The guilt trip of buying local – are farmers' markets the carbon saviors they claim to be?
Diversity is key, even in cheese.
Air Canada blames its chatbot, now deemed a 'separate legal entity,' for misinformation in court.
Forget the quaint image of London's smog; Melbourne’s 'thunderstorm asthma' brings unexpected respiratory dramas.
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Can autonomous vehicles be made safe?
Is Sabbath the cure for burnout?
It’s back – in this case, Tulare Lake
Smoking Cessation Victorian Edition
And A Bonus Meme
“Electronic cigarettes are the most used tobacco products among youths in the U.S.” So begins a new report in JAMA Network Open. Given all the attempts to reduce use, how are we doing?
It's easy to lose sight of the visceral fear and uncertainty that pervaded the early days of the pandemic.
With each iteration, AI becomes both student and teacher, trapped in an echo chamber of its own creation.
From Wendy's ill-fated foray into dynamic pricing to the prices of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the line between innovation and exploitation grows increasingly blurred.
The issue of reproductive rights, calls for informed citizenship, urging understanding of pivotal issues, particularly those under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. The approval of Mifepristone involves medical advancements, legal complexities, and the enduring tension between societal norms and legislative restrictions.
Negativity's grip on the news scene
Death by paperwork
JFK's tale through a surgeon's call
In social media's grip
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just recommended that all light-skinned children beginning at the age of six months receive skin-cancer prevention guidance. That's a stark shift from its 2012 recommendations when the panel advised this training start at age 10.
The EPA is evaluating 10 chemicals under the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act. To guide their decision-making, we have created explanations for each, with recommendations when the science is clear. Here is the science story on Pigment Violet 29.
Genetically engineered bacteria can not only degrade plastic waste, but they can convert it into valuable industrial chemicals. There are still unknowns -- for example, how to do this at scale and how it will be regulated.
News reports say that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working hard to regain the public’s trust after the COVID failures, by pledging to put science ahead of politics. However, its recent announcement that doctors may want to test their patients’ blood for PFAS – the “forever chemicals” – is a step back from scientifically-driven decisions.
For those few of you who don't know, April 8th is Dog Farting Awareness Day. If ACSH doesn't spread awareness of this vital event, our mission is sadly gone. But fear not. If this doesn't get us back on track, then nothing will.
It's one thing for the government and other busybodies to restrict opioid use to minimize addiction, even though this premise is dead wrong. But a similar intrusion has metastasized; doctors are disincentivized from writing scripts for any controlled drug, for example, sleep aids and sedatives. Who suffers? Patients, for example, my dying friend, who just wanted a good night's sleep. And was denied it.
A group of archeologists just published a paper with proof that Greeks on the island of Aegina Kolonna manufactured a very rare dye called Tyrian purple as early as 1600 BC. Here's how the group figured this out. Plus some pretty colors.
As the DEA relentlessly tightens regulations on pain meds, the FDA refuses to approve a safer alternative already being used in similar countries. With Dr. Jeffrey Singer.
Many people become vegetarians because they believe, in error, that vegetarianism is uniquely conducive to good health. The findings of several large epidemiologic studies indeed suggest that the death and chronic-disease rates of vegetarians primarily vegetarians who consume dairy products or both dairy products and eggs are lower than those of meat eaters. But this does not mean that maintaining or improving health requires abstention from eating meat.
June 22, 1998
The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) has been monitoring the activities of The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). After a lengthy investigation of CSPI's activities, we have come to some very grave conclusions about this group, which is regularly trusted by Americans as a source of information about food safety. Our findings reveal that CSPI is knowingly engaging in deceptive practices as they attempt to persuade the public and the media that their food safety scares are legitimate.
In March 1996 a 20-year-old Long Island, New York, college student died after ingesting eight tablets of Ultimate Xphoria, a dietary supplement whose main ingredient is the stimulant herb ephedra, also called "ma huang" and "Chinese ephedra." Practitioners of Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) and traditional Chinese medicine have used this herb for millennia to treat respiratory ailments. And a health food industry representative has stated that every day roughly five million Americans consume ephedra products. Should ephedra dietary supplements be reclassified and regulated?
The CMS's End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices model, launched in 2021, aimed to address disparities in transplantation and the use of home dialysis with financial incentives. However, after two years, the expected improvements in home dialysis and transplantation rates have yet to materialize.
The Lancet reports that early drug trial results show great promise for a new antiviral drug combination developed for patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
The Giants have won the World Series, but it’s unhappy times at a certain Bay Area fast-food chain. By a veto-proof margin (8-3) the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted to ban meals packaged with toys unless the meal contains fruits and vegetables, is less than 600 calories and is low in fat and sodium. Once the ordinance goes into effect next December, McDonald’s restaurants in the city will either be forced to radically reformulate their Happy Meals or charge separately for toys.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made a push over the weekend to empty our medicine cabinet shelves of the prescription drugs most of us have sitting there, setting up 4,000 points nationwide where people could drop off their expired or unwanted medications. Dr.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be linked to suicide and depression, according to a new study published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Asbestos has received much attention in the the media in recent years, leading the American public to fear asbestos as a significant cause of cancer and death. The object of this ACSH report is to examine some of the issues surrounding the health risks from asbestos and to offer a more scientific rationale as to what should be done about the asbestos present in our homes, schools and public buildings.
(From Priorities Vol. 8, No. 2, 1996)
Should the FDA Regulate Medical Devices? Yes -- pcp-yes (download)
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