Yesterday's style section of the New York Times splashed an unappealing picture on its cover: two models backstage at the Prada fashion show in Milan, one on her Blackberry, both smoking cigarettes.
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A May 29, 2007 piece by the Reason Foundation's Ted Balaker cites ACSH:
This piece first appeared on July 25, 2007 on TCSDaily.com.
In his new documentary Sicko, which calls for nationalized health care, Michael Moore shows a montage of ads urging the viewer to "ask your doctor" about various medications, implying the ads are responsible for over-medicating society. Lucky for patients, not everyone in Congress agrees with him. At least not yet.
This piece originally appeared on June 20, 2007 on HuffingtonPost.com:
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A June 18, 2007 entry on the National Public Radio blog mentions the reaction of ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan to Kellogg's' decision to partner (under duress) with Center for Science in the Public Interest to change its cereal marketing practices:
A September 19, 2007 piece on the Wills, Trusts, and Estates Profs Blog notes Jeff Stier's New York Post piece on incentivizing organ donation:
A July 17, 2007 piece notes ACSH Trustee Dr. Norman Borlaug receiving the Congressional Gold Medal (to add to his Presidential Medal of Freedom, Nobel Peace Prize, and numerous other accolades):
Besides being a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Borlaug is also a founding director of the American Council on Science and Health, an organization that works to provide scientifically valid information to the media and consumers.
One fourth of cancer patients who are over the age of fifty and undergoing radiation therapy did not get their Centers for Disease Control-recommended annual flu vaccination, according to a study presented this week at the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. The study also found that more than one third of cancer patients over the age of sixty-five were not getting the pneumonia vaccine, which is also a CDC guideline.
October 22, 2007: FDA Man Likes Special Cigarettes, Hospital Workers Dislike Flu Shots
-- Quote to Note: “We know that vaccinating nursing home staff reduces influenza-related death rates among frail patients." --Jane Zucker, infectious disease epidemiologist.
-- Unbelievable. Not only does this word describe the weather in New York (high of 78 degrees in late October?), but it also describes several health-related stories published this weekend.
A recent "health" column in USA Today ("'Everywhere chemicals' in plastics alarm parents," Oct. 30) attempts yet again to scare the public -- especially parents of young children -- about the alleged "endocrine-disrupting" effects of common chemicals, specifically bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates. The specific phthalate attacked, the vinyl plasticizer DEHP, is found in many healthcare products, including intravenous tubing and bags, and some instruments used in surgery.
Bupropion, a drug taken for smoking cessation and prescribed most often for adults, is yielding only short-lived results in adolescents according to an article in the November issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Each year 1.5 million adolescents in the U.S. light up for the first time and 416,000 of those go on to make it a daily habit. The numbers are staggering and unfortunately our current cessation treatment methods are showing little success, and even that success is often short-lived.
November 12, 2007: Desperate Smoker, Scary Chemicals, More Fat
-- Quote to Note: "I can say 'don't smoke,' but you know, people said that to me for years. It's more a matter of saying you know, make sure that you have adequate medical care, make sure that you are getting chest X-rays." --Actress Kathryn Joosten, quoted by ABC on having lung cancer and the "reasons" she survived.
Pedometers -- those little devices worn at the waist to count steps -- are popular tools for documenting activity levels, and it's now been documented that their use can help motivate users to increase their exercise levels. Dr. Dena M. Bravata and colleagues at Stanford University Medical School (JAMA 2007;298:2297) combined and evaluated data from twenty-six studies of the effects of pedometer use on activity levels and various health indices.
November 16, 2007: No Industry Experts Allowed -- They May Eat iPods
-- Quote to Note: "So the immediate takeaway is, don't eat your iPhone or your earbuds?" --CNN American Morning co-anchor John Roberts, about reports that iPods contain phthalates and bromides.
November 16, 2007 -- New York, NY. Scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health analyzed the natural foods that make up a traditional holiday dinner -- and have found that they are loaded with "carcinogens": chemicals that in large doses cause cancer in laboratory animals. None of these chemicals are made by man or added to the foods. Indeed, all of these "carcinogens" occur naturally in foods. But ACSH scientists have good news: these natural carcinogens pose no hazard to human health.
This piece first appeared in the New York Post.
We have an epidemic of disbelief about cancer in this country -- but it's the opposite of what you probably expect. Cancer death rates have been falling for years, and now are falling even faster. Yet it's still stories about allegedlyignored cancer threats that grab our attention.
A November 7, 2007 piece by the Business & Media Institute's Jeff Poor quoted ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava on a study of energy drinks:
On November 7, American Morning reported on a small study conducted by the American Heart Association with only 15 participants. They concluded energy drinks “may pose risks” for people with high blood pressure and heart disease.
But the study wasn’t conclusive enough to say energy drinks are a danger to just anyone.
A November 8, 2007 "Planet in Peril" piece hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper featured ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan responding to anti-chemical hype:
COOPER: Elizabeth, let's start with you. You think a lot of this is overblown. Most of it -- the presence of chemicals doesn't necessarily mean...
An article in Skeptic Volume 13, Number 3 by Sidney Zion quotes ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan on exaggerations about secondhand smoke's effects:
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that men who took Pravachol, a statin targeted at lowering cholesterol, for five years had lower incidence of heart attacks and death from heart disease ten years after cessation of treatment with the statin.
A November 19, 2007 article by Steve Mitchell notes the opposition of ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan to a Devra Davis book and a separate report blaming industrial chemicals for disease:
Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science andHealth, a group funded in part by industry, told PTCN she disagreed with both the Collaborative report and Davis' book.
A September 20, 2007 piece by Elizabeth Solomont quotes ACSH's Dr. Whelan wondering about the implications of genetic screening for disease risk:
Even those who described themselves as supportive of preventative medicine said there is a question of cost.
"No one really knows where this is going," the president of the American Council on Science and Health, Elizabeth Whelan, said. "It really is going to take a new commitment to spending on prevention."
February 11, 2008: Artificial Jarvik, Troubled Ledger, Fat Twins, Menaced Babies
¢Quote to Note: "I'm confused. The way they do these studies shouldn't the rats have died from cancer or something before they could become obese?" -- Comment by "OceanLover" on Lucianne.com News Forum about a study linking saccharin consumption to obesity in rats.
Be afraid, be very afraid, if you love to eat prunes or dried pears -- at least if you believe the hype about naturally occurring acrylamide in foods being a real risk to human health. Swiss scientists reported at a symposium held by the American Chemical Society that acrylamide can be found in some dried fruits. Since 2002, when Swedish scientists discovered that acrylamide is formed in carbohydrate-containing food cooked at high temperatures, there has been a concerted effort to scare consumers about foods such as French fries and potato chips.
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