Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York plan to introduce the "BPA-Free Kids Act," which would ban the chemical from containers for young children's products. Activist pressure to restrict the use of BPA is heating up as the FDA prepares to release their latest opinion on it. The Breast Cancer Fund, for example, has called for the FDA to issue an immediate ban on BPA in hard plastic food containers and require labeling of all other food packaging containing BPA.
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Yet another story confirms the obvious fact that cell phones do not cause brain cancer. According to HealthDay News, "A thirty-year examination of the incidents of brain tumors in Scandinavia found no substantial change in prevalence even after cell phone use became widespread, according to the report in the Dec. 3 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute."
ACSH staffers are very impressed with the progress of the Red Cross Measles Initiative. Their website reports, "[M]easles deaths worldwide fell by 78% between 2000 and 2008, from an estimated 733,000 in 2000 to 164,000 in 2008. However, global immunization experts warn of a resurgence in measles deaths if vaccination efforts are not sustained."
FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg criticized a proposed amendment to the healthcare bill which would enable the importation of cheaper prescription drugs.
"Dr. Hamburg acknowledged that while the current legislation does have provisions to improve the safety of imported drugs, they don't go far enough," says ACSH's Jeff Stier. "We have to give Commissioner Hamburg credit, because by opposing drug importation, she is going against the politics and sticking with the science."
A report by the World Health Organization reveals that tobacco use kills 5 million people worldwide each year. The WHO attributes 600,000 of those deaths to exposure to secondhand smoke.
"As ACSH points out in our publication on the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), ETS can have serious impacts on nonsmokers, including increased risk of asthma, ear infections, and more," says Dr. Whelan. "Still, it is unlikely that it causes 600,000 deaths each year, but then again, we cannot make a science-based estimate on what mortality from ETS might be."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "A popular class of bone-building drugs known as bisphosphonates appears to significantly reduce women's risk of breast cancer, according to research presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium."
The New Face of the New McCarthyism ACSH’s Jeff Stier got the last word in the Los Angeles Times’ report on PLoS Medicine’s recent announcement that they will no longer review studies that are funded by the tobacco industry.
The following brief commentary appeared on the Manhattan Institute's MedicalProgressToday.com, along with similar reactions to the "conflicts of interest" debate from Richard Epstein, ACSH Trustee Dr. Thomas Stossel, and others.
New York NY -- January 15th, 2010. The American Council on Science and Health applauds today's decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to ban the plastic hardener bisphenol-A (BPA). Despite heavy pressure from various activist "environmental" groups, the FDA has not placed any restrictions on the chemical's use in consumer products but rather decided to "support" industry's decisions to reduce exposure to BPA in food-related products aimed at infants and children. FDA is also "facilitating" the development of alternatives to BPA in infant formula cans.
Testimony delivered January 22, 2010 at a Public Hearing before the New York Senate Committee on Health.
Recommended Reading ACSH staffers were pleased to read two reports from thinktanks addressing the panic fomented by activist groups concerning trace levels of chemicals in our consumer products and our bodies.
Cancer Screening Déjà Vu
A Chicago Tribune personal health blog written by Julie Deardorff seeks the cost-benefit analysis for organic food.
Spanish scientists suggest that one third of breast cancer cases are preventable based on diet and exercise habits.
“We have to acknowledge that it is true that being overweight during and after middle age is a risk factor for breast cancer,” says ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “Still, claiming that one third of cases are preventable by lifestyle choices is probably an overstatement.”
The FDA is debating whether tanning beds should be more strictly regulated, since they have been linked to skin cancer.
A new study reported online in the European Heart Journal claims that consuming 7.5 grams of chocolate daily can result in a significantly lower blood pressure than consuming just a sprinkle of it daily, with an incredible 39% reduction in rates of heart attack and stroke.
In the wake of last week's U.S. House Subcommittee on Health hearing on smokeless tobacco, ACSH advisor and friend Dr. Brad Rodu has taken on one of the key witnesses. Dr.
Two studies released this week link specific forms of cancer with the consumption of certain meats, but ACSH is skeptical.
Politico reports that a measure to ban Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to manufacture certain food and beverage containers, could be introduced on the Senate floor by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as early as this week.
"I introduced my bill to ban BPA from being used in food containers because I feel very strongly that the government should protect people from harmful chemicals," Feinstein told Politico in a statement.
Three top FDA administrators have a column published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week about how they will use their authority under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
The New York Times reports, “R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, one of the country’s biggest cigarette makers, must pay $46.3 million to the widow of a Florida man who died from lung cancer in 1995, a jury in Gainesville, Fla., decided Wednesday.”
A survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that more than 40% of U.S. adults who have depression are also smokers. By contrast, the overall national smoking rate is around 20%.
Thanks in large part to vociferous anti-chemical activists, a new bill in Congress seeks to reform the thirty-four-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to the Washington Post, The plan, contained in legislation that Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is set to file Thursday, would require manufacturers to prove the safety of chemicals before they enter the marketplace.
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