Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley of the Senate Finance Committee have proposed an excise tax on sugar-filled drinks as an initiative to curb childhood obesity, and flavored milk has been caught in the crossfire.
When most people hear about this idea they only think of sugared sodas, so it seems plausible, says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. But having the tax extended to include chocolate milk is undesirable collateral damage.

According to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine s annual meeting in Seattle, exercise for women over thirty may help stave off breast cancer. Of course, ACSH staffers recommend regular exercise for everyone, but the connection to breast cancer seems dubious. It s getting a decent amount of coverage but not a lot of skepticism. Health reporters tend to give a free ride to claims that things society accepts, like exercise, are good -- and things we don't like, such as synthetic chemicals, are bad, regardless of the strength of the evidence.

The ACSH staff would like to offer a seat at the breakfast table to Peggy Northrop, editor in chief of Reader s Digest, for her refreshing interview with Dr. Manny Alvarez on yesterday s edition of Fox s Health Talk.

Those who follow our work are well aware that ACSH experts have been dreading the imminent approval of a bill in the Senate which would establish FDA regulation of tobacco products. The bill is a result of an unfortunate effort by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids conspiring with Phillip Morris/Altria to "regulate" tobacco.

On a related note, the National Cancer Institute declared that computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screenings have a disturbingly high rate of false positives. This comes as no surprise to the staff at ACSH. "The data is obvious," says Dr. Ross, "we've known this to be an unreliable test when it comes to false positives. Of even greater concern is false negatives."

Researchers in Colombia have reported that the Gardasil vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) may be effective for women between the ages of twenty-six and forty-five. The FDA has not approved the vaccination of women over twenty-six, nor is the practice addressed in CDC guidelines.

The new strain of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, has officially made an appearance in all fifty of the United States, but the more immediate concern is the rapidly inflating number of cases in southern hemisphere countries where the winter flu season is setting in. Australia and Chile are both posting record numbers of flu cases that may prompt a response from the World Health Organization.

ACSH staffers noticed that today s issues of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal both address the increasingly contentious issue of e-cigarettes, smokeless nicotine vaporizers that simulate a cigarette in order to circumvent smoking bans and aid cessation. Ironically, various anti-smoking groups are calling for e-cigarettes to be removed from the market, citing a lack of information about the safety of the product, but the ACSH staff believes that such an action would be a mistake. The key issue is that nicotine is not the dangerous part of smoking, says ACSH s Dr.

ACSH/Staff, Oprah/Cranks, Meat/Breasts, HRT/Lungs, Sun/Skin, Spice/Island
by Elizabeth Wade
ACSH welcomes two new staffers
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to the two newest members of the ACSH team: art director Anthony Manzo and research intern Curtis Porter. Curtis will be taking over as writer of Morning Dispatch this week, as I prepare to leave to start my Fulbright scholarship in Mexico.
Could watching Oprah be dangerous for your health?

The rate of diagnosed autism in the country today has increased from 1 in 10,000 in 1995 to 1 in 150 today. However, this likely reflects increased information and awareness about autism, the expansion of diagnostic criteria, more thorough and accurate diagnoses, and the classification of many cases as autism that would previously have been recorded as mental retardation. Autism is a lifelong condition that has a devastating effect on individuals and on their families. It is understandable that those involved with the autism spectrum can be desperate for help, for any hope of help.