Click to see Dr. Kava on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° 8/25/05.
Search
Does empirical reality matter? Or, to borrow a term from the title of a folklore journal, do modern minds live in a sort of "mythosphere," concerned only with their own perceptions?
Biodiversity -- the variety of life, ecosystems, species, populations, and genes -- may at first seem like an issue merely for the environmentalists and hippies, far removed from the medical community. But if you think that the recent flurry of deadly emergent diseases such as SARS, Ebola, bird flu, West Nile, and even AIDS are unrelated to environmental issues -- think again.
The loss of biodiversity changes patterns of infectious disease.
Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., co-director of the University of Minnesota s Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, has issued the claim -- based on preliminary data he has yet to publish in a peer-reviewed journal -- that smokeless tobacco is worse than the standard nicotine replacement therapies as a smoking-cessation aid. His reason seems to be simply his (unsurprising) finding that use of smokeless tobacco leaves carcinogen traces in users' urine.
According to Kevin Trudeau, in Natural Cures "They" Don t Want You to Know About -- which has been America's best-selling advice book for some three months now -- the government, in the guise of the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, is in cahoots with the drug industry and medical establishment to keep Americans sick and dependent on patented pharmaceuticals. Further, pork is poison, we should eat only organic and kosher meat, and tap water'll kill us all and is dangerous whether we drink it or bathe in it.
An ironically timed set of news items came to my attention recently. On one hand, a new report in the journal Archives of Neurology revealed that consuming more than two fish items weekly was associated with a reduction in cognitive decline in older Americans, by over 10%, compared to those who ate little or no fish.
Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1,2-trichloroethane (DDT) has been shown, over the past sixty years, to be one of the few affordable and effective tools against malarial vector mosquitoes, which account for over 300 million cases of disease and more than 1 million deaths every year. However, the Review by Walter Rogan and Aimin Chen (Aug. 27, p. 763), which aims to balance the risks and benefits of DDT, consists mainly of hypothetical concerns while the reality of human suffering gets short shrift.
A September 30, 2005 item in the Wall Street Journal noted ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan's role in drawing attention to the Harvard School of Public Health's award to the unscientific scaremonger Erin Brockovich:
An October 1, 2005 article by Michael Coulter on the Heartland Institute's website notes the CDC's latest report on biomonitoring and quotes ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan summarizing the conclusions of ACSH's own recent report, Biomonitoriing: Measuring Levels of Chemicals in People -- and What the Results Mean:
This article appeared on the site IntellectualConservative.com.
Environmental groups are likely to tout today's announcement that DuPont settled for more than $10 million with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the chemical compound perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The EPA alleged that Dupont failed to meet certain legislatively mandated reporting requirements with regard to PFOA, which is a byproduct of the process used in manufacturing Teflon.
Americans have a unique aversion to risk -- particularly when it comes to pharmaceuticals and medical treatment. We want all the benefits of modern medical technology, but many of us won't tolerate any of the risks associated with them. We've come to expect absolute safety as well as assurances of efficacy: that is, we want an ironclad guarantee that the drug or procedure works as expected, with no serious downsides.
An October 24, 2005 item by Liz Kowalczyk in the Boston Globe described opposition, started by ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, to the Harvard School of Public Health's award to Erin Brockovich:
An October 26, 2005 article from MedPageToday about new nutritional information on McDonald's food wrappers quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava, who applauds the move -- and recognizes that wrappers can't transform American eaters:
October 19, 2005 -- New York, NY. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) today announces a speaking tour to discuss the threat of an H5N1 influenza outbreak and the status of American preparedness.
Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of ACSH, will begin this nationwide tour discussing the nature of a potential outbreak of avian influenza, the shortage of anti-viral medicines such as Tamiflu, and the lack of an effective vaccine.
A November 20, 2005 article by Chresten Anderson quotes an op-ed by Brad Rodu and ACSH's Jeff Stier, which made the point that it is specifically the tar from smoking that accounts for almost all tobacco-related health problems, not nicotine (which can be more safely acquired by chewing, for those who cannot beat nicotine altogether):
A letter in the December 2, 2005 Washington Times by American Heart Association's Aaron Tallent reacts to a column by ACSH's Dr. Whelan:
Dr. Elizabeth Whelan made many strong points in her Monday Commentary column, "Fast food tells all," regarding the decision of McDonald's to print nutritional information about its products on the wrappers.
An item in Vol. 310 (October 14, 2005) of Science notes Harvard School of Public Health's award to unscientific activist Erin Brockovich but also notes the reaction of ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and others:
A Jan 3, 2006 article by Nick Schirripa about the difficulty of quitting cigarettes (for more, see ACSH's Kicking Butts in the Twenty-First Century) notes a statistic on quit rates gleaned from ACSH:
For many smokers, the arrival of the new year means one thing: It's time to quit smoking.
About 40% of smokers try to kick the habit each year, and it's no easy task.
According to the American Council on Science and Health, only about 5% succeed on their first try, and about half succeed after several attempts.
A January 4, 2006 column by Audrey Silk, head of NYC CLASH (Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment), not someone with whom ACSH usually sees eye to eye on smoking issues, quotes ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and late ACSH Advisor Sir Richard Doll:
A January 04, 2006 post by Derek Lowe on the media blog Corante.com describes an online spat over ACSH's oft-repeated point (the inspiration for our lawsuit against the EPA) that high-dose rodent tests are poor predictors of human cancer risk:
A January 11, 2006 article by Carolyn Susman describes the disproportionate effect that celebrities have on the allocation of science funding and health decision-making, noting ACSH's commentary on the matter:
News has just broken of a man, apparently a drummer in a band, contracting inhalation anthrax, not from a terror attack (as happened in 2001 shortly after 9/11) but from touching an animal hide, or so initial reports suggest.
For more information on anthrax, from the mundane encounters to nightmare scenarios, please read ACSH's full report on the topic, Anthrax: What You Need to Know.
Talk about recycling! Not only do we recycle our bottles, paper, and aluminum foil, we're also poised to recycle our health scares. Like the mythical snake that swallows its own tail, fear of benzene has come around again, since it has been found in very tiny amounts (we're talking parts per billion) in some soft drinks.
Imperiled Perrier Parallels
Pagination
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.
Make your tax-deductible gift today!