Plant-based meat alternatives are those mysterious concoctions made from legumes, grains, and fungi, which promise to save the planet and your arteries. Let's cut through the kale and quinoa: Are these trendy meat impostors good for your heart, or is it just another bout of health food hysteria?
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Thank God for the Supreme Court. If not for their reversal of the Chevron doctrine, we would continue to be subject to the regulatory whims of a faceless, often agenda-driven, unelected bureaucracy. With a sweep of its magisterial pen, the justices have turned over the fine details that Congress in its infinite wisdom avoids, to – wait for it – a largely faceless, often agenda-driven, unelected judiciary.
Congestion pricing
Visually literacy requires us to go slow
A fork in the fertilizer path
African American English
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
C. diff is a horrible disease that can cause significant morbidity. It can and often does recur and kills around 30,000 Americans every year. We have made progress in prevention and treatment, but clearly there's more to do.
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.
Despite the staggering amounts Americans spend annually, the latest study involving nearly 400,000 participants suggests those colorful multivitamins might be more of a wallet-drainer than a life-saver.
Holden Thorp, editor of the once-prestigious academic journal 'Science,' has made many strange claims in recent years, including the assertion that anybody involved in or adjacent to science (a journalist, policy wonk and perhaps even an activist) is actually a scientist. ACSH's Dr. Henry Miller calls shenanigans.
The "War on Drugs" has never been a carefully planned public health protection initiative. Government officials did not enact current drug prohibition laws and enforcement policies because of any dispassionate, comprehensive review of drug hazards. Rather, hysterical fear-mongering has always been the real basis for the "War on Drugs."
(From Priorities Vol. 8, No. 2, 1996)
Should the FDA Regulate Medical Devices? Yes -- pcp-yes (download)
Whenever I have visited a physician over the last decade, the following scenario has been replayed: We discuss my cholesterol levels (total, LDL and HDL). We review dietary guidelines and other medical recommendations. Then I say, "Don't forget to remind me to drink a glass or two of wine daily." Invariably, the doctor demurs: "That hasn't been proven to protect you against atherosclerosis."
Scientists from the American Council on Science and Health today, in an open letter to Mayor Giuliani, questioned the decision of the city to produce, at taxpayer expense, a pamphlet entitled Safeguard Your Home From Harmful Products, which suggests that numerous common household products - such as kitchen cleansers, insecticides, and mothballs - pose a serious health risk and should be discarded in favor of "all-natural" products. The booklet was apparently distributed to all city residents and signed by Giuliani and Health Commissioner Dr.
Scientists from the American Council on Science and Health called on both the Clinton White House and Republican candidate Bob Dole to back up their recent statements about their commitment to keeping America's children tobacco-free.
A leading public-health scientist today advised state attorneys general against signing a pending deal with the tobacco industry a deal that would give the industry immunity from individual or class-action lawsuits. Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, stated in a letter to the attorneys general, "Such a settlement would be contrary to the interests of public health and will mean that you will forever be known as having sold out to the tobacco industry."
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)
FYI: Three Classes of Medical Devices -- devices (download)
Popular magazines Reader s Digest, Good Housekeeping, McCall sand the like used to be America s number-one source of nutrition information. Today, magazines take a back seat to TV; but according to the American Dietetics Association, a solid 39 percent of the American public still gets most of its nutrition news from magazines. Those readers need to know that the information they get from their favorite magazines is both accurate and reliable.
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