The media reports the results of sloppy vaping research, then quickly forgets them. We do not. What follows is a list of many of the low-quality studies that have investigated the alleged health risks of e-cigarette use. We'll regularly update this catalog of bad studies as necessary.

Trends in COVID-19 outcomes during the past 12 months offer something for nearly everyone. For the alarmists, new cases reached all-time highs in February, but optimists will point to the subsequent 10-fold slide in daily deaths that persisted for another four months. Case-fatality rates follow directly from cases and deaths two weeks later and appear more variable than either. The Omicron variant …

One of our readers asked why we only emphasize marijuana’s downside? In the continuing effort to rid the healthcare system of opioids, cannabinoids, the active components in marijuana, have been mentioned with increased frequency. A recent article in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the accumulated evidence as researchers performed a meta-analysis and systemic review of the literature. Here is what they found. Spoiler alert: patients with chronic pain will have to “toke on a lot more blunts” before we have less ambiguous data.

The activist group GM has attacked gene-edited crops by alleging that they're designed to increase pesticide use. Is there any truth to this allegation? With millions of COVID vaccine doses administered since December 2020, what have we learned about the risks associated with the shots?

As part of a healthy diet, US federal guidelines recommend that adults eat 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of vegetables per day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that only 1 out of 10 Americans eat enough of these foods containing essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber. There can be barriers to consumption. Fresh fruits and vegetables are pricey and have limited availability in some communities. They also have short shelf lives. Frozen and canned foods are more accessible and can be stored longer. Are these options to fresh just as nutritious?

A unanimous Supreme Court decision is a good first step for getting law enforcement out of prescription decisions. Drs. Jeffrey Singer and Josh Bloom in Reason Magazine.

In 2010 the Physician Payment Sunshine Act was passed, requiring pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to report all payments to physicians, be it royalties, speaking fees, or the proverbial “free lunch.” The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) share the #1 and 2 spot for impactful journals in the US. The authors of their articles are the thought-leaders in our medical understanding, but as a new study points out, reporting their conflicted interests, at least the financial ones, remains challenging.

Scientists’ use of flawed statistics and editors’ complaisant practices both contribute to the mass production and publication of irreproducible research in a wide range of scientific disciplines. This crisis poses serious questions for policymakers. How many grant dollars and federal regulations reflect irreproducible, flawed, and unsound research?

An excellent commencement address; after all, it is the season
Living with pain
“Because we live in the past when we are online, we will find ourselves fighting over the past.”
The downside of letting machines do our work.

Paxlovid, the most effective Covid drug to date has its share of critics. But is the criticism fair? Drs. Henry Miller (an ACSH advisor) and Josh Bloom examine the benefits and limitations of the drug.