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Curing cancer is a misleading term. Cancer is far too complex to be treated as a single disease. Doing so would be akin to coming up with a pill that cures all viral infections -- something that's all but impossible. In his second of a multi-part series on the issues and obstacles facing cancer researchers, our new Senior Fellow Dr. Chris Gerry discusses the multiple challenges that must be overcome, and a new paradigm for treating the disease at the genetic level.

The opioid crisis has its villains, physicians, Big Pharma and illicit fentanyl. But an economic lens points to another driving force: Trade policy?

Repeat after me: Supplements do not reduce your risk of death or cardiovascular events. Another study shows the only benefit of supplements accrues ... to the people selling them to you.

Despite a claim made by Congresswoman Susie Lee, Yucca Mountain is not a threat to Nevadans' health. Grandstanding and fearmongering by politicians is why America has an energy policy that's completely backward.

A new study shows that after two weeks of intense training and practice a medical doctor can surgically repair a hernia just as well as a surgeon. Will this bring cost savings?

Just what we don't need: Another anti-opioid (pro-pain) zealot spreading the false gospel. But we have one anyhow and his name is Jerome Adams, M.D, the U.S. Surgeon General. Adams cites a 2015 paper -- from an emergency department in Tehran, Iran as evidence! -- that IV Tylenol works as well as morphine. Too bad the paper doesn't say that. Or anything else either.

Since our founding in 1978, ACSH has stood for evidence-based science and health in combination with free markets and individual liberty. We feel that an educated public should be free to make its own decisions without a "nanny state" micromanaging our behavior. Occasionally, however, our guiding principles encounter intractable problems. Today, two of the biggest such problems involve public health.

Controversy abounds in prostate cancer. It can involve who and when to screen, and which treatment is the best. A recent study looks at what's been less controversial: the adjunctive use of androgen deprivation therapy. It appears to increase the risk of dementia.

Facebook plans to crack down on content that peddles fake health news and other snake oil. While this is a great idea in theory if done properly, FB's track record of policing the content of its social media platform is poor. Their officials should seek outside help. May we suggest the American Council on Science and Health?

New York Times science writer Gina Kolata usually gets it right. But her recent article "10 Medical Myths We Should Stop Believing. Doctors, Too" scores only 9/10. Ms. Kolata used a study that concluded that Advil and Tylenol are as effective as Vicodin or Percocet in treating acute pain. But the study itself is a myth.

We can reduce the cost of surgical care for some, but that might place new costs on others, as knee and hip replacements demonstrate.

The Guardian axed its science blog in August 2018. Then, apparently, it found a new moneymaker in spreading chemophobia and more with a new series titled "Toxic America."

A group of Japanese chemists may have come up with a game-changing solution to ocean plastic pollution. The group has created a plastic using acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). The best part is that the "aspirin plastic" can easily be converted back to its starting material -- and this can be recovered and recycled to make fresh plastic. With little or no pollution. Very clever.

Those with elevated cholesterol frequently have identical risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes. Statins are known to increase the incidence of diabetes. But is this a result of confounding or a separate concern? A new study tries to untie this Gordian knot of confounders.

The development of new antibiotics is as much about money as it is about science. ACSH advisor Dr. David Shlaes writes about biotechs, IPOs, disappointed investors, market cap, and CEO egos.

Although no politician has ever been "pro-cancer" several have adopted staunchly anti-cancer positions -- as safe a policy promise as you'll ever find. Richard Nixon waged a war against cancer almost 50 years ago. More recently, both President Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden have promised to cure it. But is this a realistic goal or just political pandering? Here is the first article in Dr. Chris Gerry's series about the scientific realities that stand in the way of a universal cure. Don't miss it.

For the uninitiated, "Bringing Up Bébé" was an international bestseller written by Pamela Druckerman, an American living in Paris. She quickly noticed how French children behaved very differently from her own. So, she started researching French culture and discovered an entirely different parenting philosophy. Unlike parenting fads that come and go, this book will always be relevant.

Colors have history, ultramarine blue hints at blue's origins, royal blue at its cost. Blue is easily created today using "chemicals" that detrimentally impact the environment; a new study identifies a greener means of production.

Get this: 5G activists say that wireless technology causes cancer; cardiovascular disease; DNA damage; learning and memory deficits; impaired sperm function and quality; miscarriage; neurological damage; obesity; diabetes; as well as autism; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and asthma in children. That's a pretty scary list. A nuclear bomb can't even do all that.

Why do patients seek a second opinion? Even when making an "evidence-based" decision, our unconscious bias towards one option or another alters how we judge the evidence -- and how long we search.

It shouldn't really be a surprise when this California city, which doesn't have a clue about the importance of public health, implements a policy that will help kill people.

The CDC just released "Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts," which seems to imply that opioid overdose deaths are falling for the first time. Some will doubtlessly take credit for ending the opioid crisis. But they shouldn't.

Binge watching as an African American is detrimental to your health. (But the same can be said for every racial group.) Is there something unique about their physiology that puts them at greater risk? Or is this just a chance to publish what we already know, cloaked in a legitimate concern about disparities in research and outcomes?

The Trump Administration recently issued two executive orders relating to biomedical science. The first involved the regulation of biotechnology products; the second involved transparency in healthcare costs. We believe both are a step in the right direction.

“An extra burger meal a day eats the brain away," is the sort of arresting headline you’d expect from a tabloid. But it actually comes directly from a recent university press release, relating to a review of the evidence around diet and dementia published in Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. Nutritionist Angela Dowden assures us that a burger will not eat your brain.