As the sunny summer season gets into full swing, the FDA announced yesterday new rules that will help consumers to determine which sunscreens offer the best protection against harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. In order to be considered broad spectrum, sunscreens must offer protection against UVB rays, which cause burning, as well as UVA rays, which lead to wrinkles, although both types of UV radiation may contribute to the development of skin cancer.
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In what has quickly become the first big health scare of the summer season, the World Health Organization (WHO) — via their cancer evaluation affiliate, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — released a statement yesterday that classifies the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields associated with cell phones in their category IIB, meaning “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” One news source after another picked up and ran with the story, and links accumulated on Twitter feeds and Fa
While sports drinks add calories to kids’ diets, so-called “energy drinks” may introduce an unsafe amount of caffeine into their systems. Holly J. Benjamin and Marcie Beth Schneider, specialists in adolescent and sports medicine, published a study on Monday in the journal Pediatrics, stating as much.
The FDA approved Optimer Pharmaceuticals’ antibiotic Dificid on Friday, marking the first new medicine in 25 years approved to treat diarrhea caused by the bacterium Clostridium dificile. This is welcome news, since “C-diff” is likely even more of a problem in hospital settings than the antibiotic-resistant Staph, MRSA. C.
One in sixteen U.S. preschoolers has a vision problem, according to a study published in Ophthalmology.
The Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) has resulted in the Association s adoption of a bevy of new public safety policies that have little (or nothing) to do with the actual safety of the public. Among the Association s new policies are its official stance against bisphenol A (BPA) and their support of the Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) national mercury emissions standards for cement plants. ACHS's Dr.
Haven’t heard much about bacterial meningitis in the past few years? Well, thanks to routine use of vaccines against Streptococcus group b, the most common bacterial cause, rates of the disease have declined by 59 percent in a decade.
For some comic relief applied with a dose of common sense, we recommend Deborah Blum s recent blog entry over at the Public Library of Science online. In Chemical-Free Crazies, Blum makes much of the absurdity inherent in advertising claims like chemical-free minerals and chemical-free chickens.
In a new National Review Online op-ed, ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom takes issue with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention s (CDC) unprecedented decision to conduct a national four-city listening tour to garner the public s opinion on whether the agency should include a recently FDA-approved bacterial meningitis vaccine for infants as young as nine months as part of their schedule of recommended vaccines.
Commissioned by the Obama administration to recommend which preventive medical services should be covered under the nation s health care overhaul, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) an independent, nonprofit organization reported yesterday that all U.S.-approved birth control contraceptives be included as part of that list.
As Congress sets to work on a five-year FDA reauthorization bill, Republicans are proposing to ease recent conflict-of-interest rules they believe are depriving the agency of needed pharmaceutical expertise. The rules determine who can take part in FDA advisory panels, which counsel the FDA on the benefits and risks of new drugs under consideration.
ACSH staffers were pleasantly surprised to find an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times underlining the scientific illiteracy and irresponsibility of the anti-pesticide scare tactics consistently used by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in their semi-annual Dirty Dozen reports.
What s next, a tater tax? asks the Los Angeles Times, noting the trend toward imposing taxes on the culinary villain du jour. Currently, the target is soda, but, says the editorial, by the same logic, a recent study linking potatoes to excess weight gain could just as likely result in a proposal to tax consumption of the staple vegetable.
In case you re still wondering whether you really need to have someone rub sunscreen on your back at the beach, new evidence for the benefits of sun block have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
On the breast cancer front, new studies are promoting the use of two well known preventive measures. First, a large new Swedish study challenges recent assertions that the survival benefits from routine mammogram screenings are often outweighed by false positive results or other needless followup procedures.
A new follow-up study led by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists s Collaborative Group shows that treatment of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer with tamoxifen for five years reduces annual breast cancer mortality by 30 percent, compared to a placebo and the effects have now been shown to last for at least 15 years after starting use of the drug.
Pediatricians may be missing out on opportunities to discuss diet and exercise with their overweight teenage patients, suggests new research published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Who exactly should be screened for cardiovascular disease? New research indicates that a computerized tomography (CT) scan of the coronary arteries can uncover risks of heart disease even in patients without clinical symptoms or even risk factors.
The findings of a study to be presented at Saturday s annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego show that people aged 65 or older being treated with metformin for type-2 diabetes face a lower risk of heart problems or stroke compared to individuals taking sulfonylureas to control their blood sugar.
Once again, the alleged link between autism and vaccines has been thoroughly and publicly denounced by an esteemed panel of scientists, this time from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The comprehensive IOM report is certainly not the first to provide substantial evidence that there is no link between autism and the M.M.R. (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine (or any others).
It seems that among men who undergo prostate removal, there is a disconnect between expectations and the reality of how severe the side effects of the surgery are. According to a study published in the Journal of Urology, many men are shocked by the level of dysfunction they experience after the operation, which commonly includes urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
Marked by its iconic swoosh, sportswear giant Nike announced plans to eliminate the release of allegedly hazardous chemicals from the production cycle of all products in its global supply chain by 2020. Apparently, the decision was spurred by the anti-business NGO Greenpeace, which is concerned that toxic chemicals are winding up in Chinese rivers upon being expelled from large manufacturing sites.
As electronic cigarettes become a more popular means of quitting conventional cigarettes, studies pointing to their efficacy are accumulating.
He thought it couldn t be done, but after reading Karen Kaplan s latest article in the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Ross is now a believer that you can indeed turn lemonade into lemons. Reporting on a recent study from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Ms.
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