Yet another story confirms the obvious fact that cell phones do not cause brain cancer. According to HealthDay News, "A thirty-year examination of the incidents of brain tumors in Scandinavia found no substantial change in prevalence even after cell phone use became widespread, according to the report in the Dec. 3 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute."

According to a Reuters report, U.S. researchers revealed yesterday that targeted ultrasounds found 100 percent of cancers in women under forty who found lumps or other suspicious areas of the breast, offering a cheaper, less-invasive alternative to surgery or biopsies.
"Given concerns expressed about the USPSTF's new recommendations against screening mammograms for women under fifty, this could be a great discovery," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.

A report published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine claims that male babies of women who use insect repellents during the first three months of pregnancy appear to be at increased risk for a uro-genital birth defect called hypospadias.
"This is the junk science story of the day," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "I want to know how they come up with these hypotheses."

Daniel Henninger's Wonder Land column in today's Wall Street Journal discusses the East Anglia Climate Research Unit scientists' hacked e-mails and their implications for the future credibility of science as a whole. Henninger quotes a law review article by the EPA's Lisa Heinzerling, who wrote, "Policy formation based on prediction and calculation of expected harm is no longer relevant; the only coherent response to a situation of chaotically worsening outcomes is a precautionary policy..."

ACSH's friend and co-author of our 2006 report on tobacco harm reduction Bill Godshall passed along a study published in the Annals of Oncology about cancer rates in Europe.

A press release from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) declares that their own laboratory tests "identified [BPA] in nine of ten cord blood samples from babies of African-American, Asian, and Hispanic descent."
"I'd like to point out the cleverness of this whole thing," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "Not only do they test umbilical chords, but they also divide the results along racial and ethnic lines as if people didn't already want a jihad against corporate chemical producers."

ACSH staffers received a very urgent message from the folks at the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Ken Cook, their president, writes, "If you're like me, you want to know your holiday gifts aren't full of toxic chemicals or exposing your family to high doses of radiation." He goes on to explain how a donation to EWG can save your family from every kind of horrific death this holiday season.
"These EWG people take advantage of any kind of holiday to scare people," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "Now that it's Christmastime, it's time to worry about toxic toys."

The number of oral cancer cases among women in the U.S. has increased. The disease used to affect men at six times the rate of women, but women now represent one third of the cases, in part due to cancers caused by a strain of the human papillomavirus (HPV).

November ended with two major victories in the fight against world hunger. First, the European Commission authorized the use of genetically-modified maize (corn) for food and use in animal feed. The Syngenta product was bred for improved resistance to insects.
Also, according to the Wall Street Journal, "China's government declared two strains of genetically-modified rice safe to produce and consume, taking a major step toward endorsing the use of biotechnology in the staple food crop of billions of people in Asia."

DEHP, a phthalate used to make vinyl plastics soft and flexible, is the target of a study published in Pediatrics, which purports to find a relationship between exposure to the chemical and marginally early delivery dates for pregnant women.