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At a time when Americans are basking in the summer sun, a study published in this week s Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports some sobering news: the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer seems to be on the rise in people under the age of forty.

A new study suggests that HIV infections among men having sex with men in San Francisco may be occurring at about half the rate previously calculated (1.2% per year, down from 2.2%). While speculations abound about what accounts for this great success (and about whether the data are conclusive), an excellent article in today's New York Times points out one possible contributor: a new form of Internet dating known as sero-sorting.

Kudos to Gov. Schwarzenegger, and state senators Escutia and Maldonado, who obviously are concerned about the epidemic of childhood obesity in California and who are trying to decrease its prevalence via legislation. But will the laws authored by the senators and signed by the governor (SBs 12, 281, and 965) really help? It's doubtful.

An August 9, 2005 article by John Tabin on TechCentralStation.com criticizes ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and ACSH co-founder Dr. Henry I. Miller for encouraging government spending on stem cell research:

Click to see Dr. Kava on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° 8/25/05.

According to Kevin Trudeau, in Natural Cures "They" Don t Want You to Know About -- which has been America's best-selling advice book for some three months now -- the government, in the guise of the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, is in cahoots with the drug industry and medical establishment to keep Americans sick and dependent on patented pharmaceuticals. Further, pork is poison, we should eat only organic and kosher meat, and tap water'll kill us all and is dangerous whether we drink it or bathe in it.

An ironically timed set of news items came to my attention recently. On one hand, a new report in the journal Archives of Neurology revealed that consuming more than two fish items weekly was associated with a reduction in cognitive decline in older Americans, by over 10%, compared to those who ate little or no fish.

October 19, 2005 -- New York, NY. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) today announces a speaking tour to discuss the threat of an H5N1 influenza outbreak and the status of American preparedness.
Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of ACSH, will begin this nationwide tour discussing the nature of a potential outbreak of avian influenza, the shortage of anti-viral medicines such as Tamiflu, and the lack of an effective vaccine.

Biodiversity -- the variety of life, ecosystems, species, populations, and genes -- may at first seem like an issue merely for the environmentalists and hippies, far removed from the medical community. But if you think that the recent flurry of deadly emergent diseases such as SARS, Ebola, bird flu, West Nile, and even AIDS are unrelated to environmental issues -- think again.
The loss of biodiversity changes patterns of infectious disease.

Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., co-director of the University of Minnesota s Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, has issued the claim -- based on preliminary data he has yet to publish in a peer-reviewed journal -- that smokeless tobacco is worse than the standard nicotine replacement therapies as a smoking-cessation aid. His reason seems to be simply his (unsurprising) finding that use of smokeless tobacco leaves carcinogen traces in users' urine.

Does empirical reality matter? Or, to borrow a term from the title of a folklore journal, do modern minds live in a sort of "mythosphere," concerned only with their own perceptions?

The self-appointed nutrition-nanny organization, the Ralph Nader-inspired Center for Science in the Public Interest, this week proclaimed that sodas -- both sugar-sweetened and diet versions -- pose a health hazard, particularly to children. The report "Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming America's Health" charges that soda consumption increases the risks of diseases ranging from heart disease to tooth decay, osteoporosis, cancer, obesity, and poor nutrition.

Broccoli and cauliflower help prevent cancer, right? So you might think, if you relied on much of the nutrition news in the popular press. But the reliability of such information has been questioned -- most recently in an article in the New York Times by veteran science reporter Gina Kolata.

Anti-nuclear activist Jay M. Gould Died at age ninety, Friday one week ago. I was surprised, in a good way, that the New York Times obituatry gave attention to the criticism his work attracted. Obituaries, the first draft of the history of a person's life, usually offer generous views on the recently deceased. But New York Times science writer Anahad O'Connor appropriately addressed the flaws in Dr. Gould's work.

September 2005 -- New York, New York. The regulation of mercury emissions from coal-fired electric power plants is not likely to have a significant impact on public health, according to a new report by scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a non-profit public health organization.

An item in Vol. 310 (October 14, 2005) of Science notes Harvard School of Public Health's award to unscientific activist Erin Brockovich but also notes the reaction of ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and others:

An October 24, 2005 item by Liz Kowalczyk in the Boston Globe described opposition, started by ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, to the Harvard School of Public Health's award to Erin Brockovich:

An October 26, 2005 article from MedPageToday about new nutritional information on McDonald's food wrappers quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava, who applauds the move -- and recognizes that wrappers can't transform American eaters:

An October 1, 2005 article by Michael Coulter on the Heartland Institute's website notes the CDC's latest report on biomonitoring and quotes ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan summarizing the conclusions of ACSH's own recent report, Biomonitoriing: Measuring Levels of Chemicals in People -- and What the Results Mean:

A Jan 3, 2006 article by Nick Schirripa about the difficulty of quitting cigarettes (for more, see ACSH's Kicking Butts in the Twenty-First Century) notes a statistic on quit rates gleaned from ACSH:
For many smokers, the arrival of the new year means one thing: It's time to quit smoking.
About 40% of smokers try to kick the habit each year, and it's no easy task.
According to the American Council on Science and Health, only about 5% succeed on their first try, and about half succeed after several attempts.

A January 04, 2006 post by Derek Lowe on the media blog Corante.com describes an online spat over ACSH's oft-repeated point (the inspiration for our lawsuit against the EPA) that high-dose rodent tests are poor predictors of human cancer risk:

A January 11, 2006 article by Carolyn Susman describes the disproportionate effect that celebrities have on the allocation of science funding and health decision-making, noting ACSH's commentary on the matter:

Adherents of low-carbohydrate diet plans such as Atkins, South Beach, or the Zone should be somewhat chagrined at the results of one of the largest diet studies yet published. (1) The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) found no evidence that postmenopausal women who decrease the fat content of their diets (and thus increase carbohydrate) are prone to gain weight. Indeed, they showed a tendency to lose modest amounts of weight in a follow-up that spanned up to seven and one half years.

For the past fifty years -- dating back to the first national "carcinogen" scare, over cranberries during Thanksgiving 1959 -- Americans have been told that there are cancer causing agents in food, water, air, and various consumer products like paper towels, plastic toys, medical equipment -- even typewriter correction fluid.