Our job here is ranking risks, and here's a little exercise in doing so:
(1) A Real Risk:
Marilyn Larkin provides a balanced New York Academy of Sciences overview of foodborne illnesses: "Health Threats from Domestic and Imported Produce."
(2) A Small But Discussion-Worthy Risk:
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New York, NY. The widespread belief that organic and so-called "natural foods" are safer than conventional ones is simply not true.
Scientists with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) point out that the foods that make up a traditional holiday dinner are loaded with "carcinogens": chemicals that in large doses cause cancer in laboratory animals. None of these chemicals are man-made or added to the foods. These "carcinogens" occur naturally in foods.
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Times.
Soy reduces sperm count! Or at least, that's what all the papers would be saying today if soy were an industrial chemical (like one of the three phthalates just banned by Congress).
This article first appeared on July 22, 2008 in the New York Post:
City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden apparently didn't notice the scandalous revelations about City Council "member items" earlier this year -- at least, it hasn't stopped him from jumping feet first into his own no-accountability giveaway.
This piece first appeared in the New York Post.
It's right to take pride in treating our heroes well. We should certainly compensate first responders who were actually injured as a result of exposure to the air on 9/11 and the following few days.
An October 2, 2007 post at Portfolio.com criticizing editor Neal Boulton notes his magazine's poor ranking in ACSH's survey of nutrition reporting:
We're pleased to report that over the twelve-month period ending in October 2007, ACSH's paper "Low-Calorie Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes: A Review of the Safety Issues" by Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D., Manfred Kroger, Ph.D., and Kathleen Meister was the twelfth most popular download on the influential online journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety.
Judgment calls are inescapable in the practice of medicine. Physicians and patients must choose among different courses of treatment based on imperfect knowledge and incomplete information.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com.
You would think liberal politicians are the only ones who stand up for us, the consumers. But consider the current effort to allow consumers in all fifty states to sue over injuries sustained from FDA-approved medical devices.
A new study by the Jules Stein Eye Institute of UCLA indicates that quitting smoking reduces the risk of age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness.
"This is not a surprise, given the known negative vascular effects of smoking," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "Cigarette smoking definitely plays a role in age-related macular degeneration."
"On the other hand, smoking actually reduces the risk of old-age itself," quips ACSH's Jeff Stier.
An article in the British newspaper The Independent declares, "The world is facing a growing threat from new diseases that are jumping the human-animal species barrier as a result of environmental disruption, global warming, and the progressive urbanization of the planet."
The World Health Organization recommended that new rotavirus vaccines made by GSK and Merck be included in all national immunization programs. The original vaccine against rotavirus, which kills over half a million children under five around the world each year, was removed from the market ten years ago because of a rare, potentially deadly side-effect.
The EPA has released the first of its Chemical Action Plans (CAP) targeting phthalates, following EPA chief Lisa Jackson's pledge last September to more closely scrutinize chemicals that cause public concern.
"Lisa Jackson said in September that increasing public concern about chemicals would result in more EPA regulation," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "Well, it's speeches like those that generate public concern when there's no reason for it," as Ross warned in an op-ed at the time.
According to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine s annual meeting in Seattle, exercise for women over thirty may help stave off breast cancer. Of course, ACSH staffers recommend regular exercise for everyone, but the connection to breast cancer seems dubious. It s getting a decent amount of coverage but not a lot of skepticism. Health reporters tend to give a free ride to claims that things society accepts, like exercise, are good -- and things we don't like, such as synthetic chemicals, are bad, regardless of the strength of the evidence.
•In September 2009, ACSH was mentioned in venues including a National Post writer's blog ( http://ginamallet.com/2009/09/01/streep-bites-hand-that-feeds-her/ ), National Post itself, the Gazette, New York Times (a comment posted by Dr.
A few weeks ago, I began to feel sluggish for a few days. Out of nowhere I suddenly felt cold. I lay down on the couch and piled on two down comforters to stay warm. As anyone who’s ever lived in Washington, D.C. in July knows, feeling the need to dive under blankets that time of year is just not normal. I spent an hour on the couch, shaking violently with the chills -- only to fling the blankets off the moment the shaking stopped. By then, my temperature was edging north of 102, and I was suddenly burning up.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) scare machine rolls inexorably on, generating scary headlines and national media attention, based on nothing more than alarmism, while expert scientists and sound science-based organizations have to scramble to gain any attention. It's a truism in media: good news doesn't sell papers or garner viewers, while a press release asserting that "fruits and vegetables are killing your children" will always grab the lead.
ACSH's view on this issue was noted by John Stossel on his blog today:
It is nothing new for junk science to make it onto the New York Times op-ed page. But some agendas are so far outside the mainstream they have to buy their way onto the page. That's what the Mount Sinai School of Medicine did in buying a platform for their Dr. Philip Landrigan, an activist who has dedicated his career to raising anxieties about "chemicals" in the environment.
Michelle Obama's "organic" White House garden was designed to promote a green agenda. In order to provide safe food to children in the community, the First Lady wouldn't use chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Green groups cheered. In an ironic twist, all of that has now backfired.
This article first appeared on the website of The Guardian on July 24, 2009:
Is there any benefit to buying an organic pineapple? How about an onion? Science literate people know it is a little silly, for two reasons: First, is that toxic pesticides and toxic pesticides, whether they are organic or synthetic is irrelevant, you should wash anything you did not grow yourself; second is that foods like that can't have pesticides so buying an organic version which will at least claim to not have a pesticide is a waste of money.
This piece by ACSH Trustee Henry Miller appears in its entirety in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.
Matrixx Initiatives is on the defensive since they were ordered to stop selling Zicam intranasal cold remedies after more than 130 reports of people who lost their sense of smell after using the zinc-based, homeopathic products. A public health advisory posted on the FDA website said the products have all been associated with long-lasting or permanent loss of smell and have not been shown to be effective in the reduction of the duration and severity of cold symptoms.
Under the tobacco regulation bill recently passed by Congress, flavoring in cigarettes will be banned to diminish the attraction of smoking to youth smokers, with the exception of menthol. Menthol-flavored cigarettes represent 27 percent of the market and are the product of choice for 75 percent of African-American smokers.
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