In the wake of the recent FDA warning to avoid homeopathic teething gels and tablets – as well as the ongoing investigation of 10 infant deaths – Hyland's, the homeopathic company, announced it will stop producing these products. Chalk up a win for science, at least this time.
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A New York City Council hearing by the Committee on Environmental Protection, originally slated for today, won't he going off as scheduled. But this will serve the public interest, since at the very least any delay will give legislators additional time to rethink their well-meaning, but ultimately misguided, proposal that could ban so-called "flushable" wipes.
People often tell new parents to avoid sing-song baby talk with their new addition, because it will slow the child’s language development. But evidence shows it does the opposite; baby talk plays an important role in development -- and their precious bundle of joy prefers it to other types of speech.
Northern California is home to a number of questionable lawsuits against various manufacturers, based mostly on activists trying to scare people to improve their own bottom lines. But there are places to find reliable health and wellness information, and the Council is one of them.
Opioid drugs were too easy to get. Plenty of people got addicted. Now, everyone is treated like an addict. Is the solution worse than the problem? Decide after you ...
1. The FDA may be a government body but when they want to be snarky, they go ahead and do it. When genetics marketing whiz 23andMe figured it would use all its Google money to schmooze its way around FDA, not only did it fail, but when the inevitable crackdown on bonkers marketing claims occurred, FDA chided them with sarcasm.
We're drooling, and not because Brad Pitt is newly single. It's because we just learned the 20 most hashtagged foods on Instagram, and the verdict is: we like calories. Take a look; bib not included.
See the full list here.
What is a scientific poll? First, it is a misnomer. There is nothing scientific about a poll. Second, it is conducted using sound statistical techniques. What's more, savvy politicos know that not just any poll will do.
Kratom, a mixture of 40+ chemicals derived from the leaf of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, has a core of very devoted followers, some of whom think it is a panacea to what ails them. Some maintain that it isn't even a drug. They are partially correct. It is a mixture of drugs.
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Dental sealants provide an effective means of preventing tooth decay — but they're underutilized. Perhaps one reason is the fear promoted by scaremongers of the plastic component BPA. But like most of the scares perpetrated by activist groups, this one is absurd.
The news regarding antibiotic misuse is, needless to say, bleak. But the work being done by Dr. Sara Cosgrove and Dr. Pranita Tamma offers a ray of hope. And an arm of the Dept. of Health and Human Services seems to agree, financing their work with $16 million, which is a lot for that governmental agency.
Did the Earth spin off its axis? Or, are we just dreaming that the rebirth of joy and humor and common sense and reasonableness could be the latest trend in parenting? Pinch us, please. It might just be the therapeutic intervention we need.
We humans like to think of ourselves as on the top of the heap as compared to all the other living things. About 50 years ago, a person's estimated number of human genes was in the millions. Today we’re down to about 20,000 (while bananas have 30,000). It’s time to rethink the question of how the complexity of an organism is reflected in its genome.
French philosopher Joseph de Maistre is credited with saying, "Every country has the government it deserves." That may serve as a stinging rebuke to those of us who dwell in 21st Century America, where partisan gridlock, mutual distrust, and general nastiness have culminated in an election that has made history for all the wrong reasons.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) falls into a larger category of "sudden uncategorized infant deaths" (SUID) alongside 'accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed' and those of 'unknown cause.'
These deaths are defined as the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age that have no immediately obvious cause and can be caused by suffocation, asphyxia, entrapment, infection, ingestions, metabolic disease, congenital heart conditions and trauma (either intentional or unintentional.)
Necrotizing fasciitis, which literally translated means "inflammation of the fascia (connective tissue) causing cell death," is the medical term for what's known as "flesh-eating" disease. A recent case that made national headlines involved a man who died four days after becoming infected with the ocean-dwelling microbe Vibrio vulnificus.
Cranberry juice has been promoted for relief of urinary tract infections for decades. But scientists have had trouble providing convincing evidence that it really works. A new attempt to address UTIs in elderly women also fails to provide support. Maybe the best use for cranberries is really an accompaniment to your Thanksgiving feast.
Why America's supposed newspaper of record has become a voice for anti-biotechnology food activists remains a profound mystery. Maybe it's calculated, in that the paper is tailoring its reportage to its customers, consisting of mostly affluent, organic-food-eating elites. Evidence plays a small part in the Times' coverage of controversial scientific issues.
The North American Mycological Association keeps records of mushroom poisonings; it reported 67 incidents of human poisoning from mushrooms in 2013. Fortunately, none were lethal. There were also 49 cases of dogs being poisoned, as well as one cat.
A recent report stated that placebo treatments for pain can be effective even when patients know that it’s a placebo. On closer examination, however, this became somewhat less newsworthy. It has all the classic hallmarks of a fluke result that's partly the result of the statistics used, and partly over-interpretation of fairly modest results.
Unbeknownst to David Seidemann, a Brooklyn College geology professor and ACSH scientific advisor, he was placed on a "hit list" by the academic politically-correct mafia. In an article for Minding the Campus, Prof. Seidemann recalls a chilling tale in which he was investigated by the administration for alleged misconduct.
The quick and frightening death of a man who contracted a kind of flesh-eating bacterium after cleaning crab pots has made national headlines. Understandably, the public wants to know what causes such a terrifying illness and what, if anything, can be done to prevent it. The media is not helping, but here's some insight.
American Council on Science and Health Director of Medicine Dr. Jamie Wells has been named one of America's Top Pediatricians by Consumers' Research Council of America.
We're excited to report that a new study in Health Affairs provides us with another metric that we have previously known and repeatedly been shown in the literature (and in medical practice): Life expectancy and well-being are positively linked.
In the 1970s, an assay was developed by Dr. Bruce Ames that revolutionized the ability to test if a compound causes cancer or not. Since then, the Ames test has been used on everything from food dyes to pesticides. The test's power is not only that it is incredibly efficacious, but also that it's inexpensive and relatively easy to do.
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