Breast Exam Advice Depends on the Patient
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Friday, November 20, 2009
American women, and their doctors, have been thrown into a state of confusion by the release of a new study of the likely benefits--and possible harms--of screening mammography among 40-49 year olds. A federal panel--the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)--analyzed examined recent studies and came to a very different conclusion than they did seven years ago: mammograms for women under 50 should be deferred, and women over 50 need only get the exam every two years. (The panel also cast   Read Full >>

The Great American Smokescreen
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Wednesday, November 18, 2009
This Thursday, November 19th, marks the 33rd "Great American Smokeout," in which smokers are encouraged to quit, even if only for one day. The goal is to make that Day One in the life of a smoker as a successful ex-smoker.So how are we doing so far? Not so great. The latest statistics compiled by the CDC show that in 2008 there were still over 45 million addicted smokers in our   Read Full >>

Waiting in Vain for Flu Vaccine
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Gov. Paterson caved in to New York State healthcare workers’ superstitious fears of the new H1N1 vaccine. With the compliance of the State Health Commissioner Richard Daines, Paterson rescinded the mandatory vaccination program. This weekend, during my afternoon spent volunteering as a physician supervisor at one of the seven free flu vaccine locations sponsored by the New York City Health Department, I watched a similar retreat from sound science.I responded to a summons from the Medical   Read Full >>

EWG Fears America's Vegetables
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) scare machine rolls inexorably on, generating scary headlines and national media attention, based on nothing more than alarmism, while expert scientists and sound science-based organizations have to scramble to gain any attention. It's a truism in media: good news doesn't sell papers or garner viewers, while a press release asserting that "fruits and vegetables are killing your children" will always grab the lead.The EWG has once again   Read Full >>

The 32nd Great American Smokeout: A Perspective
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Wednesday, November 19, 2008
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.•The bad news is still shocking: there remain over 43 million adult smokers in the   Read Full >>

WORLD MALARIA DAY--and Its Implications for West Nile Virus
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Friday, April 25, 2008
Today is being commemorated around the globe as "World Malaria Day." Note, I didn't say "celebrated" -- clearly an inappropriate descriptor for a disease which, despite the availability of effective preventive measures, continues to kill over one-million impoverished people (mostly young children) annually. The toll of those sickened, both from health and economic perspectives, is incalculable but enormous.Despite these grim statistics (and I hate to refer to such tragic   Read Full >>

Greeniacs on the March Against Plastic Bottles
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Thursday, April 17, 2008
The latest chemophobic scare has centered on bisphenol-A (BPA), a component of strong, shatter-resistant plastic bottles. BPA has been in common use--one might call it ubiquitous--for several decades now, and no human being has ever been harmed by exposure to it. This doesn't matter to the panel members of the National Toxicology Program's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR), who released a draft report yesterday announcing their "concern" that   Read Full >>

The Today Show Warns: Chemicals Are All Around Us!
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Wednesday, April 9, 2008
This morning, the folks who produce NBC's Today show allowed me six seconds (out of a six-minute segment) to comment on an astoundingly alarmist and unscientific "report" on the alleged dangers of plastic water bottles.The precise target of this junk-science assault was bisphenol A (BPA), a component of some types of polycarbonate plastic bottles. In fact, BPA is near-ubiquitous in our   Read Full >>

Adult Immunization Rates Woefully Low, Costing Thousands of Lives
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Friday, March 7, 2008
The New York City Department of Health wants to increase the odds of people getting their flu and pneumonia shots by permitting pharmacists, not just doctors, to administer the inoculations. And the public could use the help: results from the Centers for Disease Control's new National Immunization Survey show that adult Americans arise woefully ignorant of the benefits -- and even of the availability -- of many of the vaccines recommended for them. The consequences of this lack of   Read Full >>

Bisphenol-A (BPA) in Baby Bottles: Not a Concern for Parents
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Publication Date : Thursday, February 7, 2008
Some activist "watchdogs" are again attempting to manipulate parents' natural concerns about their babies, without medical or scientific evidence. A few days ago, the uproar was over baby powder and lotions alleged to be delivering toxic phthalates; today, it's baby bottles and plastic water bottles leaching supposedly-toxic bisphenol-A (BPA). Both of these attacks are false.BPA has never been shown to have any sort of health effect on humans in the extremely low doses we are   Read Full >>