A February 16, 2007 piece by Mike Hughlet noted Dr. Robert Adair's skepticism, expressed in a piece on ACSH's HealthFactsAndFears.com, about claims of cell phone radiation dangers:
Greenebaum is in the camp that thinks that while research hasn't shown phone radiation is a health hazard, he won't discount the possibility. "I never say never."
But there are skeptics who will say never -- such a discovery would be too contrary to the principles of physics.
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This letter originally appeared in the New York Times on March 14, 2007:
To the Editor:
Restaurants are replacing butter with margarine (or vice versa in some cases)? Or with palm oil (which is worse, from a health perspective)?
A June 12, 2007 item on FoxNews.com noted a warning from ACSH's Krystal Wilson not to eat sand:
A March 19, 2007 piece quotes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross responding to hysteria over the chemical bisphenol A (BPA):
"The public belief in the 'low-dose hypothesis' is an example of the truism that people will believe something if it is repeated often enough,'' said Gilbert Ross, medical director of the American Council on Science and Health in New York.
"The scientific support for this concept is weak and unreliable and certainly should not be used to set public policy about environmental chemicals,'' Ross added.
Soon, this daily dose of ACSH staffers' conversations will be e-mailed to donors each morning, available online later in the week.
You can become a donor at http://www.acsh.org/support/ or send a tax-deductible donation to:
American Council on Science and Health1995 Broadway, 2nd floorNew York, NY 10023
For questions, please call Jeff Stier at 212-362-7044 x225 or e-mail Tara McTeague at McTeagueT[at]acsh.org.
This letter appeared in USA Today on July 23, 2007.
USA Today's list of top twenty-five medical events of the past quarter-century included one that is overstated and unduly alarmist ("Big dose of medical change," Money, July 16).
An interstate outbreak of botulism has occurred, comprising two cases in Indiana and two in Texas, with others under investigation in California, Hawaii, and Ohio. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has a posting dated July 30, 2007 describing the outbreak. It says that the illnesses are due to botulinum toxin type A associated with Castleberry's hot dog chili, and that this is the first outbreak involving a commercially canned product since 1974.
This series of dispatches gives readers a seat at the ACSH table every morning. In September, this opportunity to listen in on staffers' conversations and insight will be available only to donors.
You can become a donor at http://www.acsh.org/support/ or send a tax deductible donation to:
American Council on Science and Health1995 Broadway, 2nd floor New York, NY 10023
For questions, please call Jeff Stier at 212-362-7044 x225 or e-mail Tara McTeague at McTeagueT[at]acsh.org.
Soon, this daily dose of ACSH staffers' conversations will be e-mailed to donors each morning, available to the public the next day.
You can become a donor at http://www.acsh.org/support/ or send a tax-deductible donation to:
American Council on Science and Health1995 Broadway, 2nd floorNew York, NY 10023
For questions, please call Jeff Stier at 212-362-7044 x225 or e-mail Tara McTeague at McTeagueT[at]acsh.org.
As they consider the new bill that would give the FDA the power to regulate cigarettes, Congress needs to take into account new information on nicotine dependence. According to a recent study published in the July edition of The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, nicotine dependence can occur in young cigarette smokers long before they begin to smoke daily.
Soon, this daily dose of ACSH staffers' conversations will be e-mailed to donors each morning, available online to the public at the end of that week.
You can become a donor at http://www.acsh.org/support/ or send a tax-deductible donation to:
American Council on Science and Health1995 Broadway, 2nd floorNew York, NY 10023
For questions, please call Jeff Stier at 212-362-7044 x225 or e-mail Tara McTeague at McTeagueT[at]acsh.org.
This column originally appeared in the New York Post.
Perhaps the disturbing allegation last week that a surgeon in California killed a patient to harvest an organ shouldn't be such a surprise, given the absurdly long waits for donated organs.
In an action that will surprise many, the American Dental Association (ADA) has endorsed chewing gum to help prevent cavities. If there's any habit dentists have been warning against for generations, it's chewing gum. So why the apparent U-turn? The difference is that the ADA is espousing the use of sugarless gum, particularly gums sweetened with the sugar alcohols xylitol and sorbitol.
A July 24, 2007 piece by Jeff Poor on the website of the Business & Media Institute notes ACSH's skepticism about attacks on soda:
A September 5, 2007 article by Elizabeth Solomont notes the position of ACSH's Jeff Stier on how to increase organ donations:
Some have proposed financial incentives to promote organ donations. "A regulated system that creates incentives for donors, whatever those incentives may be, would save lives, reduce the shortages that promote the black market, and level the playing field," the associate director of the American Council on Science and Health, Jeff Stier, wrote in the New York Post last month.
November 23, 2007: Giving Thanks, Donations, and Dispatches
-- ACSH staffers (from their respective hometowns) hope everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving yesterday. (We also hope you shared your ACSH Holiday Dinner Menu with your family! If you did not request a copy, you can download one here.)
This piece first appeared in the September 28, 2007 New York Post.
It's flu-shot season again. The good news is that we've got plenty of vaccine this year; the bad news is that far too many Americans will skip their shots.
Keeping a positive attitude after a cancer diagnosis has no bearing on longevity, according to a recent study in the December issue of Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society. Media hype has gotten patients, as well as medical professionals, to buy into the idea that a positive attitude is a must for surviving the typically serious and frightening diagnosis.
On December 7, 2007, Joe Koz noted the dawn of the ACSH Riskometer:
An October 30, 2007 piece by Cindy Skrzycki quotes ACSH's Dr. Whelan on the book The Secret History of the War on Cancer:
Elizabeth Whelan, president and founder of the American Council on Science and Health, a New York based group of doctors and scientists who question the reliability of the science government uses to regulate, agrees with Ames.
Too much caffeine during pregnancy could increase the risk of miscarriage, which is a pregnancy loss before twenty weeks of gestation, according to a new study being published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology). But if you pick up the most recent issue of the journal _Epidemiology_, you will find a study stating that there is no link between miscarriage and caffeine consumption -- so what should a woman contemplating pregnancy believe?
•Dr. Elizabeth Whelan was cited in Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 36, No. 4.
•Jeff Stier was on the Vicki McKenna radio show in December 2007.
•Joe McMenamin and Andrea Tiglio co-wrote a report contrasting obesity and smoking for ACSH that was cited repeatedly at an FDA hearing about gastric banding.
•New York Times' Freakonomics blog linked to ACSH's Riskometer.org site in December 2007.
•Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and Jeff Stier weighed in about obesity and teens, food technology, and more on MSNBC in December 2007.
Now even Christmas trees have carcinogen warnings. And that's bad for public trust in science.
We may seem more progressive today than we were fifty years ago, and we are in a lot of ways, but on some issues such as sex we are still old-fashioned at heart. Vital information about the human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer is probably missing from most sex education classes. In addition, kids surely haven't been told about the latest information about HPV. People young or old may have the false impression that oral sex is a relatively safe form of sex, but the truth is that in addition to familiar sexually transmitted diseases, it could be a risk factor for oral cancer.
Pagination
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