November 12, 2007: Desperate Smoker, Scary Chemicals, More Fat
-- Quote to Note: "I can say 'don't smoke,' but you know, people said that to me for years. It's more a matter of saying you know, make sure that you have adequate medical care, make sure that you are getting chest X-rays." --Actress Kathryn Joosten, quoted by ABC on having lung cancer and the "reasons" she survived.
-- Since her appearance last week on CNN, ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan found herself being approached by many friends and acquaintances this past weekend. The comments she heard? People told her that they want to believe her assertions that we shouldn't be worrying about "toxic" chemicals in our blood, but they have "gut feelings" that tell them chemicals are causing cancer. "There's too much spraying," one person told her. The concept is intriguing -- not that we have too many pesticides per se, but the vague feeling that our environment is being sprayed with chemicals.
Dr. Whelan said this weekend reaffirmed her belief that we need fewer toxicologists and epidemiologists and more psychologists. People aren't interested in following the science and truth, rather their gut instincts. As ACSH's Dr. Gil Ross said: "I think people like to be afraid; that's the problem."
-- Desperate Housewives fans may have recognized the show's "nosy neighbor" character, actress Kathryn Joosten, interviewed on ABC this weekend. Joosten is a lung cancer survivor and was a smoker for forty-five years.
ACSH staffers found the interview appalling, though. For one, Joosten claimed that her regular chest X-rays are the reason she's still alive today. She went so far as to say it's not so much a matter of saying don't smoke but rather a matter of getting chest X-rays. (This is absolutely false, Dr. Ross said. X-ray screening has no effect on mortality rates of lung cancer.) Also on ABC, Dr. Harvey Crystal, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Group, said that many lung cancers are now attributed to environmental factors, like pollution in the air. This claim is a ridiculous and dangerous distraction from the known, real, primary cause of lung cancer. Next time ABC interviews a cancer survivor, we hope the focus is on real ways to reduce risk (i.e., don't smoke) and not on hype.
-- Over the weekend, New York Times reporter Gina Kolata analyzed last week's study that found overweight people have a lower mortality rate from certain diseases than "normal" weight people. ACSH staffers enjoyed the write-up, as it took the study and challenged our standard view of beauty. (You may remember that ACSH's Jeff Stier also wrote about this study last week in the New York Post, and ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava blogged about it, here.)
-- Please note that there will be no ACSH Dispatch tomorrow due to the Annual Meeting of the ACSH Board of Trustees. To all our trustees: we look forward to seeing you then (and one of our Trustees, Dr. Lee Silver, will appear two days later, on Nov. 15, in a panel discussion at Rockefeller University about science communication). To all other Dispatch subscribers -- we look forward to sharing our morning meeting with you again on Wednesday!
November 14, 2007: Scientists for and Against Public Health
-- Quote to Note: "Either provide the evidence to back up [Action on Smoking and Health's] assertion that thirty minutes of secondhand smoke exposure increases the fatal heart attack risk of nonsmokers to the same level as active smokers, or else apologize to me for having improperly suggested that I am criticizing anti-smoking organizations for no valid reason." --challenge by Boston University public health professor Dr. Michael Siegel.
-- Yesterday morning ACSH hosted a successful Board of Trustees meeting, which is why you received no Morning Dispatch. Among topics discussed was UCLA Professor and ACSH Trustee Dr. Jim Enstrom's struggle to "clear" his name after publishing the results of his study evaluating a causal link between exposure to secondhand smoke and chronic disease in the esteemed British Medical Journal. The report, which used American Cancer Society data, questioned the supposedly strong link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer. After publication, anti-smoking activists were infuriated and started a smear campaign, not against his study, but against Dr. Enstrom personally. His experience struck a chord with ACSH Trustees. The ensuing discussion addressed vicious attacks many have witnessed or experienced. Oftentimes, when opponents cannot attack scientific claims (because they're true), they attack a scientist personally or criticize the funding source, ACSH board members concluded.
-- Also at yesterday's Board meeting, ACSH announced a new award named after ACSH Trustee and Hoover Institution fellow Dr. Henry Miller, a scientist who in recent years has published hundreds of op-ed pieces on public health issues in newspapers across the country. ACSH Trustees noted that the original goal in forming ACSH was to encourage scientists to speak up when scientific facts are distorted -- and Dr. Miller has done just that. Most scientists simply remain silent, for fear they will get pounded (just look at Dr. Enstrom's example). Further, ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan said she believes that doctors don't speak up because of the trend toward specialization. "Scientists have become so specialized, they don't see the big picture," Dr. Whelan said. They may think, for instance, that trans fat dangers are being exaggerated but not see that as part of a larger campaign to ban foods and chemicals. We hope the establishment of the Henry I. Miller Award will encourage other scientists to come out of their classrooms and labs and participate in public policy decisions by writing op-eds and other commentaries for the general public to read.
