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An Associate Research professor at George Washington University's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health is advising other professors to show the documentary Fallon, NV: Deadly Oasis to students.
The film is touted by Physicians for Social Responsibility as an "emotionally compelling documentary that illustrates the link between environmental exposures and health."

The authors of a report in the latest Radiology, a peer-reviewed medical journal, estimate that exposure to the radiation from one total-body CT scan -- often called a "CAT scan" -- may increase the risk of cancer by a small, but not negligible, amount. The researchers make this estimate by analogy to the measured radiation exposure of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the rate of cancer in those survivors.

Last week we cheered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for challenging the makers of quack weight loss supplements for children.
This week, the FTC's chairman deserves another honorable mention, this time, for standing up to the Center for Science and the Public Interest and its allies who seek to ban television commercials for "junk food" directed at children.

ACSH congratulates the New York Times (and health columnist Jane E. Brody) for putting the health risks faced by children in perspective.

A large-scale study published this month in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy warns us about the dangers of a product sold in stores throughout the country. The U.S.-based trade association promoting the sale of this significant food allergen even has an entire section on their webpage promoting its health benefits.
Most frightening, they seem to be promoting their product to children!

In response to the the latest press release from the advocacy group called the Center for Science in the Public Interest, below are some facts about the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH):
· ACSH is a not for profit organization led by a voluntary board of more than 350 leading physicians and scientists from prominent hospitals and universities.

CEI-affiliated Soso Whaley contrasted her weight loss with the weight gain of her fellow McDonald's customer/documentarian Morgan Spurlock (noting ACSH's role) in a July 24 letter to the Washington Times:

New York -- October 2004. From the great "Cranberry Scare" of 1959 to the present-day fear of chemicals in salmon, the public has been subjected to increasingly frequent warnings about the safety of the food supply and environment. However, such panics are almost never based on good scientific evidence, reports the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed an amendment allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada and unspecified "other countries," a seeming reversal of current law. I say seeming because in fact this amendment is likely to be eliminated when the House and the Senate meet to coordinate the final form of the bill. Nevertheless, politicians and pundits seem to be in agreement: drug importation is an idea whose time is at hand, if not this year, then next.

In an attempt to protect its citizens, the United Kingdom is reviewing proposals to implement its own color-coded alert system evocative of the one in place in the United States.

Since the American Council on Science and Health often examines health scares, we were glad to see the sensible editorial in last week's British Medical Journal that evaluates how bottled water exploits the public's fears about what affects health (Petrie KJ, Wessely S. Getting well from water. British Medical Journal, 329:1417-1418).

As the rate of obesity has climbed in the United States over the past few decades, to the point that nearly a third of adults are considered obese, so has the rate at which people are turning to some form of bariatric surgery to help control their weight. These operations are more than cosmetic "tummy tucks" or liposuction. The surgery may involve simply using a band around the stomach or stapling part of it closed to decrease its capacity. More extensive procedures also include bypassing part of the small intestine to decrease nutrient and calorie absorption.

With severe limits on flu vaccine availability, it is only natural that the public will try to seek out other effective means of flu prevention. Feeding off the widespread panic over the flu and the desire for alternatives in flu prevention, an abundance of "flu remedies" is now available on the Internet, making strong and misleading claims. Vulnerable people, relatively unregulated "dietary supplements," and the vast territory of the Internet combine to create fertile ground for misinformation.

Last Tuesday, California voters, besides casting their ballots for president, also had the option in several counties to ban biotechnology-produced crops. Marin, Butte, San Luis Obispo, and Humboldt counties all voted on such measures, and the initiatives were rejected by voters in all but one county.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson this week declared that the sudden shortage of influenza vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis." He argued that anxious Americans should be patient while the government works to reallocate the nation's limited supply of vaccines.
To his credit, Thompson was trying to prevent panic -- and prevent the long lines of flu-shot seekers we are increasingly seeing on the nightly news.

The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released this month, engendered much analysis and commentary -- some of it good, some not so great.

New York, NY -- December 2004. Many women rely on magazines for information about health yet surveys show that popular women's magazines feature little or no coverage of the serious health consequences of smoking, the leading preventable cause of death, even while other health topics, serious and trivial, are covered at great length.

Anyone who reads magazines, watches TV, or listens to the radio must have come across ads for a myriad of diet aids that promise effortless weight loss -- sometimes even while one sleeps -- no dieting or exercising required. Although we, and many others, have warned consumers that such products are bound to be scams, there are still plenty of them out there. And with the increasing prevalence of obesity in America, the market for such scams is surely growing.

To the Editor:
Re "Winter Is Flu Season, but Maybe It Doesn't Have to Be" (Week in Review, Dec. 26):
You say "it would be nice to know for sure" that immunizing schoolchildren against influenza is the most effective route to prevent flu-related deaths among the vulnerable. There is no need for a new national study, nor do we need to await the analysis of Canadian data.

A tobacco company CEO appointed to the board of trustees of a reputable cancer institute? It's perhaps as outlandish as Time, Inc. being given an award for advancing tobacco control.

The scare story about vaccines containing mercury and causing autism is still with us, as a recent story on Fox 5 news here in New York City -- and a new book on the topic from St. Martin's Press -- suggest. (Indeed, the Fox 5 story caused such an outpouring of fear from parents that Fox 5 decided...to run it again.)

An article in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (1) adds to the mounting evidence (which ACSH has frequently pointed out) that antioxidant supplements are not the potent health-promoters that proponents claim. The study indicates they may even increase the risk of one of the very conditions that some claim they prevent.

A quick search on Google or any Internet search machine for the topic "alcohol, pregnancy" will reveal that the precautionary principle is alive and well.

Sally Squires' Washington Post article "The Cost of Compliance" (February 22) dished a healthy dose of reality to those who suggest that the obesity crisis in this country is the fault of big business trying to dump cheap, unhealthy foods on an all-too-susceptible public.

Congress heard from Major League Baseball (MLB) players regarding their use of steroids, and none have proven to be the heroes they claim to be. Baseball is not shaping up to be the great American sport some believed. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his steroid use, but he has no regrets about it. He even vetoed a bill that would require California high school coaches to teach about the dangers of steroid use.