Cancer incidence rates and the number of deaths due to cancer continue to decline in the United States, according to the Cancer Statistics 2010 report issued by the American Cancer Society (ACS). The incidence of cancer has decreased by 1.3 percent per year from 2000 to 2006 in men and 0.5 percent per year from 1998 to 2006 in women, while cancer death rates have dropped 21 percent since 1991 among men and 12 percent since 1992 among women.
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A promising new vaginal microbicidal gel could be used to sharply reduce HIV infection among women, according to a study released yesterday at the XVIII International AIDS conference in Vienna by a South African AIDS research center. The gel contains tenofovir, an antiretroviral medication, that when applied 12 hours before and after unprotected sex, reduced the risk of HIV transmission in women by 39 percent and by up to 54 percent if the gel was used regularly.
It looks like Dr. Dustin Ballard, a Marin County Independent columnist and emergency physician at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael, has also caught wind of the scare season. In fact, while addressing excessive fears over minor head bumps following the death of actress Natasha Richardson, he references ACSH as “an advocacy group dedicated to providing sound health information to consumers.” ACSH would like to offer a seat at the table to Dr.
The same advisory panel assessing Avandia will also evaluate the safety and efficacy of one of three new weight loss drugs this week. Given the difficulties in developing a drug that can safely induce substantial weight loss and a 35 percent U.S. adult obesity rate, there is high demand for a new weight loss option.
It turns out that turbulence might not be the only thing to fear while flying. FDA inspection records reveal airline food preparation kitchens have numerous hygiene issues, including the presence of roaches and mice, unsanitary conditions and no access for employee hand washing.
Pew Charitable Trusts, a powerful non-profit organization, sponsored a retreat on Bonaire in October 2002 and personally handpicked the roster of influential journalists and respected scientists who were in attendance, The Gloucester Times reported this week.
This 4th of July weekend, there will be plenty of beautiful fireworks displays to watch, but ACSH advisor and ophthalmologist Dr. Emil Chynn cautions us to literally keep an eye out for fireworks hazards.
Professor of developmental neuropsychology at the University of Oxford Dorothy Bishop has a novel idea distribute awards to recognize, or rather disrepute, research misrepresentations in the media. In her blog earlier this month, she announced the launch of the Orwellian Prize for Journalistic Misrepresentation, which will be awarded every January.
A group of specialists from England and Ireland were able to elicit a reaction from ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross that ACSH staffers attempt on a daily basis: unbridled laugher. Apparently, all it takes is the publication of an article recommending the transplantation of obese children from their homes into foster care because of assumed parental negligence.
Conventionally grown produce is losing its nutrients, and it s only getting worse, according to an article published in Prevention Magazine and posted on MSNBC.com. According to Donald Davis, PhD, senior research consultant for the Bio-Communications Research Institute, selective breeding and synthetic fertilizers are to blame since they diminish a plant s ability to absorb nutrients.
A study published in Nature Medicine shows promise for a new vaccine delivery system involving patches that contain dissolvable microneedles. The researchers who developed the patch tested its ability to immunize mice with an influenza vaccine and found that it might provide a better immune response over traditional needle injection. They hope one day to make the patch available so patients – especially those who are afraid of needles – can self-administer vaccines at home.
The New York State Legislature successfully upheld its reputation as a scientifically misinformed governmental body when Gov. David Patterson officially signed into law a ban against BPA in children’s products over the weekend.
“We can no longer call them the ‘do-nothing Legislature’ because they finally did do something, even though it was counterproductive,” points out Dr. Ross.
If we had enough space, we’d offer all of the members of the Legislature a seat in the ACSH soundproof chamber.
Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) isn t happy with BP s use of surface oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico in order to ameliorate the adverse effects of the oil spill. In a letter to Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral in charge of the cleanup operations, Markey alleged the dispersants have caused a toxic stew of chemicals, oil and gas, with impacts that are not well understood.
Respectful Insolence's pseudonymous pro-science blogger Orac this morning rightfully laments the appearance of an acupuncture case study in the ostensibly evidence-based New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The FDA issued a warning to Novartis Pharmaceuticals for its use of Facebook Share to promote its new leukemia drug, Tasigna, arguing that:
Some of the 10,500 Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers who received a $712.5 million settlement to cover health care costs are still bitter. The money will be allocated according to not only severity of illness, but also possibility of being able to prove a causal relationship between exposure and disease — so plaintiffs with asthma will receive greater compensation than those with cancer, because it would have been easier to prove a causal link between at least worsened asthma and exposure at Ground Zero.
According to U.S. researchers, there are an estimated 11,300 throat cancer cases attributable to human papilloma virus (HPV) annually, although the government does not formally track the incidence rate since the connection between HPV and throat cancer was only made in the past few years. The rate is expected to rise since people have more sexual partners now than in decades past.
ACSH staffers welcome an article in the online journal, Medscape, reporting on the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) suit against the FDA asking for a “writ of mandamus,” or court order requiring the agency to respond to NRDC’s 2008 petition to ban the use of BPA in commercial products.
In addition to calling the NRDC lawsuit “bizarre,” ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross was further quoted in the article:
A House subcommittee will be holding hearings this week on a bill to "reform" the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the federal law regulating chemicals, and ACSH staffers worry that the new measure goes too far.
Grocery retailers across the country are jumping aboard the nutritional bandwagon and offering customers greater advice on their dietary choices, The Wall Street Journal reports. Using a scoring system developed by NuVal LLC, owned by Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., foods get a score between 1 (low in nutrition) and 100 (really healthy) based on calorie content and the presence of more than 30 nutrients including proteins, fat and carbohydrates.
ACSH staffers re-learned a valuable lesson in news reporting yesterday: the media isn t always right. Based on inaccurate news reports, in yesterday s Dispatch we stated that Oregon has banned all electronic cigarettes. Thanks to ACSH friend Bill Godshall (and co-author of our publication on tobacco harm reduction), we re able to bring you the right information:
Perhaps the L.A. Times was inspired by our June 29 Dispatch detailing the false belief that all-natural means safe when they decided to cover the new Consumer Reports assessment of several dietary supplements thought to pose substantial health risks.
As the obesity epidemic becomes a global health care crisis, German economists and parliament members have tried to come up with a solution: let’s hold fat people financially responsible for the extra pounds they’re packing, they say.
One person not onboard with the proposed plan, however, is Walter Willett, professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, who says that along with lifestyle, genetics and urban environments also contribute to obesity.
Today’s New York Times book review of Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: No More Unnecessary Biopsies, Radical Treatment or Loss of Sexual Potency caught A
In yesterday’s Dispatch, ACSH staffers considered the Reproductive Risk Factors for Incontinence Study at Kaiser (RRISK) study, which correlates breast feeding with a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes, as the first of its kind that we were aware of. But Dr.
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