The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a lawsuit against the FDA on Tuesday for what it deems the agency’s unsatisfactory regulation of BPA.
Maintaining that the NRDC suit is simply media grandstanding, ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan points out that the “FDA has studied BPA through and through and has decided that it is safe enough to remain on the market. This isn’t a decision they made arbitrarily or capriciously — it was based on decades’ worth of scientific data.”

As befits any birthday, Americans will celebrate this Fourth of July with food, pageantry, and, of course: fireworks!
Who cannot remember the thrill of their first fireworks display, the childish wonder that is rekindled each July 4th? Fireworks are a big part of this holiday.

A recent meta-analysis, which combines and analyzes the results of multiple studies, casts doubt on the use of statins to reduce the risk of death in patients without heart problems but who have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Statins are drug therapies that reduce blood cholesterol levels and have effectively reduced further complications in patients who have already experienced heart disease.

A study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that approximately half of breast cancer patients with estrogen-sensitive tumors terminate their hormone therapies, such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, before the recommended five-year course. These drugs can reduce the risk of relapse by 40 percent and death by 10 percent, but only if taken for the prescribed five years.

A Journal of the American Medical Association editorial takes the FDA to task for its lax regulation of the drug Avandia, used to treat diabetes, given the findings of two recent studies that it may increase the risk of heart disease or at least, that it has a higher risk of side effects than a similar diabetes drug, Actos.

Science journalist Chris Mooney, the author of "Unscientific America: Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future," urges scientists and policymakers to start listening to the public’s views on controversial science issues when drafting policies. Rather than focusing on the public’s lack of science education, Mooney argues that both politics and mistrust towards perceived industry-backed science seem to drive public fears.

As the whooping cough (pertussis) epidemic spreads through California, public health officials are attributing the current outbreak to the fact that the state is one of only 11 that do not require middle school students to receive booster shots against pertussis.

At least eight children have died since June 13 after being trapped inside hot automobiles, bringing the total fatalities so far this year to 18 the largest death toll through the first half of a year since the 1990s.

The UK s National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is proposing that all pregnant women receive breath tests to determine whether they smoke or have been exposed to secondhand smoke. The new recommendation aims to curb adverse health effects in newborns born to smoking mothers.

Shoppers who use reusable grocery bags and do not routinely wash them may be putting themselves at risk for food poisoning. Researchers who tested dozens of bags found half contaminated with coliform bacteria, suggesting raw-meat or uncooked-food contamination. Further, E. coli was found in another 12 percent of the bags, according to a study funded by the American Chemistry Council.