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This article first appeared on the website of The Guardian on July 24, 2009:

Is there any benefit to buying an organic pineapple? How about an onion? Science literate people know it is a little silly, for two reasons: First, is that toxic pesticides and toxic pesticides, whether they are organic or synthetic is irrelevant, you should wash anything you did not grow yourself; second is that foods like that can't have pesticides so buying an organic version which will at least claim to not have a pesticide is a waste of money.

This piece by ACSH Trustee Henry Miller appears in its entirety in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

Matrixx Initiatives is on the defensive since they were ordered to stop selling Zicam intranasal cold remedies after more than 130 reports of people who lost their sense of smell after using the zinc-based, homeopathic products. A public health advisory posted on the FDA website said the products have all been associated with long-lasting or permanent loss of smell and have not been shown to be effective in the reduction of the duration and severity of cold symptoms.

Under the tobacco regulation bill recently passed by Congress, flavoring in cigarettes will be banned to diminish the attraction of smoking to youth smokers, with the exception of menthol. Menthol-flavored cigarettes represent 27 percent of the market and are the product of choice for 75 percent of African-American smokers.

Vitamin, herbal, and otherwise non-regulated supplements have fared poorly under increasingly public scrutiny. ACSH staffers have long maintained that these and other alternative medicine products are not worth the money. Most of these supplements are the modern equivalents of nineteenth-century snake-oil, says ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava.

The FDA's panel of psychiatric experts voted to approve the use of three drugs produced by AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in patients ages ten to seventeen. The drugs, already approved for treatment of adults, represent a remarkable achievement in the struggle against these devastating diseases, which affect 2.4 million and 5.7 million Americans, respectively.

Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal argues that the World Health Organization s phase six pandemic label, applied this morning to the H1N1 virus, is a loaded word that will instill a sense of panic that may impede the ability of public officials to assemble a rational response plan for this virus. While ACSH staffers agree the WHO s overwrought and highly public deliberation on this matter has been needlessly melodramatic, the terminology is not to blame.

Recently, Nestle USA voluntarily recalled its prepackaged, refrigerated cookie dough products after they had been linked to E. coli infections across twenty-eight states. Nestle is fully cooperating with FDA and CDC efforts to inform people of the dangers of eating this and other raw foods intended to be cooked before consumption.
ACSH staffers are glad to see this being addressed, and we view it as an unfortunate example of occasional contamination that no degree of oversight could prevent every time.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Amy Klobuchar have not withdrawn their proposal to introduce breast cancer screening in junior high school, despite the warnings of the chief physician of the American Cancer Society, an NIH cancer prevention expert, and a prominent breast cancer epidemiologist, all of whom believe that the bill could do more harm than good.
As usual, ACSH staffers agree with legitimate medical professionals. This is a ridiculous proposal, says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. Still, it is difficult to criticize an idea that sounds so proactive.

California s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment declared on Friday that the smoke from marijuana is carcinogenic and therefore falls under the purview of the state s Proposition 65, which requires all products with suspected carcinogens to carry warning labels.
Prop 65 is an unproductive law which provides no health benefit except to lawyers, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. It has done nothing but encourage California s thriving bounty hunter litigation so that companies can be sued for not using the right warning labels.

FDA on BPA The FDA released its long-awaited reassessment of the safety of BPA last Friday.

Election in Massachusetts Scott Brown's victory in the U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts last night may curtail the healthcare reform effort in Congress.

Dr. Ross on the Airwaves ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross will join Vicki McKenna on her radio show, NewsTalk 1310 WIBA, at 5:06 pm (EST) to talk about the Wisconsin State Senate's passage of a BPA ban. Tune in at 1310 AM where her show broadcasts, or listen online at http://www.wiba.com/main.html.

Yet another story confirms the obvious fact that cell phones do not cause brain cancer. According to HealthDay News, "A thirty-year examination of the incidents of brain tumors in Scandinavia found no substantial change in prevalence even after cell phone use became widespread, according to the report in the Dec. 3 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute."

ACSH staffers are very impressed with the progress of the Red Cross Measles Initiative. Their website reports, "[M]easles deaths worldwide fell by 78% between 2000 and 2008, from an estimated 733,000 in 2000 to 164,000 in 2008. However, global immunization experts warn of a resurgence in measles deaths if vaccination efforts are not sustained."

If my doctor told me that I had no established risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) but should go on prescription medication to prevent it anyway, I'd look at him like he was from another planet -- Jupiter, perhaps.
But a new analysis of data from a study known as JUPITER (Justification for the Use of statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) suggests that for certain people, the statin drug rosuvastatin (sold as Crestor) could reduce their risk of CHD.

An op-ed from FoodNavigator argues that BPA has become a litmus test for the FDA's leadership abilities: "Each day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dithers in delivering its verdict on the safety of bisphenol A (BPA) its authority is diminished and its credibility wanes."

Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York plan to introduce the "BPA-Free Kids Act," which would ban the chemical from containers for young children's products. Activist pressure to restrict the use of BPA is heating up as the FDA prepares to release their latest opinion on it. The Breast Cancer Fund, for example, has called for the FDA to issue an immediate ban on BPA in hard plastic food containers and require labeling of all other food packaging containing BPA.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "A popular class of bone-building drugs known as bisphosphonates appears to significantly reduce women's risk of breast cancer, according to research presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium."

A CDC report concludes that obesity rates are increasing throughout the U.S., with especially high rates in Appalachia and the South.
"Is it news that the obesity problem is greater in the South?" asks ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "This has been known for a while, the question is why. There seems to be a socioeconomic variable first of all, but it might have more to do with culture differences. Southern cuisine includes many high-fat, fried foods. Basically, their diets are not very well-balanced. Their food is likely to be higher in fat and calories in general."

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg criticized a proposed amendment to the healthcare bill which would enable the importation of cheaper prescription drugs.
"Dr. Hamburg acknowledged that while the current legislation does have provisions to improve the safety of imported drugs, they don't go far enough," says ACSH's Jeff Stier. "We have to give Commissioner Hamburg credit, because by opposing drug importation, she is going against the politics and sticking with the science."

According to the New York Times: "Federal health officials are trying to shift supplies of the seasonal flu vaccine away from chain pharmacies and supermarkets to nursing homes, hoping to counter a shortage that threatens to cause a wave of deaths this winter among the nation's most vulnerable population."

Experts from the World Health Organization and Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS report that the worldwide number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has remained virtually the same for the past two years.
"This is some rare good news about AIDS," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "International health officials say the number of new cases of HIV peaked in 1996, but there may be an exception for Africa where it could still be prevailing and increasing. Still, these are hopeful signs in the war on AIDS. It's very encouraging."

Phthalates, BPA and toxic lead paint: How safe are toys and school supplies made for children?