The American Council on Science and Health has been fighting chemophobia since its inception in 1978. Unfortunately the advent of the Internet, while providing much valid information, has also become a venue of inaccurate and fear-mongering sites. Thus, we were more than pleased to discover a blog on the website of Scientific American by chemistry [...]
The post Blog hits the right note on chemophobia appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
The drip-drip-drip of scare stories, tirades and advertisements warning us about toxic, hazardous and cancer-causing chemicals has turned into a deluge of late. It is impossible to watch a TV news show or read a magazine or turn on your computer without being warned, over and over again, that if we don’t do something, the sky [...]
The post Should we listen to scare groups about chemicals? No. appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
In an act that is sure to cause an unnecessary scare, industry, environmental and health groups have called for the amending of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, specifically focused on cosmetics and personal care products. The new bill, The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2013, would give the FDA the “authority to create and enforce [...]
The post More chemical scares with The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2013 appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Once again the Environmental Working Group (EWG) seeks to perpetuate its myth of dangerous fruit — dangerous, they say, because of trace amounts of pesticides found on them. Although their list of the most “dangerous” fruits garners wide attention, there seems to be little attention paid to the science — or lack thereof — in [...]
The post Here we go again: EWG libels apples, other fruits appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
The regulators in Europe continue to ban chemicals at the drop of a rat. In the latest instance, the head of the European Commission has decided to take it upon himself to ban a class of pesticide called “neonicotinoids,” on the slimmest evidence that this class of chemicals might have contributed to the loss of [...]
The post More chemophobia from the EU: banning pesticide to save bees? appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Fans of irony will be hard-pressed to suppress a smile here. Researchers at The University of Guelph in Ontario are developing a novel vaccine which may help control the gastrointestinal symptoms that are commonly seen in children with autism. The vaccine will have no direct effect on the behavioral aspects of the disease, nor will it in any [...]
The post Irony anyone? A vaccine to help autistic children. appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Today marks the 7th annual celebration… no, that’s not exactly the best word…the 7th annual official recognition, via World Malaria Day, of the horrendous toll taken by the mosquito-borne infection: Malaria. Historically, malaria has been so severe and widespread as to determine the fates of entire civilizations. A little-known fact is that malaria remained a [...]
The post On World Malaria Day, recognizing its grim toll appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
This week’s announcement from Mount Sinai Hospital’s World Trade Center Health Program that Ground Zero workers have been found to have a “15 percent higher rate of cancer” than expected set off cries for more compensation for the heroic WTC victims of the toxic dust at the site of the terrorist destruction over 11 years ago. [...]
The post Ground zero cancer: cynical manipulation of statistics rather than science appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
After the politically-motivated listing of the plastic hardener Bisphenol-A (BPA) was at last squeezed onto California’s nefarious Proposition 65 list of allegedly toxic chemicals, a local Sacramento judge kicked it off, correctly stating that the chemical’s listing flew in the face of scientific and regulatory evidence. A division of California’s environmental agency finally figured out [...]
The post BPA on Prop 65 list: now you see it, now you don’t, thankfully appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
So we’ve gotten through another Earth Day. I meant to write something about this event when it occurred, yesterday, but I was too busy dealing with its proponents’ fanciful dogmas concerning “sustainability” and carbon footprints, and never got around to it. Better late than never. This year, we managed to avoid the devastating effects of [...]
The post Earth Day should be about people too appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
According to the latest New York Times editorial, the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act must be “reformed,” since it’s “toothless.” How did the expert scientists writing the Times‘ editorial know how ineffective TSCA was? Well, here’s their irrefutable logic: “The failure of the law can be read in these dismal statistics: since 1976, [out of 85,000 [...]
The post It’s time to “reform TSCA”, again: N.Y.Times appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
A column in yesterday’s Sunday Review showed how closely the writer, Ian Urbina, hews to the agenda of his apparent mentor, Nicholas Kristof, in trying to scare Times’ readers about the alleged dangers of toxic, unregulated chemicals. Of course, as we have noted recently, it’s the “TSCA reform” silly season, when those who feel passionately that [...]
The post New chemophobe-in-chief at the NYTimes? appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
