Americans should focus on achieving a “balance” in their diets, stressed First Lady Michelle Obama at a press meeting celebrating the first-year anniversary of her anti-obesity Let’s Move campaign yesterday.
Despite receiving even an A-list celebrity testimonial on their efficacy, e-cigarettes have gotten a lot of flack from public health opponents who argue that the clean nicotine delivery device is harmful and contains “toxic” chemicals.
After vilifying sugary soft drinks as one of the main causes of our nation’s obesity epidemic, the media is now going after diet sodas as well by publicizing a thoroughly unscientific, poorly executed study presented yesterday at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. Researchers used data on 163 people who drink one or more diet sodas per day and found that they had a 61 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events compared to 901 participants who reported drinking no diet soda.
First Lady Michelle Obama announced that President Obama has been cigarette-free for a year now. We here at ACSH wish to congratulate him, as we are aware of the great difficulty smokers face while trying to quit. “However, many smokers fall back to smoking even after a year of being smoke-free,” says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. So keep up the good work, Mr. President.
As the bed bug epidemic continues to spread through New York City and elsewhere, the EPA is now planning to commence research aimed at developing pesticide alternatives, especially genetic-based solutions, rather than allow DDT to be used. PBS NewsHour reported Monday that chemically-based anti-bed bug methods, particularly DDT, are “noxious but effective” and highlight the growing resistance of bed-bugs to more commonly employed pesticides. “DDT is not noxious.
Vancouver’s clean needle program — Insite — is an excellent example of harm reduction as a public health measure. The New York Times reports that, thanks in large part to Insite, the only “safe injection site” in North America, Vancouver has seen a 52 percent reduction in new HIV infections since 1996, even as other cities are experiencing an increase.
A new study from sunny Down Under bolsters the link between multiple sclerosis (MS) and sun exposure and vitamin D levels. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neuromuscular disease with no cure, but several effective treatments exist to delay progression.
The top story in today’s The New York Times would have you believe that a new JAMA study showing that it may not be be necessary to remove the axillary lymph nodes in early-stage cases of breast cancer is the first report of its kind.
If you saw someone dying of a heart attack and an electric defibrillator was nearby, would you pick up the paddles and try to shock the victim back to life?According to a troubling new report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, nearly half of the population could not identify an automated external defibrillator (AED) and 43 percent of people would not use one even if they could.
Pfizer is the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. So its actions must be taken as important on their own terms and as a barometer for larger trends within the pharmaceutical industry. This is likely the relevant context for judging its decision announced last week to shutter U.S. and British labs and move its antibiotic research program to new facilities in Shanghai. About twenty-five percent of Pfizer’s scientists will be let go in the process.
