The FDA recently decided that simple CRISPR-induced changes in plants did not represent genetic modification. Then why do those officials feel differently about the same CRISPR-induced changes in animals?
Policy & Ethics
A new, 50-page study manages to say in 17,701 words something that has been obvious for years: The replacement of OxyContin with abuse-resistant OxyContin was the driving force behind the surge in heroin deaths. Oh, really.
Congress is considering changes to the privacy of our health data, specifically, our medical histories involving drug abuse and rehabilitation. Why are they treated differently? And should we change the rules? Balancing confidentiality with a physician's need to know is not always a simple decision.
In 2005 an article indicated that medical care was responsible for 50% of bankruptcies. It became a myth that a new study clearly refutes.
A recent JAMA paper which concluded that opioid drugs are ineffective for long-term pain relief is flawed, perhaps intentionally so. American Council advisor Richard "Red" Lawhern explains.
It's been clear for years that the CDC was making a huge mistake in gathering data about opioid overdose deaths. Specifically, lumping together prescription drugs with street drugs. All this accomplished was to make the pills look much more dangerous than they really were. The agency finally fessed up. Too little. Too late. Too secretive.
Oklahoma, which badly botched a number a number of executions by using experimental methods that were scientifically flawed, has decided to use nitrogen asphyxiation instead. A look at the chemistry and physiology of a more-humane method of capital punishment.
Rheumatologists are just one example of the problems society faces regarding the number of physicians we "need" and where they are located. Physicians make choices as we all do, based on what is best for us and our families.
A new study thinks the answer is yes. But is it? The old adage "if it ain’t broke, then don't fix it” comes to mind.
A team of scholars at Iowa State Univ. presented research validating what the scientific community has long suspected: Some anti-GMO groups are (1) either sending information to Russian propaganda sites to assist in their efforts to undermine American agricultural dominance or, (2) they're acting as "useful idiots" by promoting concern about America's food supply.
William Shubb, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, has put a halt to the champagne wishes and caviar dreams of California trial lawyers, a U.N. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Working Group participant, and organic industry front groups hoping to profit from a bizarre determination on glyphosate by IARC that weirdly bucked the science consensus. He has ruled that companies can't be forced to lie and put warning labels on glyphosate, an active ingredient in products like the mild weedkiller Roundup.
Did you know that in an emergency you could be enrolled in a clinical trial without your consent? How is this possible and what can you do about it?