For two decades, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which advises the Pope on scientific issues, has made wise observations about the importance of molecular techniques for genetic modification and the most appropriate approaches to regulating them. It's a cardinal sin that most of the world has ignored them.
Search
The EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) was founded in 1985 to assure scientific integrity and present intra-Agency consensus on health effects information on environmental chemicals. It is an excellent example of how a government agency can misuse a well-intentioned idea to meet a political agenda resulting in flawed public policy decisions with significant implications.
Politicians need to seem to be doing SOMETHING, even if it is ill-advised, profligate, and futile, endangers Americans' standard of living and the nation's security. It applies to much of today's policymaking, from mitigation of climate change to the regulation of chemicals and genetic engineering.
Both scientific and policy advancements could provide desperately needed organs for transplantation. For example, there have been some promising early studies using kidneys from pigs genetically engineered to prevent rejection, but a policy change – paying human donors for donating organs – could be implemented immediately and would be a game changer.
Too Much Stuff
Am I My Area Code?
Rules for reading – at least for social media
It's no secret that pickleball is a national craze. But, how many chemists are willing to try it and not only write about their experience but also the chemistry of the ball?
Recent breakthroughs in stem-cell have raised the prospect of one day "breeding" humans and growing organs in a lab. How realistic are these scenarios? Netflix just released an embarrassing miniseries about the opioid epidemic. Let's take a closer look at the show's claims.
Another week, another disparity of care. In this case, it's attributable to a measure known to be flawed: pulse oximetry. Does the flaw lie solely in the tool – or how it is used? Let’s take a deeper dive into the latest study of healthcare disparity.
Reporters like to portray themselves as truth tellers who hold the powerful accountable. In reality, many of them are hired guns who publish propaganda under the guise of doing journalism. The good news is that a growing number of Americans are abandoning the legacy media for better sources of information.
The Golden State instituted a program to reduce carbon emissions to 40% below 1990 levels (the cap), by providing carbon credits to account for those excess carbon emissions (the trade). Economists worried that the job loss associated with industries with excess carbon emissions would not be offset by increasing jobs in “green” industries. A new study reports mixed results.
Shinrin-yoku, also known as a "forest bath," originated in Japan and it's believed to enhance one’s well-being while helping “connect” with nature. It involves immersing oneself in a forest or natural environment and mindfully engaging with the surroundings through the senses. Western medicine offers “nature prescriptions” – the walk with or without the mindfulness. Does it improve our health?
Five years after the driver of Uber’s autonomous car killed a pedestrian, the driver pleaded guilty to one count of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to no prison time, just three years of supervised probation. The law is designed to fill a deterrence function and mete-out punishment for wrongdoing. So, did the law serve its function here? Does the law appropriately address these new technologies?
Some indicators suggest that we're in for a potentially serious fall COVID surge. How fearful should we be? On a lighter note, are you risking your health every time you eat raw oysters? Maybe not, but at least one scientist thinks this particular seafood is "gross."
I just finished reading a study on the correlation between the use of beta blockers and the need for a total knee replacement in patients with osteoarthritis. I will share the results and their underlying hypothesis, but I want to discuss their map illustrating the “cause” of what they found.
An ACSH.org reader wrote to us, asking if we would investigate a controversy surrounding Apeel, a protective coating that's applied to some fruits and vegetables. Cucumbers and apples help us sort through the issues and determine whether consumers should be concerned.
The FDA’s assault on vaping has yielded devastating consequences. Not only have millions of adults been denied legal access to low-risk vaping products they rely on to stay smoke-free, federal regulations are rapidly destroying thousands of jobs and billions of dollars worth of income, depriving ordinary Americans of their livelihoods.
One of the judgments made by scientists is how to aggregate or segregate data – especially when it comes to changing a continuous variable like age – into separate bins (10 to 18, 19 to 34, etc.). Race/ethnicity as a category has come in for some well-deserved criticism. Leave aside the argument that it is a social construct, race/ethnicity contains too many confounding features. A study in Nature points to a new way to break the category into meaningful segments.
Good dental hygiene is extremely important to overall health. Even simple and inexpensive interventions, such as brushing, flossing and chewing sugar-free gum, can be highly effective.
My background is in public health, and I love the idea of making healthcare accessible for everyone, but health coaching, exemplified by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), in its current state, is not healthcare. It’s the Wild West of healthcare, and we need a sheriff.
To handshake or not to handshake, that is the question. As COVID-19 has moved from a pandemic to an endemic disease, should we greet each other with a shake of hands, fist bump, or just eye contact and walk quickly away? Handshaking has devolved into a cultural debate rather than the scientific issue of disease transmission. Is handshaking, a form of surface transmission, something to fear?
Today, there is simply too much known in far too many diverse fields for any person to hold it all in their brain. This means that, no matter how smart one might be, there are times when we have to push the “I believe” button and simply accept the statements of others. The problem is that these others are too often wrong, the topic is too often very important, and the statements made are too wildly disparate. We feel we must choose, yet we don’t know how.
Regulators are supposed to abide by the “bargain” that society has made with them: Civil servants are granted lifetime tenure and are protected from political pressure and retaliation, in return for which they are supposed to make decisions based solely on the public interest. But, often, they do not.
Exactly 10 years ago -December 2, 2013 - my first-ever published opinion piece about the erosion of pain control appeared in The New York Post. It was titled "New painful casualties of the drug war" and was written three years before the CDC's formal declaration of war on pain patients. It is frightening to look back a decade and see how much of this has come true. Plus much worse. Here is the article from the Post opinion page.
The British broadcaster has become part of a cynical anti-science collaboration.
Hospitals and health systems are not immune from concerns about their environmental impact. Most studies surround the discharge of anesthetic gases or single-use plastics. A new study provides different concerns.
Pagination
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.
Make your tax-deductible gift today!