The annual number of new HIV infections in young men who have sex with men has increased dramatically over the last five years, according to an article in the New York Times. This increase was particularly significant in blacks and Hispanics.
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Today, I sent the following letter to Renée R. Jenkins, M.D., of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who led the effort to chastise ABC for its plan to air an episode of its new lawyer drama, Eli Stone, this Thursday, in which anti-vaccine zealots who think vaccines cause autism are valorized:
Dear Dr. Jenkins,
We are writing to congratulate you on your bold, science-based statement regarding the premiere episode of the new drama series Eli Stone on ABC.
The Internet can never be wholly trusted for accuracy, especially when it comes to medical information (remember all of the autism videos on YouTube?). Therefore, ACSH staffers were surprised by the small degree of error found on breast cancer websites according to a study published in the journal Cancer it's only 5%.
As ACSH discussed last week, the controversy about the Lipitor Dr. Jarvick advertisements is still heated. ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan said she was at a party this weekend and a man couldn't believe anyone cared about Dr. Jarvick, developer of the artificial heart, using a body-double in the television ads -- Lipitor, after all, is a fantastic drug.
"The point is not that Lipitor is not a fantastic drug," Dr. Whelan noted. "The point is that the ad unnecessarily introduced a level of fiction with the use of a stand-in actor for Dr. Jarvick's alleged rowing scenes."
ACSH's Jeff Stier was quoted in the January 24, 2008 New York Sun piece by E.B. Solomont about fears of mercury in sushi (and commented on the story on Google as well):
"Assuming that the numbers reported are accurate, I don't see how anyone is put at any risk," the associate director of the American Council on Science and Health, Jeff Stier, wrote in an e-mail message.
DISPATCH 6/20/08: Natural, Biotech, Asthmatic, Clustered, Immune
The e-mails and phone calls I get these days are relentless. Usually triggered by the latest scary headline, panicked consumers want to know how to avoid all the "chemicals" (a term they often use synonymously with toxins) to which we are exposed.
As the candidates release their medical records, some questions will naturally arise. Senator McCain's report card is no surprise but Senator Obama has a lot more insecurity: He is young, active and looks great but has a documented history as a cigarette smoker. His campaign is claiming he quit, and that should be taken with a grain of salt, but what if he is a former smoker? Did his risks disappear?
Politico came to ACSH to provide insight into what his future might hold.
From time to time, the Organic Center publishes State of the Science Reviews.
DISPATCH 6/27/08: Lying Brains, Silent Strokes, Unsafe Sex, and Rotavirus Vaccines
In spite of the unimaginable global transformations described in my blog post yesterday, per capita food production and consumption in many parts of Africa has actually declined. Unless there is a massive infusion of aid (from the Gates Foundation and others) for seeds, fertilizer, and infrastructure, the situation could get worse, since in many regions of Africa, farmers are taking more nutrients out of the soil than they are returning. They are mining the soil and destroying its structure.
In a July 6, 2008 letter to the New York Post, Thomas Aldrich, Chair of the New York State September 11th Workers' Protection Task Force, objects to a Post piece by ACSH's Jeff Stier:
The NYS September 11th Workers' Protection Taskforce and its rigorous and balanced efforts are mischaracterized by Jeff Stier ("Exploiting 9/11," PostOpinion, June 26).
It can be difficult for overweight or obese people to lose weight, yet many do so. What seems to be much harder is maintaining weight loss -- and the health benefits that can accompany it -- for the long term.
Dr. L.P. Svetkey and colleagues (JAMA 299; 1139-1148) compared different strategies for sustaining weight loss in a two-phase trial. They found that having brief, monthly personal contact with a weight loss interventionist offered a slight benefit over either an interactive technology-based intervention (a website) or simply self-directed methods.
Everywhere you look in the news this week, there seems to be something about sex. Whether it’s the Spitzer scandal, HPV and oral cancer connection, or the frighteningly high rate of sexually-transmitted disease (STD) among America's teenage girls, sex is on the minds of many. One thing that should be eminently clear is that sex (in all forms) can lead to STD infections, some forms of cancer, and loss of job as governor.
Enjoy a flavorful snack and lose weight at the same time? It may seem too good to be true, but according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, chewing gum might be the weight loss aid that dieters are looking for in a sea of weight loss gimmicks. For some, it may be considered a bad habit, but for the first time, it is being promoted by a gum manufacturer (Wrigley's) as a tool for managing weight.
It would be hard to argue against the benefits of pharmaceuticals. Their development and use has led to life-prolonging effects such as lowering many people's blood pressure and cholesterol, boosting the immune system of HIV positive patients, and even the remission of some types of cancer. But what happens when these drugs we have so come to depend on contain ingredients, often made in remote regions of the world, that may actually harm us? We may ask ourselves, who is protecting us? And whose job is it to ensure drug safety: the pharmaceutical companies or the government?
¢A March 23, 2008 piece by Denise Mann on WebMD quoted Dr. Ruth Kava on ACSH's review of articial sweeteners: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56064.
¢A brief letter from Dr. Gilbert Ross about the FDA's finding of no danger from 1,4-dioxane appeared in the March 23, 2008 Los Angeles Times under the title "Toxicant Finding No Basis for Worry."
¢Family-Medical.blogspot.com mentioned ACSH as a counterpoint to CSPI in its March 2008 list of useful nutrition resources.
For many people, the concept of drinking unpasteurized milk may seem foreign. After all, you cannot legally purchase raw milk in eighteen states, and in four others it can only be purchased as pet food. Even if you could purchase raw milk in your local grocery store, would you want to? Hasn't raw milk been recognized as a microbial hazard since pasteurization began in the 1920s?
Concern about the increase in obesity in children and adolescents has spurred research into their activity levels. Data garnered from girls' reports of their activity, for example, indicates that as girls mature, their participation in leisure-time and total exercise appears to decrease. Because these studies are based on participants' reports of their activities, it is hard to know how accurate they are.
As we approach yet another Great American Smokeout -- tomorrow, November 20th -- both good and bad news on smoking abounds.
•The good news is that adult smoking rates in 2007 have dropped below 20% for the first time since this statistic has been recorded with any accuracy. There are now more former smokers than current smokers, and women's smoking rates have declined for the fifth year in a row.
After ten years of prominently posting nutritional information in its dining halls, Harvard University recently decided to remove the displays of each dish's calorie count.
The willful blindness of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- its overcautious reluctance to approve new drugs -- has led to historic declines in new drug approvals, which will cost lives in years to come.
A more immediate tragedy, though, is FDA's refusal to withdraw its off-putting "black-box" warning label on antidepressants for teens.
In an article with the headline "Philip Morris Pushes Smokeless," today's Wall Street Journal reports "Tobacco giant Philip Morris USA Inc. is urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a regulatory plan that would encourage smokers who can't or won't quit tobacco to switch to less-harmful smokeless tobacco."
Pagination
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