We ve recently discussed new diagnostic technologies that allow for noninvasive testing for genetic disorders within the first trimester of a pregnancy.
Over the course of the last decade, treating breast cancer with brachytherapy has become an increasingly common alternative to mastectomy and external radiation. This method, which involves placing a tiny radiation pellet inside the breast and adjacent to the cancer, irradiates less breast tissue and typically allows for a much shorter course of therapy.
In yesterday s Dispatch we reported on a piece by ACSH trustee Dr. Paul Offit, in which he criticized the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The NCCAM has devoted vast resources to the study of alternative treatments, and yet, despite the fact that many supplements and other products have been shown to be entirely ineffective (and even harmful), regulation of these products remains lax. Dr. Stan Young, of the U.S. National Institute of Statistical Sciences, wrote to us in response:
When ACSH made a cartoon spoof about two years ago featuring a bear who was so afraid of bisphenol A (BPA) that he refused to go shopping because someone had told him there was BPA in receipts, we thought it was a joke no one could possibly act so irrationally on the basis of an utterly unfounded fear. Turns out we were wrong.
Asthma rates in the U.S. have been rising over the past 10 years, reaching the highest level ever in 2010, according to a new report from the CDC. The report assessed data from the National Health Interview Survey, which included self-reported diagnoses of asthma among a nationally representative sample of Americans. The results indicate that, while in 2001 about 7.3 percent of people in the U.S. reported having asthma, as of 2010, this number rose to 8.4 percent.
With more than 160 million users in the United States alone, Facebook has been heralded as a means to promote social connections, as well as criticized as a serious distraction. Now, a new Facebook effort aims to use the site as a force for greater good, taking advantage of the vast reach of this social network to encourage organ donation.
Nearly 20 years ago, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and former Representative Berkeley Bedell petitioned Congress to create the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), which was granted an initial $2 million budget in 1992. Seven years later, the OAM was enveloped by the National Institutes of Health and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). But what exactly does this center, which has spent $1.6 billion since its inception, do?
ACSH would like to applaud Dr. John Pierce and his colleagues from the University of California San Diego Cancer Center for their latest article, featured in the Annual Review of Public Health. The review article points out the discrepancy between science and public policy as it relates to smoking cessation strategies.
The toll of prescription painkiller abuse is rising and, according to the CDC, oxycodone and hydrocodone overdose claimed over 14,000 lives in 2008 alone. And to add to the arsenal of creative ploys such as doctor shopping that addicts use to gain access to these drugs, many are now heading to emergency room departments and complaining of toothaches in order to get their prescription fix.
Bike sharing programs, which are gaining widespread popularity, provide users with free or affordable access to bicycles for short-distance trips as an alternative to motorized public transportation and private vehicles. The goal is to reduce traffic congestion and noise. Sounds like a great idea, right? It did to us, until we learned that 80 percent of these riders don t use a helmet, according to a new study.
