Search results

"You say tomato. I say tomato." It's not only a saying that fails to work when used in print instead of uttered aloud, it's also the wacky, devil-may-care opening line of a booklet promoting alternative medicine that Oxford Health Plans sent out a few days ago to all of their participants, including, ironically, us skeptics at the American Council on Science and Health.

This article appeared on MedicalProgressToday.com.

The following piece appeared in the May 6, 2006 Washington Times:

There seems to be some disconnect from reality when one hears strident voices dogmatically proclaiming that our food system has "failed" and must be entirely transformed, or that the "Green Revolution" (which boosted crop yields through improved fertilizer use) is a failure. People who say that must think, as Tertullian (and later St.

October 22, 2007: FDA Man Likes Special Cigarettes, Hospital Workers Dislike Flu Shots
-- Quote to Note: “We know that vaccinating nursing home staff reduces influenza-related death rates among frail patients." --Jane Zucker, infectious disease epidemiologist.
-- Unbelievable. Not only does this word describe the weather in New York (high of 78 degrees in late October?), but it also describes several health-related stories published this weekend.

While headlines scream about a link between exposure in the womb to common chemicals and lowered IQs in kids later on, the study these alarms are based upon is just more of the same old junk and data manipulation.

Now that a full year has passed since the abortive attempt by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration s Commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, to make the morning-after pill available to anyone over-the-counter (OTC), what is the status of this plan?

DISPATCH: Plastic, Longevity, Gender, and Vitamins
The Anti-Quote of the Day: The dangers of plastic bottles"The truthful answer is that nobody knows" their full health impact yet, said David Ozonoff, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. "And because we don't know, it's prudent to avoid something that is avoidable." --_Boston Globe_, April 23, 2008.

The horror stories about pain and suffering arising from the CDC's new "voluntary guidelines" to physicians regarding opioid prescription policies keep rolling in. But it would difficult to find anything worse than what happened to former Seattle resident, Denny Peck. And it could just as easily happen to any of us.

At times it seems as though even scientific journals can morph into fiction. An article appearing in the April 24th issue of the medical journal The Lancet, entitled "Uganda considers DDT to protect homes from malaria," is so incredible to anyone interested in public health as to have been written by Asimov or Crichton. Using the impending "celebration" of "Africa Malaria Day" (April 25th) as a rationale, the story describes the current status of malaria-control measures in Uganda, an impoverished land in eastern Africa best known to Americans for AIDS and Idi Amin.

Telemedicine is a first step towards digitizing the world of medicine, while improving and increasing access to care and reducing out-of-pocket costs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that pesticides are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that harm children. Absurdly, AAP also endorses the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones — treatments designed to disrupt a child’s endocrine system. It’s the latest example of a major science institution promoting harmful, hypocritical nonsense.

The coronavirus pandemic has devolved into just another partisan battle. In the process, it has revealed how poorly served Americans are by their leaders and the media.

For nearly two decades the federal government has provided organic food corporations with a key ally. However, Miles McEvoy, the deputy administrator of USDA’s National Organic Program, is stepping down, so the road may get a bit rockier for that industry.

The agency's primary functions are ensuring food safety, regulating tobacco products rationally, and expeditiously approving new drugs and medical devices. It's failing. Instead, we're getting increasingly complex organizational structures and the commissioning of endless reports.

The New York Times recently swallowed whole a study which concluded that those who eat meat die 23% more quickly than those who don't. But the meat study sounded fishy. And it was. ACSH advisor and expert biostatistician Dr. Stan Young turns the meat study into hamburger.

This past week, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted a webinar on the putative dangers of ultra-processed foods (UPF). Let me share my recap.

A male physician disparages female doctors. Things don't go well for him. However, we now can have an honest discussion about the issue.

Our Dr. Jamie Wells attended a forum yesterday at the Harvard Club of New York. Public Health leaders presented diverse perspectives on how the complex task of preventing healthcare-associated infections needs to be approached. 

The Conversation returns with another awful story about the dangers of "ultra-processed" food. Here's a look at the science they ignored—again.

Is Biogen's Alzheimer's drug a historic achievement or red herring? There are plenty of opinions on both sides. Nonetheless, it received FDA approval despite an unanimous downvote from its own expert panel. What is going on here? No one knows, but to me, it just doesn't smell right.

Environmental activists rely on several go-to tactics when fomenting fear of pesticides. One of their favorite methods is recruiting fake whistleblowers – often retired government scientists – who will spread conspiratorial nonsense about regulatory agencies and other researchers. Here's a real-world example of the "phony whistleblower gambit."

It's controversial, but recent advances in surgical techniques lead a researcher to believe a head transplant will allow a willing patient who is paralyzed to move -- and even walk -- following the procedure.

Overview

By William M. London

Credit: William M. London

Every day a 135-year-old woman smokes two packs of cigarettes, plus at least a pipeful of tobacco.
Colored glasses permit dyslectics to read normally.
In a quiet little Pennsylvania town where radioactive waste is buried, mounds of dirt glow at night as bubbling pools change color.