What Physicians Don't Know About Smoking
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Sunday, July 1, 2001
As a public health professional, I was appalled by the intensity of the antagonism over the damages in a Californian's lawsuit against Philip Morris U.S.A., decided last June. Sure, the damages—$3.5 billion—may seem immense. But this record award will barely dent the tobacco giant's profits.  Read Full >>

Prescription Spending Looked at Positively
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Friday, May 25, 2001
In regard to "Spending on Prescription Drugs Rose 19%" (Economy, May 8):  Read Full >>

If You're a Rat, Cut the Dioxin
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Friday, May 25, 2001
A World-Wide item May 16 referred to a report on dioxin by the EPA's Scientific Advisory Board concluding that "dioxin causes cancer." Perhaps true, if you were referring to rats.  Read Full >>

Low nicotine cigarette offers little hope for addicted smokers
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Monday, February 5, 2001
Contrary to Bennett S. LeBow's statement regarding his new Vector cigarette, there is no reason to imagine that using a zero-nicotine cigarette will help smokers quit (Economics, Jan. 16). Would inhaling fine sugar promote abstinence in someone addicted to cocaine? The "double-whammy", to use his own term, will more likely double smokers' travails than reduce them.   Read Full >>

Why Not Nuclear Power?
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Monday, January 22, 2001
Re: "California Initiates Blackouts to Save Power" (news story, Jan. 18):   Read Full >>

GM Food is Safe
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Tuesday, December 12, 2000
The Personal Health column on Dec.5 correctly notes the potential of genetically-improved food to help feed the world while reducing the need for pesticides ("Gene-Altered Foods: A Case Against Panic"). Genetic engineering is thoroughly regulated by at least three separate federal agencies. Scientific data reveal no cases of any human illness from GM foods, despite over four years of common use.   Read Full >>

The Consequences of Banning Useful and Safe Chemicals
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Thursday, October 19, 2000
The woeful condition of Los Angeles' public school playgrounds is a predictable result of the nonsensical banning of safe and effective herbicides in that city ("Tangled Up in Green," page A1, Oct.5).   Read Full >>

Tobacco's 'Gift'
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Tuesday, July 25, 2000
Re "Tobacco's New Best Friend," by Jacob Sullum (Op-Ed, July 20):   Read Full >>

"Big Tobacco Won't Go Up in Smoke"
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Holman Jenkins has certainly captured the irony involved in the states' de facto partnership with the tobacco industry, ostensibly to protect the continuing influx of settlement dollars into state coffers ("Look Who's Falling in Love...", April 26). However, he is wrong about a few points:   Read Full >>

The Effects of Malathion
Edited By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publish Date : Tuesday, May 16, 2000
As a public-health scientist, I applaud Andrew Revkin for his perspicacity in pointing out that malathion poses "no health threat to people" (news story, May 12). In its new report, the Environmental Protection Agency, generally no friend to pesticides, agrees with the overwhelming body of scientific evidence. While possibly a "health threat" to mice at very high doses, the trace levels to which New Yorkers would be exposed via spraying should cause no alarm.   Read Full >>