The use of mammograms has decreased ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) made a controversial recommendation in 2009 advising women in their 40s to wait until age 50 to get routine mammography screenings, and then only every two years.

As summer draws near, a new survey from the American Academy of Dermatology reports that a striking number of young women tan despite the established health risks. The online survey of over 3,800 white, non-Hispanic females aged 14 to 22 found that 81 percent of these respondents “tanned outdoors frequently or occasionally in the part year,” while 32 percent of them had used a tanning bed in the past year.

Perhaps the folks who write for The New York Times should read each other’s work! We’d like to note that a very informative article in today’s The Times, “Drumbeat of Nuclear Fallout Doesn’t Resound with Experts,” resoundingly refutes yesterday’s op-ed by Helen Caldicott.

A 2009 report highlights the need to include a rotavirus vaccine in national immunization programs of the underdeveloped world. Out of a total of 38,580 hospitalized children from 43 countries whose stool samples were tested for rotavirus, an average of 36 percent tested positive. The incidences ranged from 25 percent in the Americas to 47 percent in the Western Pacific region.

The New York Times would have you believe that the anti-nuclear energy organization, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), is a perfectly reliable authority on nuclear power. Appearing in The Times Saturday was an op-ed by PSR founder Dr.

The results of a recent study of the epidemiology of asthma may come as a surprise to some of our readers. Reporting in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Vanderbilt University researchers found that, among 117,000 Tennessee children on Medicaid, the incidence of asthma was slightly higher among rural children, compared to their urban counterparts (13 percent versus 11 percent, respectively).

In a victory for embryonic stem cell (ESC) researchers, a U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Obama administration may continue to federally fund ESC studies using embryos that would otherwise be discarded. The story began in late August when U.S. District Judge Royce Lambeth ruled in favor of two adult stem cell scientists who sued the NIH, arguing that federal funding of ESC research would violate U.S.

A new study indicates that although the number of women who have used the “morning-after pill” — officially named Plan B — has more than doubled, relatively few women are actually using this emergency contraceptive (EC). Such a remedy is used to prevent unintended pregnancy when contraception is not used, or has failed, such as when a condom breaks. In order to provide sufficient protection, it must generally be taken within 72 hours of the event.

And now for some good agricultural news. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has successfully engineered the world’s first-ever vitamin A-rich rice. Using beta carotene-producing genes from corn, researchers were able to implant the gene into BRRI Dhan 29, the most productive rice variety found in Bangladesh.

Two recent articles in The American Spectator and the Huffington Post, as well as a posting on JunkScience.com, have pulled back the veil of deception of the current Save the Frogs campaign; we d like to praise Robert James Bidinott