against tuberculosis and malaria). In his State of the Union address earlier this year, Bush said of the AIDS initiative that "seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many." It's good to hear some cost-benefit analysis being employed even on a grandiose government project, one that could easily be sold with nothing more than a tug at the heartstrings. With luck, it will pay off in millions of saved lives.
"If plaintiffs were able to flesh out this argument...it may establish that the dangers of McDonald's products were not commonly well known."
Federal judge Robert Sweet, explaining that lawyers for obese patrons who are suing McDonald's, blaming the restaurant for making them fat, have failed to make their case but have thirty days to file an amended complaint (as noted by CNN).
You can have all sorts of irresponsible fun with statistics, but James Bond video games may be more educational, as I learned over the holidays.
This weeks brings news that Osama bin Laden may be alive, audiotaping new denunciations of the West, and planning new terror attacks. It also brings word that weapons inspectors may be allowed back into Iraq. It seems like a fitting time, then, to ask what we know about biological weapons that might used by our enemies, starting with anthrax, and what we know about ability to defend against such attacks. It's also a good time to hear a few words from Dara Friedman, who worked for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tracking anthrax during the 2001 attacks.
Europeans, out of some romantic rebellion against America and high technology, were shunning U.S.-grown food containing G.M.O.'s [genetically-modified organisms] even though there is no scientific evidence that these are harmful. But practically everywhere we went in Davos, Europeans were smoking cigarettes with their meals, coffee or conversation even though there is indisputable scientific evidence that smoking can kill you.
Thomas Friedman, in his February 2 New York Times column.
For some reason, Marion Burros of the New York Times seems to have it in for food irradiation. In an article published in the Times on January 29 ("The Question of Irradiated Beef in Lunchrooms"), Ms. Burros and some authorities she quotes mislead readers about the proposed irradiation of beef used in school lunch programs.
Golden Ages, like most any mythic memory, are less about the past than about the present and a set of ideological guidelines meant to transform it. Tradition sanctifies. If it is alleged that some herbal medicine has been used for thousands of years, then it is thought it must have some efficacy that modern medicine cannot match. After all, that which is of ancient vintage has not only survived the test of time but has the added virtue of being closer to nature.
[Editor's note: Little more than an hour after ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan appeared on the Today show this morning to condemn the idea of a "fat tax" on certain foods, letter writer Aaron Sugarman sent in the following lengthy condemnation. We salute Sugarman's speed and his passion for the issue. TS]
Dr. Whelan,
It is shameful that you would use your position in what I consider to be the pseudo-science, or junk-science, community to attempt to discredit true scientific reality.
You are thoroughly disappointing as a human being.
Parthenogenesis, potentially useful as a stem cell creation method, may be considered ethically acceptable by some who previously opposed stem cell and cloning research. Since parthenogenesis involves the division of egg cells that haven't been fertilized and thus do not have a unique, new DNA code anti-cloners are less inclined to view the resulting cell clusters as human embryos.
Smokers shorten their lives by an average of seven years, according to insurance actuarial tables (one of humanity's greatest inventions and a model for rational calculation that the rest of the culture would do well to imitate). At least, seven years is what studies suggest is the handicap insurance companies are putting on smoking. Insurance companies normally don't officially open their actuarial tables to outside inspection, since those numbers are the basis of all the gambling-like choices the companies make about who to charge how much, the odds of having to pay out, and so forth.
At a press conference in New York City, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) released two new books on terrorism preparedness and response.
Products containing Olestra, the zero-calorie fat substitute, will no longer bear a label informing consumers of purported unpleasant gastrointestinal (GI) side effects. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after reviewing a six-week study that involved 3000 people, ruled that Olestra "caused only mild, infrequent GI effects," according to an FDA press release. The FDA also decided to continue the requirement for food manufacturers to add vitamins A, D, E, and K to counteract Olestra's effects on the absorption of these specific vitamins.
Anyone who has ever perused the ads for various dietary supplements online or in magazines must be familiar with claims that the product in question is "clinically proven" or is "scientifically proven" to be safe, effective, and a cure for whatever ails one or at least that "research has shown" this is so. We at ACSH have written in the past about the weakness of the regulatory scheme for dietary supplements. We've noted that supplement manufacturers, unlike producers of pharmaceuticals, don't have to prove their products either safe or effective before marketing them.
This month, attorney John Banzhaf, who for years has litigated against tobacco, purportedly in an effort to protect public health, announced his intention to solve another public-health problem obesity by suing fast-food restaurants.
Banzhaf declared that cigarettes were not, after all, the only legally available product that is both addictive and hazardous when used as intended, and that cigarette manufacturers were not the only ones who covered up the hazards of their product.
In 2001, the Surgeon General issued a call to action in response to what has come to be known as the "obesity epidemic." The call to action heightened public debate over obesity, which causes health problems that threaten to reverse many of gains made in recent decades against heart disease, several forms of cancer, and various chronic health problems. While much is being done to combat obesity as a whole, the most dramatic part of the epidemic has remained hidden.
When tests on a cow slaughtered near Yakima, Washington, tested positive earlier this week for what is known in lay terms as "Mad Cow Disease," consumers were understandably bewildered and anxious. What did this mean for their food selection and health?
Is it safe to eat beef? Is the USDA falling down on the job and allowing an infectious agent into our food supply?
Are you surprised to learn that each cup of eggnog you sipped merrily over the holiday season set you back 306 calories per cup? And that slice of pecan pie, another holiday favorite, cost you anywhere between 500 and 800 big ones at the calorie counter. If you ate a large tub of popcorn (with butter) and an accompanying 32-ounce Coke at the movie theatre over the holidays, then you satisfied a 2,000-calorie per day intake requirement in a single sitting.
Were you unaware of how many calories you were packing away or did you know and continue eating anyway?
An Italian perspective on the transcultural obesity debate:
Nations used to compete over trade and military spheres of influence. These days, it is hard to find a country that does not claim it is the fattest in the world.
The nation's supermarkets and restaurants seem to have been transformed overnight into one immense promotional campaign for the (scientifically unproven) Atkins diet plan: cutting carbohydrates. The truth is that virtually any plan to cut calories while maintaining or increasing exercise will cause weight loss, not just one magical mix of food types. But there may be a worse problem with Atkins than the annoying hype and the distraction from calorie-cutting: It may diminish the amount of folic acid women get.
The media has a responsibility to present information that is both pertinent and based on empirical data. Unfortunately, the media frequently reports health information that piques mainstream interest but diverts attention away from issues of genuine significance. Take the piece called "The Unhealthy 10," which appeared in the April 14, 2004 Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest newspaper. Meg Nugent gives readers a list of the "Top 10 dopey, unhealthy things we do that damage our health." Ultimately, it is the list that is dopey.
The dreaded mad cow disease has finally arrived. How worried should we be? Should you avoid the range cattle you come across on hikes in Montana or skip that steak when you visit Bozeman?
A 25th Anniversary Commentaryfrom Dr. Elizabeth WhelanPresident, Co-FounderAmerican Council on Science and Health:
An article on the website of the Sierra Club has given new life to the Internet rumor that plastic water bottles are a health hazard, possibly the cause of birth defects such as Down Syndrome. Years of studies on the purported culprit chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA), have not shown any health effects on humans, but one study showing minor effects on mouse egg cells, led by Dr. Patricia Hunt at Case Western Reserve University, has provided the grain of truth leading to the latest excessive fear.
Pagination
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.
Make your tax-deductible gift today!
Popular articles
![](/sites/default/files/styles/taxonomy_midi/public/category/popular.jpg?itok=Nb7H65XL)