"Forever chemicals" is a hot news item. The public is paying attention to them because they stick around for very long periods of time – including in your body – where they bioaccumulate. This has caused concern that they may cause cancer, although this has not been proven. Why does this group of chemicals stay around for so long? Chemistry explains.
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In the battle against Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the FDA's latest therapies are desperately trying to separate the forgetful from the truly befuddled. While spinal taps and PET scans remain the diagnostic standard, blood biomarkers are increasingly stepping up as the “heroes” of early detection.
Most health scares in the headlines are generated by low-grade epidemiology research that correlates food or chemical exposures with negative health outcomes. A recent review employing a new analytical tool highlighted some of the critical problems in this research – by looking at studies reporting health risks linked to red meat consumption. Let's take a look at the findings.
World War II's Manhattan Project – which developed the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945 – was one of the greatest scientific, technological, and logistical achievements in history. The bombs ended the war and saved millions of lives of combatants and civilians.
Some people look at you as if you have a cancer death wish when they see a Diet Coke can in your hand. But their glass of wine is a far greater risk. Here's why.
Recent headlines claiming a “cure” for autism, and a complete reversal of symptoms, were inspired by a case report published in June 2024. However, with dubious methodology and potential serious conflicts of interest, there's good reason to doubt these conclusions.
Cilantro. Whether you love it or hate it can be partly determined by a difference in a single gene in your nasal passage. Roughly 10-20% of us think it tastes like soap. The chemistry of odor concentration can explain some of this. Or you can just hate it for no good reason.
Glyphosate is perpetually in the news. However, last month was especially busy because various agencies concluded that it either did – or did not – cause cancer or kill butterflies. The herbicide has even been implicated as a cause of autism, but the science is terrible. Perhaps the worst science came out of MIT in 2014 — confusing correlation with causation. A big no-no.
Anyone who poo-poed the risk to the Olympic open-water swimmers from the disgusting Seine River is s### out of luck. Plenty of swimmers got sick, just like I predicted last month, from swallowing river water during the 10 km event. And a little toilet humor thrown in. No extra charge.
A recent study claimed that excessive sitting – all too common in our modern, hyper-connected world – is more deadly than smoking and HIV. The solution, the researchers claimed, is a novel creation known as the treadmill desk, which allows people to exercise during their work days. How truthful is all this? Not very.
Reciprocity of approvals between FDA and its A-list foreign counterparts would ease the shortages.
Another view of peer review
Automating the lawyers
As I grow old, I jettison the unnecessary
Sleep is not just for humans and other living creatures
The fragmented U.S. water infrastructure remains highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The EPA, lacking the tools under the Safe Drinking Water Act to proactively attack the problem comprehensively, has shifted to a reactive enforcement approach. However, much more is needed to counter such a fundamental threat to our nation’s infrastructure.
More and more cases which require an understanding of complex scientific issues are being tried in the courts of this nation. Often the scientific questions that come before a court are on the cutting edge of scientific knowledge. In other cases, the tested theories of mainstream science are in conflict with the hypotheses of researchers who perhaps do not follow traditional methods.
Dr. Whelan presented this speech on November 10, 1992 upon her acceptance of the Calver Award presenter by the Environmental Division of the American Public Health Association.
This lecture pays tribute to Homer Calver and his crusade against premature death and disease during the first decades of this century. Calver's greatness came because of the time in which he lived.
The relationship between nutrition and health is complex and cannot be described in a set of simple rules. However, simplistic half-truths are dominating public perception and shaping policies concerning our food and the nature of our diet. For example, a recent ad campaign depicted saturated fats as poisons and accused several American food companies of poisoning America because they use tropical oils and beef tallow. The person behind this ad campaign has no formal training in nutrition or medicine, but has forced major companies to reformulate their products.
Chlorine, one of the 20 or so elements found in abundance in all living things, is under attack. Environmentalists have tried to condemn many man-made chlorine products as hazardous and have called for the government to ban them. However, chlorine is not only a constituent of man-made products but also is found in abundance in nature in the same formulations. It could no more easily be banned than sunlight or aflatoxin, a natural carcinogen produced by mold.
This report is a revised and updated version of a report on diet and cancer published by ACSH in 1985. The original report was written by Michael W. Pariza, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin, an ACSH Scientific Advisor. The new edition was prepared by Kathleen Meister, M.S., a free-lance medical writer and former ACSH Research Associate.
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People burdened with extra body fat know all too well that one size doesn t fit all especially when it comes to weight loss. Many are hoping, though, that today s rapidly progressing research on the genetics of obesity will produce a one-size-fits-all approach to slimming down their bulging curves. But as exciting as this research is, the unfortunate reality is that most overweight people won t be able to squeeze a solution out of it.
The role of diet in the development of cancer has been the focus of much scientific research during the past decade. Researchers now know that high intakes of certain naturally occurring dietary chemicals increase our risk of cancer. Such chemicals include benzo(a)pyrene (found in charcoal-broiled meat), aflatoxin (found in peanuts), and certain hydrazines (found in edible mushrooms). But scientists studying the chemical makeup of the human diet have also identified some naturally occurring anticancer chemicals. One looks especially promising.
Conjugate Bliss?
Americans are embracing dietary supplements like never before. Last year we spent over $5 billion on compounds ranging from ordinary multivitamins to exotic herbal products. We hope they'll prevent or cure our ills, put us to sleep or make us alert, turn us into powerful athletes or help us shed pounds without decreasing our caloric intake or exercising more.
Since many supplements are touted as "natural," we assume that they must be safe. But swallowing all these pills and powders has resulted in some tragedies:
This is a letter to my next "self," and maybe to multiple "selves." I've assumed that I'll be cloned eventually, that my clone will be cloned, and so on. Because such iterations are like a scientific variation of reincarnation, it's only proper that I try to pass on the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime. It would be nice if you future Todds have some idea of what the first one learned, to give you a head start (you won't, needless to say, share my memories or live in an environment identical to mine).
Scientists from the American Council on Science and Health confirmed today that the Liggett Group settlement is not the public health victory it appears, contrary to the near-universal positive response from the rest of the public health community.
Physicians and scientists at the American Council on Science and Health reported today that some much-touted concerns about the safety of commercial baby food are, in fact, unwarranted.
Pagination
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