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The investigators found significant associations between the occurrence of melanoma and consumption of citrus fruits and citrus juices particularly oranges and grapefruit.

At last: we in public health have been awaiting an expert opinion on vaccine safety from media celebrity Jim Carrey for such a long time and now he has spoken! He has strong opinions, but each one is Dumb and Dumber than the last. And his words can do much harm.

For decades the Federal government has insisted they want fewer Americans to smoke but recent regulatory missteps have instead led to worries by health professionals that policies designed to create winners and losers in the smoking cessation market instead keep people addicted to tobacco. There has always been a bit

Yesterday, we noted that the HPV vaccine, one of the few methods we have to actually prevent cancer, was not being utilized as much as it should. Today we read that young adult women have a significantly reduced incidence of HPV-related cervical lesions.

Politicians and community leaders have long used the line that marijuana is a gateway drug when trying to sound tough on drugs. The idea is that marijuana makes you more sensitized toward trying harder and potentially more dangerous drugs. Some data back this up as most hard drug users also used marijuana.
However, the overwhelming majority of marijuana users never progress to other drugs, which has lead many to back down on the gateway claim. But a new st

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a giant among anti-science groups, a $100 million per year juggernaut that is able to bully companies into writing checks in return for calling off the invective among the many satellite organizations in its orbit.
Republicans in the Senate seem to have finally had enough.
The NRDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit prohibited from political activity but they refuse to disclose their donors so there has long been a belief that their dislike for one political party is not based on genuine concern about the public. Due to their giant coffers, they are able to wield an outsized level of mindshare amo

In a piece dripping with sardonic disgust, Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Tabatha Southey took on the new curriculum at the august University of Toronto recently. Entitled Anti-vaccine course brings U of T one step closer to offering a masters of pseudoscience, Ms. Southey takes note of the recently-released official report of the approval of a course called Alternative Health: Practice and Theory, to be taught (so to speak) by the well-known homeopath Beth Landau-Halpern.

Every time we as a society face an emerging pathogen (think H1N1 in 2009 and Ebola right now), scientists race to create a vaccine so we can start mass immunizations to protect the public. But why do we do this only for human diseases?

While organic crops supposedly aren t treated with synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, a recent report suggests that isn t always true.

A team of cancer doctors have written an op-ed in Mayo Clinic Proceedings outlining their vision for how to make quality cancer drugs while keeping prices low.

TEASER: A perspective article in the NEJM re-explores in depth the ongoing epidemic of HIV in rural southeastern Scott County, IN. The authors (from San Diego, CA and Baltimore, MD) discuss the various factors responsible for the onset and spread of HIV and HCV as well.

In Newsday, American Council on Science and Health President Hank Campbell's article The stethoscope is about to celebrate its 200th birthday and it s about to say goodbye was featured, with an interview by Delthia Ricks, on the future of the stethoscope in American medicine.

Preliminary reports out of the Alzheimer s Association International Conference, which is happening this week in DC, give some inklings of hope against this intractable, soul-robbing disease. Without progress, millions are predicted to gradually fade away.

When you think of various countries around the globe, it is unlikely that Botswana pops into your head. Yet, some very important news just came from this impoverished sub-Saharan country.

One of the most difficult decisions a patient with late stage cancer has to make is whether or not to continue or use additional chemotherapy.

The practice of treating heroin addicts with methadone is hardly new indeed it s been common practice among addiction specialists for almost fifty years now. It is not a perfect solution, but it works pretty well. And the alternative is far worse.

Well, Berkeley California is once again in the forefront of another health debate, according to the NY Times. And no surprise (again), the topic is anti-science in the service of that city s prevalent left-leaning natural is good, technology is suspect philosophy. A new law mandates a warning, to wit: cellphones and cancer!

A small Montana company has won an XPRIZE for an ocean sensor that can measure alkalinity.

This seems like an opportune time to take stock of how we re doing as an antidote to all that junk science so pervasive in the new media. So this article is entitled ¦..Junk Science Report Card

It was little over a month ago when the headlines blared, sugary soda kills 184,000 worldwide. Now, a new analysis of that claim from STATS.org reveals the numerous statistical and epidemiological fallacies underlying that claim, rendering it wholly unbelievable, likely the work of ideologues, not scientists.

Today s New England Journal of Medicine has a Perspective article by three tobacco experts. Their discussion, Differential Taxes for Differential Risks, contains some important policy recommendations, some clearly salutary, and some not so much.

A new study of combination intra-abdominal and intravenous chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer confirmed its significant benefits in terms of survival. So why aren t more Stage III and IV cancer patients getting this effective therapy? A combination of ignorance and greed seems likely.

In the early 1990s, Gary Hirshberg, chairman and former president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, was a leader of the nascent corporate responsibility movement .....But now, Hirshberg has deserted evidence-based science in his support of mandatory labeling of GMO foods

The New York City subway system is notorious for its filth and grime. This was reinforced by a study earlier this year that found that the plague and anthrax were lurking on the trains. But now the scientists are backtracking on those claims.

In a number of cultures around the world, excess body fat is seen as a good thing. In traditional Chinese culture as well as in many African and Pacific Island ones, a larger body means one has enough to eat (not so common is some areas), perhaps because of more than average income.