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Despite the ongoing epidemics of cigarette-related disease, novel influenza and obesity, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is focusing on a very different set of purported health risks: deadly toxins and chemicals in "our bodies." This effort will do nothing to promote public health while raising needless anxiety and spurring expensive, useless regulation and litigation.

Two studies released this week link specific forms of cancer with the consumption of certain meats, but ACSH is skeptical.

ACSH staffers are proud of the Coca-Cola Company for standing up to pressure from a minority faction of their shareholders who demanded that they disclose information about BPA in their packaging.

Nutrition “guru” Gary Null has filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan Supreme Court after suffering “excruciating fatigue along with bodily pain” as a result of eating his own dietary supplement, aptly titled “Gary Null’s Ultimate Power Meal.”

ACSH staffers offer Wall Street Journal reporter Allysia Finley a seat at the table for her piece underscoring the lack of evidence supporting the claim that phthalates and BPA have contributed to the obesity epidemic.

CNN reports on a study suggesting that men with high blood pressure who imbibe more than six drinks in one sitting may double their risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack, while those that consume 12 drinks at a time increase their risk by five-fold.

ACSH Director of Publications Derek Rose harnessed his creative juices to produce this informative and amusing video on the truth behind BPA.
We ask our Dispatch readers to help spread the real BPA message by posting the link to this video to their Facebook pages and send it along to friends and family.
Warning: Video is intended for adult audiences and may cause uncontrollable laughter.

On Friday, the FDA reversed its decision from two weeks prior to withdraw the drug midodrine from the market following strong protests from patients.

A new study reported online in the European Heart Journal claims that consuming 7.5 grams of chocolate daily can result in a significantly lower blood pressure than consuming just a sprinkle of it daily, with an incredible 39% reduction in rates of heart attack and stroke.

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While many populations at risk for developing AIDS will be relieved that Truvada — a combination drug therapy already marketed for HIV treatment — can prevent HIV infection, it would seem that the drug’s potential to prevent the infection has been delayed for quite some time, The New York Times reports.

It turns out that a morning cup of joe may not only put a pep in your step, but it may also reduce your risk of stroke, according to a new study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In the wake of a back-to-back 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is working tirelessly to rescue thousands of missing and injured residents and repair its ravaged neighborhoods. Now, many are also worrying over the potential for radiation emission from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reactors that experienced cooling and pressure problems as a result of the natural disaster.

In March 23 article for WebMD, Denise Mann quotes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross in his response to the proposed ban on menthol cigarettes:

Ten years after an initial assessment of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) declared that long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased women’s risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, follow-up data now suggest that estrogen-only replacement therapy (ERT) may actually reduce their cancer risk — but only for women who have had a hysterectomy.

According to a new study published in the journal Stroke, more than two-fifths of elderly patients with atrial fibrillation (a type of abnormal heart rhythm) are not using the blood-thinner warfarin, an anticoagulant commonly known by the trade name Coumadin. This drug is prescribed to prevent strokes associated with clots in the atria, the upper heart chambers. These can become emboli, or clots that travel to the brain.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is calling for a vegetarian alternative to the food pyramid, claiming that adherence to the current food pyramid is not adequately combating obesity and diabetes, and is thus illegal. It is worth noting that PCRM is not a physicians group. The group is driven by a vegan agenda and animal rights interests.

Affecting up to one in five Americans, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal ailment that may cause abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation, particularly in women. Therefore, it’s important to get patients with IBS effective treatments. Yet, because the cause (or causes) of the disorder have never been fully understood, that has been difficult to accomplish.

About 80 percent of stage II colon cancer can be cured by surgery alone. But what about those for whom surgery isn’t enough? Can they be identified? Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. has developed a genetic test that may predict which stage II and III colon cancer patients are most likely to experience a recurrence following surgery.

Yo quiero Taco Bell, with 88 percent beef please. That’s the message the chain restaurant delivered today with its full-page print ads featured in prominent newspapers such as The New York Times. Following a lawsuit filed last week in California federal courts that claimed Taco Bell uses a meat mixture in its tacos and burritos that does not meet the U.S.

A new study from sunny Down Under bolsters the link between multiple sclerosis (MS) and sun exposure and vitamin D levels. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neuromuscular disease with no cure, but several effective treatments exist to delay progression.

Stroke incidence has increased by 51 percent among men aged 15 to 34, according to the first nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations characterized by age. The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association Conference in Los Angeles. After analyzing eight million hospitalization cases from 41 states, researchers found that stroke rose by 17 percent for women in the same age group, while actually declining by 25 percent among men 65 and older.

A study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine has led to a great deal of faulty reporting and more than a few questionable claims.

A new vaginal gel, containing the hormone progesterone and manufactured by Columbia Laboratories Inc. and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., reduces the rate of premature delivery in women with a short cervix by 45 percent.

The results of two recent surveys conclude the same thing: people have many misconceptions about the risks associated with smoking.