-- Case in point: a blog on Huffington Post by a person claiming to be both a radiologist and psychiatrist denouncing flu vaccinations. It is a miracle, Dr. Whelan said, that there are vaccines for many dangerous diseases, such as shingles. How can people turn down a vaccine that may save their lives? Earlier this year, New York Times reporter Jane Brody eloquently described why one should opt to get this vaccine in a column. We wish more people could get beyond the hype about supposed "dangers" and realize how tremendously beneficial vaccines -- like the shingles vaccine -- can be.
-- On the flip side, there are scientists and physicians other than just Dr. Miller who will bravely step into the public arena to correct medical misconceptions. Here at ACSH, we really admire Boston University Public Health Professor Dr. Michael Siegel's most recent blog post focusing on hyperbole about the risks of transient exposure to second-hand smoke. He posed a challenge to anti-smoking activists, setting a deadline for them to put up evidence of Action on Smoking and Health's assertion that less than a half-hour of secondhand smoke exposure will increase the risk of heart attack to the same level as that of active smokers. ACSH's Jeff Stier (who is celebrating his ten-year anniversary working for ACSH) profiled Dr. Siegel's challenge in a blog for Huffington Post.
November 15, 2007: Cigarette Smokeout, Fat Freakout, Trans Fat Out! Out!
-- Quote to Note: "Whether [a trans fats ban] will lower the incidence of coronary heart disease remains to be established." --Medical Letter: On Drugs and Therapeutics.
-- Today is American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout -- an event encouraging smokers to put down their cigs and quit.
While the rates of smoking in America went down considerably from 1997 to 2004 from 24% to 20%, since 2004 the percentage of smokers in the country has remained stable. No one seems to know why, but ACSH's Dr. Gil Ross theorizes it has something to do with tobacco-industry marketing. Since the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998, the marketing expenditures have doubled. Yes, smoking rates today as compared to the 1950s are incredibly low. But it's important to remember that 20% of Americans are still actively inhaling the country's most potent, preventable killer.
-- Of course, there are those who believe obesity is becoming the number one killer in America. For one, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona. SineBox Media Productions produced a new documentary called Killer at Large -- a film all about obesity. Carmona is quoted in the film as saying obesity "is destroying our society from within, and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out."
Dr. Ross said he found the quote ridiculous. While ACSH is never one to downplay the risks of obesity (in a forthcoming book on the topic, ACSH uses the estimate of 100,000 premature deaths annually in the United States from obesity), we're curious to see how much sound science is used in this documentary.
-- ACSH staffers were not surprised to read the conclusion of Medical Letter: On Drugs and Therapeutics on the growing trend to ban trans fats in restaurants: that it hasn't yet been shown this would reduce coronary heart disease.
This Medical Letter is very evidence-driven, so while ACSH is not surprised they see eye-to-eye with us on the trans fat debate, we are always happy to have some affirmation. The group's conclusion, though, also reaffirms our frustration with the New York City policy to ban trans fats in restaurants -- how could the city proceed with no evidence that the intervention would be efficacious in any way? "It's a totally irrational way to plan public policy," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. The same thing happened during the 1980s, when fast food restaurants and others switched from saturated fats (beef tallow) to trans fats, explained ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava. Now, with similarly weak evidence, we're doing the reverse.
-- The whole issue reminds us of how poorly scientific information is communicated to the general public.
And if you're in the New York City area, remember that ACSH Trustee and Princeton professor Dr. Lee Silver is participating in a panel discussion at 4:30 pm tonight at Rockefeller University about science communication.
-- Also, note that Dr. Kava was quoted by the Business and Media Institute discussing the potential benefits of carbon monoxide use as an additive in meat packaging.
Corrie Driebusch is an ACSH research intern. Receive these dispatches each workday in your e-mail by becoming an ACSH donor -- donate here, send a tax-deductible donation to the Broadway address at the bottom of this site, or call (212-362-7044 x225) or e-mail DriebuschC[at]acsh.org.