Dr. Gilbert Ross in the Financial Post, June 15, 2011
Junk Science Week: Toxic terrorists ignore organic food threat
To prescribe, or not to prescribe: That is the question that many physicians will now face in light of a recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which claims that doctors are too trigger-happy when it comes to prescribing potent painkillers, especially opioids. These drugs include commonly prescribed Vicodin and Percocet, as well as long-acting Oxycontin. This class of medication has lately undergone increased scrutiny.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects approximately 6.5 percent of Americans ages 40 and older and is the leading cause of vision loss among those over 55. Treating the condition is often difficult, but a new prospective study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology offers some hope that diets rich in certain antioxidants, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids may help prevent early AMD in patients who have a high genetic risk for the disease.
When it was discovered that an outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease at the Playboy Mansion was responsible for sickening at least 24 attendees of the DomainFest Global Conference in February, it was thanks to Facebook, not the Los Angeles County health authorities. Writing in The New York Times, Bronwyn Garrity describes this recent epidemiological phenomenon that uses social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, to track the spread of diseases.
As the sunny summer season gets into full swing, the FDA announced yesterday new rules that will help consumers to determine which sunscreens offer the best protection against harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. In order to be considered broad spectrum, sunscreens must offer protection against UVB rays, which cause burning, as well as UVA rays, which lead to wrinkles, although both types of UV radiation may contribute to the development of skin cancer.
Infectious diseases that used to claim the lives of one in six children before their fifth year are making an alarming comeback in the US, writes ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross in yesterday s Guardian. Dr. Ross, along with ACSH friend Dr. Henry I. Miller of Stanford s Hoover Institution, observes, The culprits are parents who should know better and the politicians who bend over backwards to accommodate them. In their op-ed, Drs.
Existing guidelines suggest that new mothers breastfeed exclusively for at least the first six months, and a new study may persuade even more women to do so. The study, in the July issue of Pediatrics, suggests that breastfeeding can significantly reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Dr.
Nearly 30 percent of adults in China smoke, a number that just about equals the entire population of the United States. Of these 300 million Chinese smokers, government statistics suggest that one million will die every year. Home to the world s largest smoking population, China demonstrates the consequences of a state-owned tobacco monopoly in a country that, until recently, was without tobacco control legislation and which only now has decided to actively enforce such legislation.
For some comic relief applied with a dose of common sense, we recommend Deborah Blum s recent blog entry over at the Public Library of Science online. In Chemical-Free Crazies, Blum makes much of the absurdity inherent in advertising claims like chemical-free minerals and chemical-free chickens.
Ambulance diversion, the rerouting of emergency vehicles from emergency rooms due to overcrowding, has been tied to an increased risk of patient death. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that, when ambulances were diverted from ERs for 12 hours or more, there was a 20 percent increased risk of death among a group of nearly 14,000 elderly heart attack patients. Dr.
