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Conventionally grown produce is losing its nutrients, and it s only getting worse, according to an article published in Prevention Magazine and posted on MSNBC.com. According to Donald Davis, PhD, senior research consultant for the Bio-Communications Research Institute, selective breeding and synthetic fertilizers are to blame since they diminish a plant s ability to absorb nutrients.

A study published in Nature Medicine shows promise for a new vaccine delivery system involving patches that contain dissolvable microneedles. The researchers who developed the patch tested its ability to immunize mice with an influenza vaccine and found that it might provide a better immune response over traditional needle injection. They hope one day to make the patch available so patients – especially those who are afraid of needles – can self-administer vaccines at home.

The New York State Legislature successfully upheld its reputation as a scientifically misinformed governmental body when Gov. David Patterson officially signed into law a ban against BPA in children’s products over the weekend.
“We can no longer call them the ‘do-nothing Legislature’ because they finally did do something, even though it was counterproductive,” points out Dr. Ross.
If we had enough space, we’d offer all of the members of the Legislature a seat in the ACSH soundproof chamber.

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) isn t happy with BP s use of surface oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico in order to ameliorate the adverse effects of the oil spill. In a letter to Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral in charge of the cleanup operations, Markey alleged the dispersants have caused a toxic stew of chemicals, oil and gas, with impacts that are not well understood.

Respectful Insolence's pseudonymous pro-science blogger Orac this morning rightfully laments the appearance of an acupuncture case study in the ostensibly evidence-based New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The FDA issued a warning to Novartis Pharmaceuticals for its use of Facebook Share to promote its new leukemia drug, Tasigna, arguing that:

Some of the 10,500 Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers who received a $712.5 million settlement to cover health care costs are still bitter. The money will be allocated according to not only severity of illness, but also possibility of being able to prove a causal relationship between exposure and disease — so plaintiffs with asthma will receive greater compensation than those with cancer, because it would have been easier to prove a causal link between at least worsened asthma and exposure at Ground Zero.

According to U.S. researchers, there are an estimated 11,300 throat cancer cases attributable to human papilloma virus (HPV) annually, although the government does not formally track the incidence rate since the connection between HPV and throat cancer was only made in the past few years. The rate is expected to rise since people have more sexual partners now than in decades past.

ACSH staffers welcome an article in the online journal, Medscape, reporting on the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) suit against the FDA asking for a “writ of mandamus,” or court order requiring the agency to respond to NRDC’s 2008 petition to ban the use of BPA in commercial products.
In addition to calling the NRDC lawsuit “bizarre,” ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross was further quoted in the article:

A House subcommittee will be holding hearings this week on a bill to "reform" the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the federal law regulating chemicals, and ACSH staffers worry that the new measure goes too far.

Grocery retailers across the country are jumping aboard the nutritional bandwagon and offering customers greater advice on their dietary choices, The Wall Street Journal reports. Using a scoring system developed by NuVal LLC, owned by Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., foods get a score between 1 (low in nutrition) and 100 (really healthy) based on calorie content and the presence of more than 30 nutrients including proteins, fat and carbohydrates.

ACSH staffers re-learned a valuable lesson in news reporting yesterday: the media isn t always right. Based on inaccurate news reports, in yesterday s Dispatch we stated that Oregon has banned all electronic cigarettes. Thanks to ACSH friend Bill Godshall (and co-author of our publication on tobacco harm reduction), we re able to bring you the right information:

Perhaps the L.A. Times was inspired by our June 29 Dispatch detailing the false belief that all-natural means safe when they decided to cover the new Consumer Reports assessment of several dietary supplements thought to pose substantial health risks.

As the obesity epidemic becomes a global health care crisis, German economists and parliament members have tried to come up with a solution: let’s hold fat people financially responsible for the extra pounds they’re packing, they say.
One person not onboard with the proposed plan, however, is Walter Willett, professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, who says that along with lifestyle, genetics and urban environments also contribute to obesity.

Today’s New York Times book review of Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: No More Unnecessary Biopsies, Radical Treatment or Loss of Sexual Potency caught A

In yesterday’s Dispatch, ACSH staffers considered the Reproductive Risk Factors for Incontinence Study at Kaiser (RRISK) study, which correlates breast feeding with a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes, as the first of its kind that we were aware of. But Dr.

The California Legislature ended its session at midnight last night — and in the end, two pernicious pieces of legislation failed. The Senate rejected a bill to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and pharmacies after opponents argued it went too far in restricting consumer choice.

In light of the recent egg recall, people are scrambling to get free-range chickens eggs, thinking they may be safer than those laid by caged hens, but mounting evidence suggests that this may just be a myth spurred by food activists. According to a 1994 study investigating the presence of a specific type of salmonella, the strain was present in 50 percent of free-range hens but found in only 1 percent of caged hens. Additional research of U.S.

This may sound like an April Fool s joke, but a team of British researchers from Imperial College London are apparently serious when they suggest that fast food restaurants should give away statins to combat the heart disease dangers of fatty foods.

Last week we discussed how doctors have been reluctant to prescribe finasteride to men as a prophylactic treatment for prostate cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), cancer is now the most economically crippling disease in the world, costing more in lost productivity and lives than any other illness.

We’ve said it more than once, but we’ll say it again — and this time, a powerful, new study agrees with us: men with early, probably non-aggressive prostate cancer (determined by lower PSA levels and the presence of low-grade tumor pathology) can safely postpone surgery.

A large study of New York City children indicates that the incidence of childhood obesity ranges from 51 percent in Corona to 12 percent in the Upper West Side.

ACSH staffers were excited with the overwhelming response we received over the weekend via e-mail and Twitter to our question asking readers whether they or someone they know used electronic cigarettes as an effective method to successfully quit smoking.
Numerous people wrote in testimonials describing how, thanks to e-cigs, they have kicked their cigarette habits for good: