A few weeks ago, the world of organic food proponents was rocked by new research that organic food was not any more nutritious than conventionally-grown food. Consumers have long been interested in knowing if the extra money they have been shelling out for organic food is justified and the subject, therefore, is of much interest.
A Little Bit of Background
Search
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.
•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.
This piece by ACSH Trustee Henry Miller appears in its entirety in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.
Despite the ongoing epidemics of cigarette-related disease, novel influenza and obesity, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is focusing on a very different set of purported health risks: deadly toxins and chemicals in "our bodies." This effort will do nothing to promote public health while raising needless anxiety and spurring expensive, useless regulation and litigation.
Phthalates, BPA and toxic lead paint: How safe are toys and school supplies made for children?
According to the New York Times: "Federal health officials are trying to shift supplies of the seasonal flu vaccine away from chain pharmacies and supermarkets to nursing homes, hoping to counter a shortage that threatens to cause a wave of deaths this winter among the nation's most vulnerable population."
Experts from the World Health Organization and Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS report that the worldwide number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has remained virtually the same for the past two years.
"This is some rare good news about AIDS," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "International health officials say the number of new cases of HIV peaked in 1996, but there may be an exception for Africa where it could still be prevailing and increasing. Still, these are hopeful signs in the war on AIDS. It's very encouraging."
A CDC report concludes that obesity rates are increasing throughout the U.S., with especially high rates in Appalachia and the South.
"Is it news that the obesity problem is greater in the South?" asks ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "This has been known for a while, the question is why. There seems to be a socioeconomic variable first of all, but it might have more to do with culture differences. Southern cuisine includes many high-fat, fried foods. Basically, their diets are not very well-balanced. Their food is likely to be higher in fat and calories in general."
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross points out the contrasting science-based educational values of two columns in the Wall Street Journal. "The Informed Patient" by Laura Landro is about the "growing field of nutritional immunology" and all of the ways you can boost your immune system with the right diet.
Although vaccination is acknowledged to be one of the most cost-effective public health strategies available to prevent many communicable viral and bacterial infections, large numbers of Americans above the age of 18 remain vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases.
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD reported that a diet high in fat can increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. According to the article from dbtechno.com, this study finding is interesting because it contradicts previous studies that have found the exact opposite.
I ve never heard of any study that would indicate the opposite, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, so I don t entirely trust this report. To whatever extent it is true, it s a good reason not to overdo your fat intake.
FDA on BPA The FDA released its long-awaited reassessment of the safety of BPA last Friday.
Election in Massachusetts Scott Brown's victory in the U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts last night may curtail the healthcare reform effort in Congress.
Patting Themselves on the Back The latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine features a letter by ACSH's Dr. Ross about a report in the journal praising New York City's restriction on trans-fats in restaurants.
Dr. Ross on the Airwaves ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross will join Vicki McKenna on her radio show, NewsTalk 1310 WIBA, at 5:06 pm (EST) to talk about the Wisconsin State Senate's passage of a BPA ban. Tune in at 1310 AM where her show broadcasts, or listen online at http://www.wiba.com/main.html.
If my doctor told me that I had no established risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) but should go on prescription medication to prevent it anyway, I'd look at him like he was from another planet -- Jupiter, perhaps.
But a new analysis of data from a study known as JUPITER (Justification for the Use of statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) suggests that for certain people, the statin drug rosuvastatin (sold as Crestor) could reduce their risk of CHD.
NBC New York tells the horror story of a cancer cluster in New Jersey "in a neighborhood where state health department officials have found elevated rates of kidney cancer in women and non-Hodgkins lymphoma in men. The study stopped short of linking the cancer to the chemical-laden groundwater from the sprawling DuPont plant that takes up 1,455 acres in this Passaic County community."
An op-ed from FoodNavigator argues that BPA has become a litmus test for the FDA's leadership abilities: "Each day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dithers in delivering its verdict on the safety of bisphenol A (BPA) its authority is diminished and its credibility wanes."
Pagination
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.
Make your tax-deductible gift today!