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Where does a chemical go to get its reputation back? an editorial in Wednesday s The Wall Street Journal asks. The question is posed amid the recent release of credible scientific reports that have all determined that bisphenol A (BPA) the chemical that lines cans to prevent food-borne illness and is found in certain plastics is safe, despite inflammatory anti-BPA campaigns initiated by chemophobic activist groups and eagerly spread by complicit media and demagogic politicians.

We ve said it before, and we ll say it again: consumers, not the government, will ultimately dictate the recipes used by food manufacturers, and in this case, the public has spoken: Campbell Soup Co. will now be adding some salt back into its 31 Select Harvest soups in order to improve their taste and increase sales. After reducing the soup s salt levels to approximately 480 mg from 700 to 800 mg per serving, the levels will now increase back up to 650 mg.

Resistance to acknowledging one s age may be what s keeping many elderly folk from heeding heat warnings meant for older populations. According to a Kent State University study of those over the age of 65, 90 percent were aware of heat warnings issued for the elderly, yet only 15 percent took them personally.

When it comes to following food safety guidelines, master chef Michael Ruhlman is a bit of a culinary maverick. In an article for The New York Times, journalist Harold McGee chronicles the steps Ruhlman takes as he prepares his chicken stock which seems ordinary enough, except when he gets to the part where Ruhlman lets his stock sit on the stovetop all week, ladling out portions to make soups and sauces daily.

There is an odor wafting from the University of Washington very like the one we discussed last October and once again, the source is Dr. Anne Steinemann s claims that commercial fragrances are hazardous to our health. Dr. Steinemann s most recent research, published in this month s Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, alleges that scented laundry and dryer sheets can cause cancer.

As Hurricane Irene approaches the Eastern Seaboard, a little commonsense advice:
First, if you ve been told to evacuate, you need to get to higher ground as soon as possible. If you don t plan to evacuate, there s still the chance that you ll face flooding and wind damage, so make sure to prepare yourself with flashlights and batteries, as well as stores of food and water that will last a minimum of five days.

Biomarkers detectable in spinal fluid and blood, magnetic resonance imaging, and tests of cognition (memory) are all means of assessing whether a person will develop Alzheimer s disease. But for now, says a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the latter test requiring nothing more technical than a paper-based test and a pen is the most accurate means of predicting the disease.

Two new studies have discredited the common belief that mastectomy should be the standard treatment for breast cancer in women under 40. In fact, say both teams of researchers, the practice of lumpectomy in which just the cancerous tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue is removed carries no higher risk of recurrence or mortality than a mastectomy.

ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross and Jody Manley have just returned from an FDA workshop on modified risk tobacco products (MRTP), which was convened as directed in the 2009 law granting regulatory authority over tobacco products to the FDA. The goal is to assess the form that such regulation will take over MRTPs such as smokeless and dissolvable tobacco, as well as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).

In the current issue of The American, science writer Jon Entine takes a look at the comprehensive list of scientific institutions world-wide that have found no cause for concern about bisphenol A (BPA), and asks why politicians are nevertheless imposing bans on the substance. Anti-BPA campaigners have created a straw man in the way they portray the research landscape, Entine observes.

Findings of a study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute last year showed that screening current and former smokers with spiral CT scans can reduce lung cancer deaths by 20 percent, compared to standard chest X-rays. The results were so striking that the study was actually halted early and hailed by the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and other prominent health organizations.

Most people are aware that smoking is associated with various cancers, including cancer of the lung and mouth, yet many may be surprised to learn that the risk of bladder cancer in current smokers is more than three times greater than it is for non-smokers.

A prescription-grade formula of an otherwise common over-the-counter remedy holds the possibility of some relief for those who suffer from osteoarthritis of the hand, reports a new study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

A Cleveland hospital has reduced its incidence of bloodstream infections to one-third of what it used to be and the radical improvement has nothing to do with antibiotics. Instead, the Metrohealth Medical Center strictly enforces handwashing among its staff.

Federally funded clinical trials may soon become less bureaucratically bound and more efficient if changes announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) come to pass. These federal rules regulating clinical trials were instated in 1981, but they have not kept pace with evolving practices and needs. While the majority of U.S. clinical trials once took place in academia, as a result of burdensome regulatory costs, now 70 percent of them are commercial and nearly half take place outside the U.S.

In the past year, the FDA has rejected three weight-loss drugs over safety concerns. In October, Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. s lorcaserin was one of the drugs on the chopping block after the agency cited certain rat studies that showed it was tied to a possible cancer risk.

Josh Bloom, New York Post August 16, 2011
Running Out of Common Drugs

As we have often noted, independent and government-sponsored studies worldwide have repeatedly found that normal exposure to the plastic hardener bisphenol-A (BPA) poses no risk to human health. Further supporting this is a new clinical study out of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that found no correlation between BPA levels in urine and type 2 diabetes.

Just last week we reported that the smoking rate in New York City dropped to an all-time low of 14 percent down from 22 percent in 2002. The rate of smoking in the state as a whole has also declined. So we were surprised to read that the American Cancer Society (ACS) is criticizing the state for spending less than the recommended amount on tobacco control programs.

Last year, ACSH released a report highlighting breast cancer organizations that relied on flawed science and chemophobia to support the alleged link between environmental chemicals and breast cancer.

Typically, a patient who undergoes a coronary angioplasty is monitored overnight at the hospital just in case of complications. However, a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that this may not be necessary for many low-risk patients.

A healthful diet may actually lower a woman s risk of having a child with serious birth defects, reports a study now online in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Lisa R. Lauve is the new sheriff at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana, and her first order of business is to cut down on third-hand smoke. Starting July 1 of next year, the entire hospital campus will be subject to an anti-tobacco policy such that current staff members who smoke will have one year to make whatever adjustments they need in order to quit smoking or at least forgo the habit while at work.

It would come as no surprise to us to learn that the number of flu outbreaks has decreased in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities whose workers have higher rates of vaccination.

Finally a bit of sound science and common sense seems to be percolating from an official governmental agency unfortunately, not in our country. The U.K.'s Cabinet level behavioral insight team, better known as the nudge unit, is encouraging the use of smokeless nicotine cigarettes to help addicted smokers quit, thus hoping to prevent tens of thousands of smoking-related deaths among Britons.