Media headlines are almost exclusively about the coronavirus death toll and the debate over whether it's too early to begin lifting lockdown restrictions. However, there are several other observations about COVID-19 that are important, but are getting very little attention.
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As a result, we're now paying the price for perverse, wasteful research spending.
Every morning we're greeted by another set of indicators telling us how bad or good the COVID-19 pandemic is trending. There are lots of numbers to consider, but which are actually useful?
Somewhere along the way, our achievable goal of "flattening the curve" for COVID-19 has mutated into "finding a cure," which is perhaps an impossible one. Public health and economic policy must be based on reality, not starry-eyed wish-making. Otherwise, people's lives and livelihoods are in grave danger.
American culture, specifically our disdainful attitude toward expertise and leadership, is not conducive to making improvements to public health policy. Don't expect many changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Another “novel” feature of COVID-19 is coming to our attention: some individuals are more capable than others of sharing their viral load and infecting others. What’s up with that? Let's take a look.
Given that PBS, in its recent documentary, “The Man Who Tried to Feed the World,” found it necessary to disparage Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, we believe it is important for our readers, and the world, to know what a thoughtful and truly benevolent man he actually was. Here is an article about Dr. Borlaug, a co-founder of the American Council on Science and Health, that we published on July 18, 2007 after first appearing in the Washington Times earlier that day.
Is sticking your finger down your throat a pleasant experience? How about sticking it down there and leaving it for three weeks? You probably wouldn't want to be awake for that, but a shortage of IV hospital drugs is causing some real problems for intubated patients on ventilators. And guess what drug they're out of? Fentanyl(!). And if you read on you'll get that, plus a bubble bath with Kim Jong-un, all in one idiotic article.
Publishing propaganda as news is dishonest and lets readers down. Dr. Henry Miller (pictured), the founding director of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology, explains.
The BBC reports that the first life-saving drug for COVID-19 has been identified. While that is strictly true, without more context and numbers the impact of dexamethasone is obscured. Is this drug just click-bait material or actually a "major breakthrough"?
Many in mainstream media recently reported on the possibility of COVID-19 being transmitted during the flush of a toilet. While the physics involved appeared to be well modeled, the biologic implications are fuzzy at best. Here's how this scenario plays out.
As we re-open society, science is beginning to return to some of its older memes, like the value of nutritional labeling and taxes. Two new studies by authors, using the same model and data, suggest that fully implementing labeling laws will improve our health and save us money. The same holds for taxing sugary beverages. But if COVID-19 has taught us nothing else, it is that we need to understand and believe the model's assumptions.
Timothy Litzenburg, one of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys in the shakedown of Monsanto, has pleaded guilty to the attempted extortion of $200 million from another company. Litzenburg also collaborates with Carey Gillam and her anti-GMO organization U.S. Right to Know.
The COVID-19 lockdown is responsible for both the loss of economic activity and human lives. Two independent groups of researchers concluded that the lockdown may be costing more lives than it saves.
EIDD-2801, one of the most promising coronavirus antiviral drugs, just lept ahead of the pack. Merck has partnered with Ridgeback Biologics to develop the drug. It has a lot going for it. Here's why.
Infectious disease models can also describe riots. The spread of coronavirus and violent protests share many features in common, shedding at least some light on the coming summer of discontent.
While sadly, ACSH founder Dr. Elizabeth Whelan passed away in 2014, she left plenty of herself behind. After you read what Christine, her daughter, and now Eleanor, her granddaughter, have done, you'll have to pinch yourself. But this story is real. And really something. And just plain amazing. Read it and you'll see why.
"Recency bias" states that more recent memories come to mind more quickly. But specific ideas and objects that have “stood the test of time” can overcome recency bias. How do we take longevity into account when making judgments? Are old conserved ideas better than the novel? In the attention economy novel wins, but what about in our day-to-day lives?
Peer review, especially peer review of chemical safety/risk assessments, is under assault. Is something inherently wrong with the process of this area of peer review?
Some 54 scientists have resigned or been fired as a result of an ongoing investigation by the National Institutes of Health. At issue is the failure of NIH grantees to disclose financial ties to foreign governments. In 93% of those cases, the hidden funding came from a Chinese institution.
We tend to overlook how natural disasters like the coronavirus pandemic shape human behavior. Maybe that should change.
The company dedicated to discovering vaccines for herpes is back in the news. Rational Vaccines gained notoriety when its founder, the late Dr. Bill Halford, bypassed FDA protocol for vaccine development and set up a small trial on the island of St. Kitts, in the Caribbean, using live attenuated virus on volunteers who were suffering from herpes simplex. Now, three years after Dr. Halford's death, Rational is developing five vaccines for herpes and two for COVID. But his time, by the book.
Vaccines for COVID-19 get most of the headlines. But it is possible, if not likely, that a drug or combination of drugs may be quicker to develop, and possibly will be more effective in controlling the virus. Here's an opinion piece making the case that recently ran in the Baltimore Sun, co-authored by ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom and ACSH advisor Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke.
Although pain patients in the U.S. continue to struggle mightily to get the prescription opioids they need, at least they -- finally -- have the American Medical Association behind them. But in Canada, patient advocacy groups are also fighting the Canadian Medical Association, something that can be seen in an open letter to the CMA from the Chronic Pain Association of Canada. Here are some of the letter's highlights, especially those involving contributions from ACSH.
Given that more than 200,000 Americans have died (at least in part) due to COVID-19, there seems little to lose and much to gain by green-lighting human challenge trials in which volunteers are vaccinated and then deliberately infected with coronavirus. The U.S. should follow the UK's lead.
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