Eighteen percent of American women and 6.5 percent of American men use tanning beds, according to a survey of more than 2,800 whites by University of Minnesota researchers reported in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times. Most of those employing tanning beds said that they did not know that their use magnifies their risk of skin cancer. In response, ACSH's Dr.

Two pieces of news appeared yesterday with respect to birth control. First, Reuters reported on a three year study evaluating the reproductive outcomes of 52,000 women in the United States. The study found that unintended pregnancy rates of those taking regimens of birth control pills were highest among obese women and adolescents.

Here’s a surprise: researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reported that higher intake of whole fat dairy products correlated with a lower incidence of type II diabetes in adults aged 65 and older. Published in yesterday’s Annals of Internal Medicine, the study analyzed data from a cohort of approximately 3,700 Medicare-eligible patients.

The blockbuster anti-clotting drug Plavix is prescribed to patients with coronary artery stents to prevent re-thrombosis.

ACSH would like to commend James S. Fell’s Los Angeles Times article yesterday revealing and debunking the pseudoscience of “holistic nutrition.” Fell points to the lack of valid credentials held by holistic nutritionists and their obvious goal to sell supplements.

Just 24 hours after New York Times editors launched their attack on Happy Meals as irresponsible corporate activity, the paper’s Science section printed an article implicitly endorsing a range of ideas which can best be described as based on magical thinking. The article depicts the travails of radiologist and breast cancer specialist Dr. Marisa Weiss. Some years ago, Dr.

Just days ago we reported on a study led by ACSH advisor Dr. John Morgan showing that cancer rates in the town of Hinkley, California were — rather than being elevated — actually a tad below the expected rate. This contradicts the claims of presshound Erin Brockovich. Ms. Brockovich gained wealth and fame from a lawsuit she initiated based on the idea that the town’s residents had been poisoned by trace levels of chromium (VI) (hexavalent chromium), a chemical that was leaked there by Pacific Gas & Electric. Dr.

The New York Times yesterday offered its readers an editorial composed of a remarkably non-nutritious meal of empty-headed platitudes about McDonald’s Happy Meals.

Josh Bloom, National Review Online 12/21/10
New Antibiotics, Stat!

If enacted, a new proposed policy by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would restrict where and how genetically modified (GM) crops may be grown. This would be a significant and troubling shift for the agency. The USDA appears to be responding to protests from anti-biotech activists and organic farmers.