Last week the BIden Administration once again proposed banning menthol in tobacco products. Predictably Big Tobacco is not pleased. What does the science, not the sound bites say?
Policy & Ethics
ACSH advisor and pain patient advocate Red Lawhern has been at the forefront of efforts to undo the damage done by the 2016 CDC Advice on Opioid Prescribing. He wants the abomination thrown out and has spent countless hours trying to reason with the CDC (and others). Here is the result of his hard work.
In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a fearsome, fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail. She terrorized the Lycians until felled by Pegasus, the winged horse. The Chimeric beast lives on in people's imaginations, her name becoming synonymous with grotesque monsters combining bodily parts from different beings. It also lives on in science.
Research shows that vaccine skepticism appeals to people who already distrust authority. Solutions proposed during the COVID-19 pandemic may be amplifying the problem rather than solving it.
A new poll confirms that vaccine uptake is increasing in the U.S. There are legitimate concerns about convincing the minority of immunization skeptics to get their shots as we pursue herd immunity. But risk-averse regulators and panic-prone journalists may be exacerbating the problem.
The EU’s “Farm to Fork” strategy is designed to meet the global sustainable development goals and increase land cultivated by organic farming at least three-fold. To meet those goals, it may well require including GMOs. An opinion piece asks: "Can organic farming be reconciled with advanced biotechnologies in the EU, one of the most regulated global agricultural regions?"
In addition to bottled hope, the $168 billion dietary supplement industry furnishes surplus amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes to those who aren’t extracting the necessary requirements from regular food, drink, and life experiences. Now, we can add negative ions to the list, thanks to ionized, or alkalized, water.
To speed COVID vaccine uptake and bring the pandemic to an end, some commentators are calling on the government to mandate immunization as a condition for participating in society. This may seem like a reasonable policy, but there's compelling evidence that it could backfire.
As a native Californian, I was raised being concerned about water. That concern has not changed significantly over my lifetime. As Robert Glennon, a professor of law at the University of Arizona writes, as the drought in the West continues, the battle over water is increasingly being fought in the Courts. The article comes from The Conversation.
It's time to rethink Earth Day. Let's celebrate the innovations that make sustainability possible and spend less time fretting about the future.
Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and ACSH advisor, was asked to submit a statement to the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was holding hearings on substance use (and misuse) in the US. Dr. Singer emphasized that illicit fentanyl, not prescription opioids, is responsible for the surge in overdose deaths.
Much of the concern regarding CDC guidelines for COVID-19 involves the perception that, at times, they are contradictory. And these perceived flip-flops can be used as political fodder. While some mix-messaging is due to our changing understanding of the deadly virus, it may often stem from the struggle between messages directed at overall public health, versus those for individuals.