Ever wonder why the American public is so ill-informed about issues involving science such as evolution, genetic modification of food crops, stem cell research, and homeopathy or "alternative medicine"? Some scientific issues seem settled in the public's mind. There is no serious question as to whether the earth revolves around the sun, even though not too many centuries ago one could be burned at the stake for promoting proscribed ideas on this issue.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rubella, a virus notorious for causing birth defects, stillbirths, and miscarriages, has been eliminated from the United States. During its last major U.S. outbreak in the mid-60s, there were 12.5 million cases of rubella, resulting in 20,000 cases of congenital rubella syndrome, 11,600 babies born deaf, 11,250 fetal deaths, 2,100 newborn deaths, 3,580 babies born blind, and 1,800 more mentally handicapped.
A March 25, 2004 article by Denise Mann on WebMD.com about artificial sweeteners quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava:
"These products can be useful when used appropriately for people like diabetics who need to control their sugar intake and in overweight people," agrees Ruth Kava, PhD, RD, director of nutrition for the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) in New York City.
A March 23, 2005 Wall Street Journal article by Jim Carlton informs readers that a "study" by an environmental group provides "fresh evidence of a potential pathway by which certain chemicals end up in people."
This op-ed appeared in the May 22, 2005 Hartford Courant:
Here are just a few of the problems associated with the state House of Representatives' vote this past week to attack childhood obesity and poor nutrition by banning sodas and other snacks from schools:
The New York Times in its March 4th editorial, "Experts and the Drug Industry," has it wrong. Recently, the FDA decided to allow the drugs Celebrex, Bextra, and Vioxx to be marketed despite research showing they seem to increase the risk of heart problems. The Times complains that this FDA decision is suspect because a "vast majority" of the scientists on the panel had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry and ten of the thirty-two panel members had consulted or received research support from the three drug companies involved in this judgment.
The media frequently report claims by nonprofit consumer groups about alleged health hazards in our food supply and our environment. Often these claims are coupled with suggestions for specific actions to reduce the purported risk of disease or premature death by avoiding or reducing exposure to the allegedly harmful substance.
Early birds watching the Today show on May 13 were treated to the opinions of a new proponent of culinary Puritanism Dr. Steven Witherly. Dr. Witherly heads a supplement and ingredient company called Technical Products, Inc., although that fact was not mentioned on the Today interview.
Virtually everyone "knows" that red wine is the best type of alcoholic beverage to consume if you're concerned about health. After all, the French eat lots of cheese and other high fat foods, yet their rate of heart disease is lower than ours. This observation, known as the "French paradox," has been widely attributed to the red wine the French consume liberally. What is it about red wine that supposedly makes it superior to other alcoholic beverages?
In the past twenty years, obesity has become an increasingly visible public health problem. More than 300 million adults worldwide are overweight, and many suffer from potentially life-threatening weight-related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and sleep disorders. Childhood obesity is also a growing problem.
According to an estimate released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one million people in America are living with HIV. This towering figure is the highest since the 1980s* and may at first seem like discouraging information. But in fact the CDC report represents both good and bad news about the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Meet the D'Souza family of Sacramento.
The D'Souzas live in a pleasant ranch house on a pretty cul-de-sac in Natomas. Well, it used to be pleasant, until they started bolting up hideous layers of corrugated sheet metal all over the house. The D'Souzas say the metal is there to protect them from, to quote media reports, "unknown neighbors who have been bombarding them with radio waves and making them sick."
Ah. Radio waves. Unknown neighbors.
Milk has earned a healthy reputation: adding strength to bones and providing protein, multiple vitamins, and minerals, among other benefits. Its recent hype as a weight loss aid is still being debated, with studies showing mixed results.
A group of leading scientists in England is making headlines for writing a scathing letter attacking one of England's leading medical journals, the Lancet, for promoting unfounded health scares.
New York, NY -- June 2005. Journalists can improve their coverage of public health topics by more critically considering health claims made by activist groups. These claims are frequently not based on sound science.
A July 7, 2005 letter to the editor cited ACSH on PCBs:
Regarding the July 3 article "Soil still toxic 25 years later":
Mark Parascandola's well-researched article, "Scientists, Families, and Courts Clash Over the Elusive Causes of Autism," in the Summer 2004 issue of Cerebrum, may have confused your readers. He failed to make clear that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine never contained the ethylmercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal.
Alzheimer's disease has made headlines this week. In the past, only memory tests were available to detect moderate and advanced stage Alzheimer's disease. There are now methods able to detect the disease up to nine years before it becomes apparent. While Alzheimer's is still uncurable, this early detection may allow potential sufferers to postpone its onset. Researchers are working on developing treatments that may combat newly-detected mild cases of the disease.
A report in the July 28 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) provides no support for the efficacy of echinacea, one of the most popular herbal products, in preventing or alleviating the symptoms of the common cold. Millions of Americans use supplemental echinacea, which is made from any one of several species of the purple coneflower, for just those purposes. But should they rely on it?
There was substantial media coverage this week of the claim by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), based on analyses of a small number of umbilical blood samples, that newborn babies are exposed even before birth to toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Few stories put the disturbing assertions in perspective.
Modern life has buffered us from so many of the constant dangers of pre-modern life that few of us fear them. Unfortunately, the removal of the constant threat of disease and starvation seems to cause us to fill in the vacuum with new fears. Instead of fear-mongering, though, the happy story of the last half-century should be told in terms of the cancer epidemics or other dark, unseen forces that didn't strike us.
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Electric (GE) -- described by Bloomberg.com as "the world's second-biggest company by market value" -- reached agreement on plans to begin removing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the Hudson River. Specifically, GE agreed to meet EPA demands to remove 10% of the PCBs along a forty-mile stretch of the river in upstate New York. Negotiations are still underway regarding the cleanup of the other 90%, and EPA will sue GE if they do not agree to a second phase of the removal process.
A September 29, 2005 column by Michael Fumento criticizes the Harvard School of Public Health's award to Erin Brockovich, noting ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, who brought the dishonorable honor to public attention:
For the past three years -- ever since Swedish scientists found the chemical acrylamide in food (particularly in high-starch foods cooked at elevated temperatures) -- there has been chatter among journalists and environmental advocates about the possible cancer risk of this chemical and the need to alert consumers to the possible dangers associated with eating French fries and chips.
The U.S. Senate is moving closer this week to passing legislation that will lift restrictions on the importation of cheap drugs from countries like Canada to the United States.
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