DEHP, a phthalate used to make vinyl plastics soft and flexible, is the target of a study published in Pediatrics, which purports to find a relationship between exposure to the chemical and marginally early delivery dates for pregnant women.
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ACSH's friend and co-author of our 2006 report on tobacco harm reduction Bill Godshall passed along a study published in the Annals of Oncology about cancer rates in Europe.
Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is requiring that clinically obese students take a "Fitness for Life" course that provides information on exercise, nutrition, and other lifestyle topics. The Associated Press quotes an article in the student newspaper by Tiana Lawson, a twenty-one year-old senior, who wrote that she "didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range. I came here to get an education."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: "Despite months of additional study and a self-imposed timetable, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration likely will not release its ruling Monday on the safety of bisphenol-A."
Vaccine Court Rules in Favor of Science
Three cases were chosen from a pool of over 5,300 parents who had filed claims with the vaccines court, a branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeking damages because they believed their children had developed autism as a result of vaccinations. The cases were used to test the claim that the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal causes autism, and they were all denied.
Medical Journal Gives Up on Evaluating Science
Sometimes people claim that nuclear radiation is uniquely scary because you can't see it, smell it, or detect it with any of the human senses, as though "ordinary hazards" were not so sneaky. We're even told that a single gamma ray can kill us--a statement that affronts both science and common sense. Like all such claims, we need to examine this one in light of real-world experience, not by the exchange of uncheckable rumors.
Smoking Kills a Half Million People Every Year, BUT...
Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science studied over 300,000 men and women for ten years and concluded that smoking helps prevent Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Whelan in Medical Progress Today
NYT on FDA on BPA
Mice Soy Bomb
A study published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology concluded that soy-rich diets can lead to infertility in mice.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Utah developed a genetic test to identify which cigarette smokers have the highest risk of developing lung cancer.
Federal District Judge Robert Sweet ruled that human genes cannot be patented, calling into question decades of precedent and thousands of biotechnology patents.
The FDA announced yesterday that it will review the safety of triclosan, a widely used antibacterial agent found in soap, much to the gratification of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has been urging the FDA to review triclosan on the basis of its hormonal effects on lab rodents.
CBS’s 60 Minutes devoted a segment to the smokeless tobacco product snus as a possible method of tobacco harm reduction last night.
Reuters reports, “Despite an overall slight decline in head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world. This growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), scientists said in a report in the British Medical Journal.”
Yesterday s issue of the New York Times Magazine featured a paean to Dr. Mehmet Oz of "Oprah" fame for the enthusiasm with which he weighs in on various medical topics, often far afield from his specialty as a cardiothoracic surgeon.
A study published in today's Annals of Internal Medicine finds that patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) screenings were twice as likely to have a false positive diagnosis as patients who had a standard chest X-ray. About one in five patients who underwent a CT scan were erroneously diagnosed with lung cancer, compared to one in 10 who had a chest X-ray.
Today is the first anniversary of the first known H1N1 death -- that of a government worker in Oaxaca, Mexico -- and there is no shortage of reflection on how the pandemic was addressed.
The AFP reports, Workplace exposure to synthetic fibres and certain oil byproducts before her mid-thirties triples a woman s risk of breast cancer after menopause, a study among Canadian patients said Thursday.
Trevor Butterworth wrote a detailed history for the non-profit Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) of the falling-out between toxicology and endocrinology experts and the anti-BPA activist faction led by Dr. Frederick vom Saal.
ACSH staffers are thankful to former ACSH Trustee Gerry Ohrstrom for calling our attention to a New York Times article by David Leonhardt, who warns, “Several common diseases, like certain cancers and developmental disorders, have been rising in recent decades, and scientists are not sure why. In some cases, evidence suggests chemicals may be the reason. Nobody can be sure, though.
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