ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan is among the scientific experts who contributed to the "Second Opinion" feature on the FDA s Bad Ad program in the Manhattan Institute's Medical Progress Today. She wrote:
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ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan appeared last night on the second installment of CNN's special about chemicals, "Toxic Childhood," countering assertions that environmental chemicals are among the main causes of disease and death in children.
Dr. Whelan said CNN placed her in a tough spot: How do you go up against parents who appeared in the previous segment who claim, emotionally, that their daughter died of cancer because of exposure to trace level environmental chemicals?
According to the Associated Press, Supreme Court justices on Tuesday sharply questioned a lower court's decision that has prohibited biotech giant Monsanto Co. from selling genetically engineered alfalfa seeds ¦
Proctor & Gamble says its Dry Max Pampers, less bulky but more absorbent than the previous design, are the biggest thing in diapers in 25 years.
Research presented at experimental biology conference this week in Anaheim, Calif., showed that people who ate cookies labeled as organic believed that their snack contained 40% fewer calories than the same cookies that had no label.
ACSH President and Founder Dr. Elizabeth Whelan was on CNN Sunday, May 9, 2010, to discuss the President's Cancer Panel report blaming cancer on environmental chemicals. Watch here.
Reuters reported Wednesday on a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that asserts a causal link between the nationwide trend in the reduction of heart attack rates and bans on smoking in public places.
U.S. News & World Report s Washington Whispers blog reports that at least four groups are skeptical of the credibility of the FDA s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC).
ACSH staffers were pleasantly surprised when they discovered anti-pseudoscience blogger JunkScienceMom s reference to a Hands off my plastic stuff! Facebook site, which reveals some of the various consumer and medical products that would disappear if BPA were banned.
Next year, New York s required calorie count policy for chain restaurants is set to go into effect nationwide under the country s new healthcare legislation. The Wall Street Journal reports that while supporters believe the new policies are necessary to overcome the nation s high obesity rates, opponents question whether the government should have such regulatory power over private businesses.
ACSH s Jeff Stier was so surprised to see the following advertisement on a New York City bus the other day that he ran out onto the street to snap a picture of it with his arsenic-laden iPhone 3G.
It was not until later that he realized that this was not, in fact, a campaign by the New York City Public Health Department to cleanse our food of salt, but a promotion for an upcoming movie starring Angelina Jolie.
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan debated Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, on the CNN special "Toxic Childhood." Watch here.
Women who were light to moderate drinkers early in pregnancy were more likely to raise children with more positive behaviors, Reuters Health reports, citing a study by researchers from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in West Perth, Western Australia. The study defined light to moderate drinking as the consumption of two to six drinks per week, or one a day.
The EPA is longer accepting studies that use humans as guinea pigs in chemical tests, such as those for dose-response analyses, which determine how much of a chemical is safe for humans.
Biotech company AquaBounty has spent the last decade seeking FDA approval for what would become the first genetically engineered animal to be used for public consumption Atlantic salmon. Genetically modified to produce growth hormone year round, the modified salmon grow to conventional market size twice as fast as regular fish.
Shoppers who use reusable grocery bags and do not routinely wash them may be putting themselves at risk for food poisoning. Researchers who tested dozens of bags found half contaminated with coliform bacteria, suggesting raw-meat or uncooked-food contamination. Further, E. coli was found in another 12 percent of the bags, according to a study funded by the American Chemistry Council.
With the FDA’s ban on the words such as “light,” “mild,” “medium,” and “low-tar” from cigarette packaging going into effect today, Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. have switched to colored packaging to communicate differences in products. The FDA is challenging this use of colors, arguing that it suggests certain products are safer.
Starting July 1, people who buy cigarettes in New York will have to fork over an extra $1.60 per cigarette pack in state taxes according to a new law passed yesterday by the Legislature. This will bring the total cost of cigarettes to approximately $12.00 a pack.
Science journalist Chris Mooney, the author of "Unscientific America: Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future," urges scientists and policymakers to start listening to the public’s views on controversial science issues when drafting policies. Rather than focusing on the public’s lack of science education, Mooney argues that both politics and mistrust towards perceived industry-backed science seem to drive public fears.
A study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that approximately half of breast cancer patients with estrogen-sensitive tumors terminate their hormone therapies, such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, before the recommended five-year course. These drugs can reduce the risk of relapse by 40 percent and death by 10 percent, but only if taken for the prescribed five years.
ACSH offers an honorary seat at the table to the California lawmakers who succeeded in voting down a ban against BPA on Monday.
Despite pressure from environmental activists to ban BPA from use in children’s products, the Legislature adhered to sound science instead, earning themselves a pat on the back from ACSH staffers.
A whopping $712 million settlement was approved Thursday for approximately 10,000 rescue and clean-up workers who claim their health was compromised at Ground Zero. Compensatory payments will be allotted even to plaintiffs who currently have no qualifying injuries.
In another news story illustrating the potentially disastrous health effects that studies hyping such exaggerated risks may perpetuate, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has demanded that the FDA immediately provide guidance and reassurance to consumers about a potential link between a common sunscreen additive and skin cancer.
Studies conducted in laboratory animals suggest a possible link between retinyl palmitate and skin cancer, but no human data was analyzed, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
In a radical new law approved in San Francisco on Tuesday, retailers will be required to display the amount of radiation each cell phone emits, even though there’s no conclusive scientific evidence that these devices pose any health risks.
The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology presented two studies that may eventually alter the treatment of women with early-stage breast cancer. In the first study conducted by investigators from the University College of London, 991 women were recruited. All of the women had a "sentinel node" removed which showed the presence of cancer cells, but only half of the women received the standard treatment since the 1990s, the removal of additional lymph nodes.
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