A study to be presented tomorrow at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia shows that gluten- and casein-free diets do not ameliorate the symptoms of autism.
The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered BP to use a less toxic and more effective chemical to break up the oil that leaked from their offshore drilling platform. According to The Wall Street Journal, Of all the chemicals approved by the agency for use on oil spills, Corexit 9500 is among the most toxic to certain organisms, according to EPA tests.
A study published in the Archives of Otolaryngology found that hearing loss in men over 40 occurred twice as often among those taking Viagra.
Dr. Whelan notes, This isn t the first time this has been reported. The FDA warned of this side effect in 2007.
Twice the rate of hearing loss is significant, says Dr. Ross. However, this study is based on self-reported hearing impairment, not hearing tests, so it is subject to some imprecision.
NPR interviewed several scientists who are concerned about the increases in airport security designed to thwart terrorists. Specifically, they argue that the radiation from X-ray back-scatter scanners used to peer beneath passengers clothing may cause chromosomal damage.
A review published in the New England Journal of Medicine by the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 20 national opinion polls conducted at various points throughout last year s H1N1 flu pandemic. The Wall Street Journal s health blog summarizes, Public health officials, take note: the If we build it, they will come approach to a pandemic flu vaccine isn t going to work.
ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross is back with us after attending a medical conference in San Francisco over the last few days. He recounts, I learned about some new horizons in earlier diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer s disease, along with other neurodegenerative diseases (Parkison s and multiple sclerosis). These treatments are in their early stages, but there is a lot of good experimental data in animals showing more clearly the actual cellular causes of Alzheimer s-type degeneration. The experimental treatments seem to retard and even reverse this process in animals.
Raising the specter of “endocrine disruption” is always a good way to promote anxiety and concern, as the National Workgroup for Safe Markets must know very well.
ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan this morning joined a Hartford, Conn. talk radio program to discuss the claims that the chemical BPA in can linings and plastic products is hazardous to health.
A study published in the journal Circulation suggests that eating lamb, beef, and pork that is processed (i.e., preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or with the addition of chemical preservatives) raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes, while consuming unprocessed meats doesn’t.
The public policy director for Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York has a letter to the editor in The New York Times about an FDA rule prohibiting any man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977, from donating blood: “Advancements in technology, which can detect H.I.V. in blood within days or weeks of infection, render this policy obsolete.
