As the debate over the origins of SARS-COV-2 rages, the case for silencing social media users grows weaker.
Policy & Ethics
A recent survey found that fewer than 40% of Americans trust their federal public health agencies. Could “mission creep” into issues such as climate change, gun violence, and racism rather than a focus on traditional public health issues be a cause? Did mission creep impact our response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Advances in genetics have been revolutionized in the last few years. First came CRISPR, which can edit single genes, possibly preventing diseases with a single genetic determinant – raising the possibility of gene editing of children. CRISPR is too immature to be commercialized for this purpose, and this debate is speculative for now. But genome-wide association studies (GWAS) - which assesses the entire genome and can identify multiple genetic markers predictive of disease -- have made landfall and are being commercialized for that purpose.
As COVID-19 cases drop and immunization rates rise, Americans are proving the media's glass-half-empty predictions about vaccine hesitancy mostly false. It turns out that people don't like getting sick, and they'll take steps to protect themselves when given the tools to do so.
The FDA is conducting a workshop to discuss the science (lack thereof, really) of Morphine Milligram Equivalents as it applies to the atrocious CDC 2016 Opioid Prescribing Guidelines. Public comments have been solicited. Here are mine.
Some of my best memories are of the times I spent hiking and camping with my family as a child, Boy Scout, and on leave from the Navy. I have great memories of swimming in rivers, lakes, and ponds; running for the park rangers when bears invaded our campsite, of watching the sunset over the ocean (or rise over the rim of a canyon).
What bothers me is that today, so many of these things can no longer be enjoyed.
Dr. Jeffrey Singer of the Cato Institute and a member of the board of scientific advisors at ACSH has written a piece that should deliver a devastating blow to those who maintain the fallacy that prescription opioids are responsible for the so-called "opioid crisis." Although this trend is seen nationwide, nowhere is this more evident than in Massachusetts, where fentanyl is found in the blood of 91% of overdose victims — six times that of drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone. A must-read.
On the heels of a new survey, public health experts say partisan politics crippled America's pandemic response. At the same time, they want federal agencies like the FDA and CDC to tackle incendiary political issues including racism, gun violence and climate change. Trying to solve these partisan problems won't improve the credibility of the public health establishment.
How did COVID-19 skeptics become such an influential force in society? A new paper attempts to explain how they did it and what scientists can do about it. Unfortunately, the study's analysis is plagued by the same set of assumptions that caused the problem in the first place.
President Biden said that he's considering suspending the patents of the COVID-19 vaccines. If this occurs, there will be very little incentive for these drug makers to jump into research again, when, or if, a new, resistant variant emerges. These are companies, not charities.
Last week, the American Council on Science and Health posted an article entitled, “Ivermectin Gets A Randomized Clinical Trial. The Results Are Not Promising.” The article focused on a JAMA paper, “Effect of Ivermectin on Time to Resolution of Symptoms Among Adults With Mild COVID-19A Randomized Clinical Trial.” The article noted the findings, made observations about other completed trials and the problems with them.
Despite evidence that all the approved COVID-19 shots drastically cut the risk of transmission, the CDC insists that vaccinated individuals still have to mask up and keep their distance. This policy may do more harm than good as we try to further boost vaccine uptake.