Americans may be receiving too much medical care, and it could be making them sicker, The Associated Press reported in a lengthy article yesterday. Author Lauran Neergaard cites the over-prescription of antibiotics for viruses, needless evaluation and treatment of back pain, fetal monitoring and PSA tests in men over 75 as among the most unnecessary and avoidable treatments performed.
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American Enterprise Institute resident fellow, former FDA official, and friend of ACSH Dr. Scott Gottlieb evaluates the progress made in cancer treatment in today's Wall Street Journal. Gottlieb highlights the results of studies of two experimental drugs presented at this year s annual American Society of Oncology meeting in Chicago.
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
ACSH Responds to misinformation in the CNN special,“Toxic America”
For Immediate Release
ACSH staffers offer an honorary seat at the table to Dr.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. are suing New York City for displaying graphic point-of-sale health warnings about smoking. Citing violations of their First Amendment rights and preemption by federally mandated warning labels, Philip Morris and RJR are calling for an end to the graphic campaign, which features such images of cancerous lungs and decayed teeth.
It is the first day of summer, and while many will want to dive into their swimming pools, a recent report by the American Association of Pediatrics points out that African-American children are three times more likely to drown than white kids, mainly due to deeply entrenched fears of drowning.
While on the road again in Washington, D.C., ACSH's Jeff Stier attended the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research conference on BPA. One of the presenters, Dr. Julie Goodman, director of epidemiology at Gradient Corp. and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, provided the most insight concerning the real adverse effects of BPA in humans, which are none.
The UN s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) predicted yesterday that worldwide cancer deaths would increase to 13.2 million by 2030, nearly twice the 2008 figure. IARC s new database also projects a shift of the cancer burden from wealthier to poorer nations.
From the Manhattan Institute's Medical Progress Today "Second Opinion" section
No one wants misleading pharmaceutical advertising, but the Food and Drug Administration's plan to deputize doctors to police drug companies is a misguided effort.
Most physicians and health care workers simply don't have the hard data necessary to judge whether an ad overstates a drug's efficacy or plays down its risks. The hundreds of needless reports will distract the FDA from its core mission.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) (aka: the “Food Police”) is threatening to sue McDonald’s for including toys with their Happy Meals, citing supposed violations to consumer protections laws in a number of states. CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson claims that the marketing of toys with fast food is illegal in these states.
Various media outlets are reporting on groups in several localities pushing for stricter bans on BPA, including the Breast Cancer Fund.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross would like to provide a word of caution to patients on Avandia: do not discontinue your medication without discussing such a move with your doctor first. Physicians of the Endocrine Society, American Diabetes Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists issued a similar statement on Wednesday, warning that the risk of stopping Avandia use abruptly is greater than any potential cardiovascular risk the drug might possess.
On a more positive note, data collected from HIV patients in the Canadian province of British Columbia show that treatment with the combination anti-HIV drug therapy known as “highly active antiretroviral therapy” (HAART) has reduced the province’s HIV infection rate by half since 1996. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement:
Yesterday, ACSH reported on the recent accusations against McDonald’s by China’s Scientific Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), which alleges that the fast-food giant uses harmful additives in their Chicken McNuggets. ACSH staffers knew the claims were baseless, yet we were still curious as to who was responsible for spurring the Chinese health agency into initiating this investigation.
Federal officials used flawed statistics to justify a ban on flavored cigarettes last year, claims Dr. Joel Nitzkin, chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force for the American Association of Public Health Physicians. At a Sept. 22, 2009, press conference, Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh claimed the ban “will break the cycle for 3,600 young people who start smoking daily."
The results of a recent small clinical trial indicate that the popular supplement glucosamine is only as effective as a sugar pill for treating lower back pain. While limited studies have only shown its promise as a pain reliever for arthritic knee pain, many patients also attempt to alleviate lower back pain with glucosamine.
The results of a recent study conducted by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle suggest that using fish oil supplements may reduce women s risk of developing breast cancer by 32 percent. Yesterday, Good Morning America medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard reminded viewers that these results are only preliminary but show promise as a preventive measure against breast cancer.
Vitamin D has garnered more publicity in recent months than any other vitamin. This week, The Money Times reports on a United Kingdom study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, claiming that deficiencies of this Sunshine Vitamin correlate with an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
The CDC reports that between 1998 and 2008, freshly prepared salsa and guacamole have accounted for nearly one out of every 25 cases of deli and restaurant foodborne illness outbreaks. The most common microbe found in the mishandled condiments – which were often refrigerated improperly — was norovirus, which can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. The director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety, Michael Doyle, offered advice on how to prevent contamination:
The New York State Legislature this week unanimously voted to ban BPA in products for use by children under the age of three. If Gov. David Patterson signs the measure, New York will become the sixth state to ban BPA in children s products. ACSH staffers are disappointed, again. ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan questions the rationality of the ban. BPA has been safely used and tested for 50 years, but by banning BPA the state is, by default, endorsing the use of new substitutes that may have less scientific review.
The President s Cancer Panel 2008-2009 report, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now, has been highly criticized by the American Chemistry Council. Not surprised you say? What else would a person expect from a chemical group? Well, there s a real hooker here. The American Cancer Society is also critical of the report, which collects seemingly every cancer-scare hypothesis that s been floated over the past 30 to 40 years and suggests that we really ought to be concerned about them.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles claim that fructose can cause pancreatic tumor cells to proliferate in a study published in the Cancer Research journal.
Approximately 27 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese, according to a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey of 400,000 adults who self-reported their height and weight.
On Tuesday, an FDA advisory panel recommended that Avastin no longer be indicated for breast cancer after new studies failed to show that the drug could increase patients’ life expectancy. Avastin is currently approved for colon, lung, and other cancers, but physicians will have to prescribe it as an off-label breast cancer treatment if the FDA chooses to adopt the panel’s decision.
After reading yesterday s Dispatch entry addressing the public health concern over raw milk, ACSH advisor Dean Cliver, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, weighed in with this own expert opinion:
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