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by Kenneth E. Legins
In 1903 Mark Twain wrote of Christian Science: "The power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make it sick is a force which none of us is born without. The first man had it, the last one will possess it." The power of the mind over the body is often indisputable, even among the staunchest defenders of the scientific method. The biologic effect of hope or faith, which scientists sometimes refer to as the placebo effect, is little understood in the medical community.

The pediatric group recently issued a policy statement riddled with chemophobic nonsense. Why are officials there whining so much? Here's why.

The summer months often bring bad news: poolside accidents, amusement park mishaps, and hyponatraemic encephalopathy. What? Yes, drinking too much water can cause a serious condition characterized by a lack of salt in the blood, leading to water imbalance and water build-up in the brain. Hyponatraemia actually means low (hypo) sodium (natr) levels in the body. Most recently, a female marathon runner in a 2002 Boston race died because she ingested excessive amounts of a sports drink before and during the race.

The Lancet has gone on an ideological bender against alcohol consumption and refuses to publish data that challenges their shaky assertions.

Fat-acceptance advocates are pressuring TV executives to turn popular reality shows into platforms for social-justice advocacy. There is no better example of science-free cynicism.

"Follow the money," Deep Throat warned Woodward and Bernstein as the two reporters were about to break open the Watergate scandal. Generally, this is good advice for anyone seeking to understand what is happening in a complicated business story. But not always. Former New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editor-in-chief Jerome Kassirer would have us believe that contemporary medical scientific research is so riddled with financial conflicts of interests as to be all but worthless.

It's no secret that football players of all ages regularly experience head impacts and are at elevated risk for a concussion. Concern over the long-term consequences of multiple sub-concussive hits has increased public interest in new products to keep athletes safe from brain damage. However, this market space is filled with products rooted in pseudoscience. Let's take a look.

January 12, 2009
PB & Salmonella, Genes and Cancer, Fat and Poverty, Smoke and Alzheimer's, FDA and Gardasil
By Elizabeth Wade
Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter
A large institutional-sized container of peanut butter contaminated with salmonella has been discovered in Minnesota, and public heath officials suspect that the strain is linked to an outbreak that has sickened nearly 400 people in forty-two states since September.

Last week, the media notified us that airplane seats were being downsized. This is at a time when, for a variety of reasons, we are all upsizing. Here are a few fun facts, including a few the media left out.

Introduction
As the year draws to a close, some of us will be reminded that olde acquaintance should not be forgot. So, before we can officially commence the New Year, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) would like to reflect upon this year past. We'd especially like to spend an extra moment considering what we hope the world will eventually learn to forget the most unfounded health scares of 2010.

One of the most common complaints about the healthcare system revolves around conflicts of interest, both real and perceived. The wellness industry attempts to pretend as though it doesn’t struggle with them. That couldn't be farther from the truth, because COIs abound.

A new study sheds light on a worrying trend at the Food and Drug Administration: the agency appears to be funding low-grade vaping research and using it to justify strict e-cigarette regulation.

ACSH/Staff, Oprah/Cranks, Meat/Breasts, HRT/Lungs, Sun/Skin, Spice/Island
by Elizabeth Wade
ACSH welcomes two new staffers
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to the two newest members of the ACSH team: art director Anthony Manzo and research intern Curtis Porter. Curtis will be taking over as writer of Morning Dispatch this week, as I prepare to leave to start my Fulbright scholarship in Mexico.
Could watching Oprah be dangerous for your health?

MORNING DISPATCH 10/10/08: Tobacco, Infections, HIV, and Rights for Plants

An important study examining whether antidepressants were useful for pain was recently published in BMJ. The headlines stated varieties of the same theme: They "may not be effective" or "may have a small benefit." These conclusions are based on data from one table in the paper. Let's take a look at that data.

A new, 50-page study manages to say in 17,701 words something that has been obvious for years: The replacement of OxyContin with abuse-resistant OxyContin was the driving force behind the surge in heroin deaths. Oh, really.  

The November 11, 2004 issue of New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) celebrated the fifth anniversary of the release by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the monograph To Err is Human.(1) The NEJM editorial by Drew Altman, Ph.D. (Kaiser Family Foundation), Carolyn Clancy, M.D. (U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), and Robert Blendon, Sc.D. (Harvard School of Public Health) repeated the old assertion of a patient safety crisis in which 44,000 to 98,000 patients died in American hospitals each year due to preventable medical errors.(2)

Another article in the ongoing war over the protective value of masks. The latest report, with senior author Vinay Prasad, effectively builds and demolishes a straw man of the authors’ creation, then does some out-of-season cherry-picking. In the end, the “study” sheds more shade than light.

Two federal courts have ruled that the Biden Administration unduly influenced social media moderation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some public health and legal experts have argued that these efforts were necessary and did not constitute censorship. They are downplaying the extent of the government's efforts and overlooking their serious consequences.

At the American Council on Science and Health, our goal is to increase people s awareness of actual threats to their health smoking, for example without their having to spend time worrying about things that pose no danger at all. Unfortunately, the goals of some politicians, the media, and certain activist groups can be somewhat different they frequently aim to create a sensation and gain publicity without much regard for actual scientific evidence. This annual list of the top 10 health scares aims to quell fears by discussing the real evidence about these unscientific scares.

Current conservation policies often clash with public health initiatives in the developing world but they get little attention. There are real harms in advocating water and energy conservation over people.

February 11, 2008: Artificial Jarvik, Troubled Ledger, Fat Twins, Menaced Babies
¢Quote to Note: "I'm confused. The way they do these studies shouldn't the rats have died from cancer or something before they could become obese?" -- Comment by "OceanLover" on Lucianne.com News Forum about a study linking saccharin consumption to obesity in rats.

Short answer: no one.
Sure, you’ve probably read that you can sue the person who you think infected you. But you never read that based on anyone who’s ever actually tried a tort case, which is why this is a common and serious misconception. Sometimes, knowing how the law works in real life is different from what you read in a book or an article.

MORNING DISPATCH 11/19/08: Dour Docs, Cancer Causes, Dire Diabetes, Smoke Scams, and Dementia Dissension

In the early days of what would later become the Food and Drug Administration, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson would only approve seizures of products from small manufacturers whose hygienic practices were clearly objectionable. But Harvey Washington Wiley, chief of what was then known as the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry, longed to go after "the big boys," as he liked to call them. Prominent on his wish list was the Coca-Cola Corporation.