Not even three weeks after the FDA denied a petition to ban the plastic hardener BPA (bisphenol A) from food packaging, declaring that the daily levels of human exposure pose no health risk, backlash has appeared in The Washington Post.
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To: The Kansas House of Representatives Committee on Federal and State Affairs
From: The American Council on Science and Health Elizabeth M. Whelan, President
Re: Support for Resolution No. 6026, to direct the KDHE to investigate a study of tobacco harm reduction
Lawmakers in Vermont have reached what looks like a stalemate over whether to end the policy of philosophical exemption, which allows parents to refuse vaccinations that are otherwise required to enroll children in school. Although the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 to eliminate the philosophical exemption, the House voted 93 to 36 to keep it.
When we think about the health consequences of smoking, lung cancer is typically the first that comes to mind. But a new study confirms that many people globally are unaware of the other adverse effects associated with smoking specifically, the more common and especially dangerous effects of smoking on cardiovascular health.
As recently as December 2011, it seemed that the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, might be coming to its senses with regard to its senseless ban on the export of Swedish snus to other EU countries. No such luck.
Scoliosis is a spinal deformity that occurs in 3 percent of the population, typically appearing in adolescence although it can begin as early as preschool years. If left untreated, it can result in serious disfigurement and even respiratory problems. While the most common current treatment is largely effective, it requires regular invasive surgery twice annually to adjust or replace metallic rods that help straighten the spine a process that is both expensive and a serious disruption to the lives of both the young patients and their families.
Earlier this week, we covered the news of a recent study reporting that some children who participate in the New York public schools Breakfast in the Classroom program may end up eating two breakfasts. Yet despite the city health department s fear that such double-dipping may be contributing to childhood obesity, many remain skeptical and Dispatch reader Thomas Vitullo-Martin is one of them. In an email to us, he writes:
Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the U.S., according to the CDC, which is why the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) want you to take advantage of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, this April 28 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Last Friday, The New York Times featured a front-page story that raised some interesting questions about the availability and accessibility of expensive new drugs. Unlike pills for high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol, newer therapies for diseases such as some types of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inherited disorders, can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Berries may slow memory loss. No, this isn't a headline from The Onion, or from another Dr. Oz Show these are the actual conclusions of a study published in the Annals of Neurology, wh noted by some otherwise reputable media venues.
While there have long been concerns about the risks of antibiotic overuse in humans, it remains far less clear whether there are similar risks of resistant bacteria when such antibiotics are given to livestock. But a recent U.S.
Cancer therapies have come a long way in recent years, and for many, a cancer diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. In fact, a new study, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting this week, indicates that about half of cancer survivors will end up dying from a disease other than cancer.
Josh Bloom, Medical Progress Today 4/12/12
Cutting off your face to spite your face
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine has spotlighted some complex problems regarding the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children. Because diabetic children respond differently than adults to conventional treatments, the study examined the efficacy of three different treatment approaches in adolescents.
As we reported earlier in the week, a new study from the CDC projected that 42 percent of American adults would be obese by the year 2030. And the current 34 percent obesity rate is hardly something to cheer about. So, who or what is responsible for the increased number of overweight and obese Americans over the past four decades?
Is there a causal relationship between depression and dementia? The association exists, according to a study just published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. The question, however, is whether depression can actually cause dementia.To investigate the association between these two conditions, researchers at Kaiser Permanente of Northern California examined data from over 13,500 long-term Kaiser Permanente members.
Those who have had their cholesterol levels tested are typically informed that there are two types of primary importance: LDL, or bad cholesterol, and HDL, which is the good kind. And while much research has determined that reducing LDL protects against heart disease and cardiovascular events, some doctors have wondered whether raising HDL actually achieves the same effects. However, earlier classes of drugs (Pfizer s Torcetrapib, most notably) designed to increase HDL failed to demonstrate any beneficial effect, and were thus abandoned.
On his blog, TobaccoAnalysis, ACSH advisor Dr. Mike Siegel, professor at Boston University's School of Public Health, revisits the irony of the current tobacco harm reduction scenario. Namely, Dr. Seigel observes that anti-smoking groups continue to deny even the potential benefits of modified risk tobacco products, while major tobacco companies are actually leading efforts to introduce smokers to such products.
Yesterday, we reported on the final recommendation issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which advised against PSA screening for prostate cancer in men of any age.
Fear of chemicals in flame retardants has gone viral, it seems. We initially reported on Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column that would have readers fearful of the furniture in their homes, a scare that drew upon a series this month in The Chicago Tribune.
Last year, a National Cancer Institute study found that, compared to standard chest X-rays, screening with spiral CT scans reduced lung cancer deaths by 20 percent. Now, based on their own review, the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology are recommending that high-risk smokers those between the ages of 55 to 74 who have at least a 30 pack-year history of smoking should undergo the annual CT scan, even if they ve quit within the past 15 years.
Men are no longer advised to get a PSA test, regardless of their age, according to the final recommendation on prostate cancer screening issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The recommendation, initially drafted in 2011, has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Most people don't think of cancer as a result of infection. However, a study just published in The Lancet Oncology has estimated that 16 percent of all cancer cases worldwide in 2008 were due to potentially preventable or treatable infections.
Michelle Obama was caught eating a cheeseburger, the Baltimore Sun notes. For most of us, this is not headline fodder only an indication that the First Lady is a normal human being. But according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an activist group that poses as a health group, Mrs. Obama s occasional burger indulgence is a dangerous practice that must be stopped.
In the nation s ongoing effort to fight obesity, school bake sales seem to be a particularly tempting target for officials seeking to appear to be addressing the problem. But they re mainly shooting themselves in the foot. Schools in some states, including California, New York, and Texas, are instituting regulations that limit bake sales to nutritious foods only.
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