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A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that, among prostate cancer patients, current smokers have an increased risk of prostate cancer mortality compared with non-smokers. Led by Dr. Stacey Kenfield and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers also found that the number of pack-years smoked was directly associated with an increased risk of death from prostate cancer.

Writing in today s New York Post, ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom points out a troubling trend that may be hindering America s ability to compete globally on the scientific front: science jobs are quickly vanishing in the U.S. As large pharmaceutical companies, starved for revenue, continue to absorb smaller ones, jobs are lost each time. Independent of this, many more research jobs are now being outsourced to China and India. Dr.

It is a common complaint among American doctors, researchers, and investors that the FDA takes much longer than its European counterpart to approve new drugs. However, a seven-year study just published in Health Affairs contradicts the assumption, having found that 23 out of 35 new cancer drugs debuted on the U.S. market before being cleared in Europe.

A series of studies published in the journal Neuron find that genetic mutations may be the underlying cause of a major portion of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Led by Dr. Matthew W. State, associate professor of psychiatry and genetics at Yale University, the study found that 25 percent of ASD cases are caused by inherited gene mutations passed on from parent to child. But what about ASD cases that arise in children with no family history of the disorder?

Speaking of organic sprouts, in his Sunday column for The New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof offers a strange alternative theory of how the E. coli outbreak occurred. In a somewhat bizarre interpretation of the facts, he concludes that overuse of animal antibiotics was one cause:

When it was discovered that an outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease at the Playboy Mansion was responsible for sickening at least 24 attendees of the DomainFest Global Conference in February, it was thanks to Facebook, not the Los Angeles County health authorities. Writing in The New York Times, Bronwyn Garrity describes this recent epidemiological phenomenon that uses social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, to track the spread of diseases.

Too much time in front of the tube as little as two hours a day may increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, according to a new meta-analysis (an analysis of previous studies) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. For the study, a team of Harvard University School of Public Health researchers reviewed eight studies comprised of 200,000 study subjects who were followed for an average of seven to ten years.

In the past 15 months, the FDA has approved three new drugs for the treatment of late-stage prostate cancer. Two of them Dendreon s Provenge and Johnson & Johnson s Zytiga were shown in recent clinical trials to add between two and five months to median survival (about a year and a half after using docetaxel, the current standard of care approved in 2004) for men with late-stage cancer.

The CDC has determined that the 2011-12 flu vaccine formula will remain the same as last season’s. But that doesn’t mean that folks who were vaccinated last year can skip the shot this year. That’s because the immunity conferred by the flu vaccine wears off in less than a year, so you won’t be protected come winter if you haven’t had another shot.

In yesterday’s Dispatch, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross expressed skepticism toward claims made by Justin Gillis in The New York Times that man-made climate change has already manifested in the form of decreased agricultural output. Well, Dr. Ross wasn’t the only one critical of these assertions. Dr.

Ambulance diversion, the rerouting of emergency vehicles from emergency rooms due to overcrowding, has been tied to an increased risk of patient death. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that, when ambulances were diverted from ERs for 12 hours or more, there was a 20 percent increased risk of death among a group of nearly 14,000 elderly heart attack patients. Dr.

Dr. Gilbert Ross in the Financial Post, June 15, 2011
Junk Science Week: Toxic terrorists ignore organic food threat

Dr. Gilbert Ross in Guardian.co.uk, June 13, 2011
Immunity: when it's smart to go with the herd

The New York Times Mark Bittman is in favor of taxing soda. He s also in favor of taxing French fries. And doughnuts. And all hyperprocessed snacks. In his halcyon vision, the resulting funds would be channeled into programs that make healthful foods affordable and accessible to all. This, Bittman says, would solve the nation s high rates of obesity, heart disease, and cancer.

We were disappointed to see media coverage of what amounts to the non-results of a poorly executed study that was, somehow, published in the American Journal of Public Health. A team of researchers from eight different universities found that, in states banning the sale of bad food at school concession stands, daily soda consumption has dropped by twice as much among black students as among all students.

We at ACSH are happy to promote Dr. Arthur s Caplan s recent Lancet article on the importance of mandating flu vaccines for health care workers. As Dr.

A new study in the British Medical Journal should give pause to doctors considering intensive glucose lowering treatment for their type 2 diabetic patients. While tightly controlling a patient s blood sugar levels seems like an obvious approach, and does indeed have some benefits, such as a slightly lowered risk of heart attack, the new study found a 100 percent increase in the risk of dangerously low blood levels (hypoglycemia), which in some cases can be fatal.

We were very happy to hear that U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has come to his senses, ruling in favor of government funding of human embryonic stem cell research funding that he had halted just a year ago. This time, Judge Lamberth dismissed the legal challenge to the funding and ruled that the U.S. National Institutes of Health guidelines do not violate federal law.

Unfortunately, an alarmist report from a group called the Ecology Center may have some parents hesitating before they fasten their child into a car seat. The Center is spreading the word that 60 percent of child car seats contain allegedly dangerous chemicals. Bromine, chlorine, lead, other heavy metals, and allergens topped their list, as did the risk of allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer upon exposure.

Diseased lungs. Corpses. Rotting teeth. A man smoking from a tracheotomy hole. These are some of the shocking images featured in the Food and Drug Administration s recently unveiled series of cigarette package warnings. The FDA asserts that these graphic warnings will serve public health by terrifying smokers into quitting. But ACSH s Dr.

A new study reveals that fewer Americans are developing colorectal cancer (CRC). Between 2003 and 2007, the rate of new CRC cases in the U.S. fell by over 13 percent, representing nearly 66,000 fewer cancer cases and 32,000 fewer CRC deaths during this period. CDC director Thomas Frieden told Reuters that half of the decline in CRC cases can be attributed to increased screening, which rose from 52 percent in 2002 to 65 percent in 2010. One thing we know is that screening works, he said.

According to a small study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, massage therapy may be a viable option for those who suffer from lower back pain. Dr. Daniel C.

Women who have just given birth and are older than 34 or have had a Cesarean section are now advised to avoid contraceptives containing estrogen, say new government guidelines. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have concluded that birth control pills containing estrogen could increase the risk of a blood clot in some new mothers when taken within six weeks of giving birth.

Adults nostalgic for the monkey bars and tall slides of their childhood may have trouble finding them when they take their own children to a nearby playground. Shorter structures with enclosed platforms, as well as rubber ground covers, are more likely what they ll see. This is because, as John Tierney reports in The New York Times, heightened concerns over child safety have dramatically changed the landscape of the playground.

Dr. Gilbert Ross in The Daily Caller, July 13, 2011
Politics Has Overtaken Science at the EPA