We encourage our Dispatch followers to read an op-ed by ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom that criticizes the Obama administration’s attempt to hasten the currently slow drug development process through a $1 billion plan by which the government will allocate funding to work with private industry to develop new drugs. The new NIH branch would focus its efforts on areas the pharmaceutical industry perceives as too risky, but as Dr. Bloom points out, the NIH has very little expertise in this high-risk arena:
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Improved infant care before, during and just after birth appears to decrease the incidence of the neurodevelopmental condition cerebral palsy (CP).
Late last week USA Today’s Life & Fitness section included a 1052-word attack on genetically-modified (GM) foods in the guise of an objective look at their increasing use. Tellingly, the article was headed, “Shoppers wary of GM foods find they’re everywhere.” Typical of the level of thought in the article was this passage:
The Los Angeles Times mistakenly believes that a “sin tax” on sugary beverages recently proposed by California State Assembly Health Committee Chairman William Monning (D-Carmel) will somehow reduce obesity.
In a decision providing comfort to anyone hoping to protect children from the ravages of preventable diseases, the United States Supreme Court voted six-to-two yesterday that the special Vaccine Injury Compensation Court must remain the only judicial means through which to settle vaccine lawsuits. In this case, the parents of a girl who developed a seizure disorder after receiving the diptheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine brought a lawsuit against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
Stroke incidence has increased by 51 percent among men aged 15 to 34, according to the first nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations characterized by age. The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association Conference in Los Angeles. After analyzing eight million hospitalization cases from 41 states, researchers found that stroke rose by 17 percent for women in the same age group, while actually declining by 25 percent among men 65 and older.
Yesterday also brought word that the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the non-profit group charged with co-ordinating organ allocation, was considering a new policy which would give explicit preference to younger patients in need of kidney transplants. This would reverse existing policy which gives preference to those within a region of the country who have been waiting longest for a donation.
A new study from the medical clearinghouse Cochrane Database indicates that zinc-containing medications may shed days off cold symptoms compared to a placebo, but the jury is still out on the best formulation recommended for consumers.
In the wake of a back-to-back 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is working tirelessly to rescue thousands of missing and injured residents and repair its ravaged neighborhoods. Now, many are also worrying over the potential for radiation emission from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reactors that experienced cooling and pressure problems as a result of the natural disaster.
On Friday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) officially launched its database for consumer complaints but has already been met with industry concerns. The New York Times interviewed Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), who argues that the database, called SaferProducts.gov, should be stripped of funding and delayed until certain defects can be ironed out.
Following our coverage last week of glorified paralegal and environmental activist Erin Brockovich’s attempts to revive the hexavalent chromium/cancer link in Hinkley, California — despite strong evidence to the contrary, ACSH ally Marjorie Peters sent us a letter of praise:
Cutting-edge gene therapy may be one step closer to reaching Parkinson’s patients.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is fuming over the latest animation flick Rango, featuring the voice of Johnny Depp as a desert town chameleon, stating that the depiction of smoking in the PG-rated movie will encourage younger audiences to think the habit is appealing.
Chinese residents must have heard U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin s statement earlier this week supporting the precautionary use of potassium iodide (KI) pills by Californians. Many are afraid of developing thyroid cancer from the radioactive iodine that may have been released from Japan s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
It turns out that a morning cup of joe may not only put a pep in your step, but it may also reduce your risk of stroke, according to a new study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
A new meta-analysis concludes that up to 100 million Americans diagnosed with prehypertension do not actually face an increased risk of blood-pressure related health consequences. Published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine, the results were derived from two decades of blood pressure data on 13,792 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Yesterday s The New York Times reported on worrisome trends in the pharmaceutical industry: the dearth of big drug breakthroughs, research and development downsizing and more stringent FDA regulations. Of course it also doesn t help that the drug industry stands to lose nearly $50 billion in annual sales this year after relinquishing control of more than ten medicines to cheaper generics due to expiring patents. Currently, 75 percent of all U.S.
While we still don’t know the true extent of the radiation threat from the Japanese nuclear reactors damaged during the historically unprecedented earthquake and tsunami, there is one thing we do know — U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin needs a refresher course in medicine. When asked by a reporter about the sudden increase in purchases of potassium iodide (KI) pills in the U.S. due to fears of radiation spreading to the California coast, Dr.
Down syndrome, characterized by varying degrees of intellectual impairment and distinguishing facial features, as well as other internal maladies that often contribute to a shortened life expectancy, is caused by carrying three copies (trisomy) of chromosome 21 instead of two. While in the general population it affects one in every 600 babies born, the rate significantly increases to one in every 385 births for pregnant women who are 35, and the incidence continues to rise as a woman ages.
Researchers have known for some time that a pregnant woman taking anti-convulsive medications faced a greater risk of bearing a child with a cleft palate. On Friday, the FDA went further, specifically warning women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant about Topamax (topiramate).
In a new study on smoking cessation published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers sought to assess the safety and efficacy of bupropion, the active ingredient in the antidepressant Wellbutrin and the smoking cessation aid Zyban.
Heartland Science Director and ACSH friend Dr. Jay Lehr provides an objective review of our latest book Scared to Death: How Chemophobia Threatens Public Health on a blog for The Heartland Institute:
ACSH Trustee Dr. Thomas Stossel offered yesterday morning's readers of the Denver Post a timely editorial on the controversy over professional relationships and contacts among drug researchers. Dr. Stossel, an American Cancer Society Professor of Medicine and a director at Harvard University Medical School, is concerned about proposed changes in the rules governing relationships with industry of University of Colorado faculty.He writes:
Ten years after an initial assessment of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) declared that long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased women’s risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, follow-up data now suggest that estrogen-only replacement therapy (ERT) may actually reduce their cancer risk — but only for women who have had a hysterectomy.
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