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Researchers studying teens and young adults have some disquieting news about those whose pot use is heavy, chronic or dependent: Life's "successes" – economic potential and educational achievement, among them – are threatened. The same goes for those who regularly consume alcohol.

The need for transparency in decisions that are based on Science

The American Council on Science and Health, since 1978 America's premier pro-science consumer advocacy non-profit, is pleased to announce the Spring 2016 edition of our Priorities magazine.

If you're inviting gramps over for a steak dinner, don't give him the rare part. French researchers found that protein from beef is best assimilated by older folks when it's well-done.

It is time to call out academia's fascination with Karl Marx for what it really is: a pernicious form of historical revisionism that is nearly identical to Holocaust denial.

Twitter, the social media device that often produces a toxic mixture of snark and narcissism, rarely bringing out the best in people. But scientists studying the platform are searching for a useful signal: A predictor of mental illness.

A new study published in JAMA indicates that people who make emergency room visits for pain do just as well with Advil as they do with an opiate. Or do they? The pain devil is in the details. 

A recent study found that young recipients of spankings may have "a host of mental health problems in adulthood," which include depression and attempts at suicide. But its biggest and most obvious drawback was that the findings cannot show causation in any way. Why was this study even conducted?
 

Why? Because nutrition recommendations are not static. First eggs are verboten, then they're ok, for example. Such changes will continue to occur since nutrition research keeps being updated.

Chuck and Gena Norris are suing manufacturers and distributors of a contrast agent used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for ill effects on Gena’s health. Here is the background and some of the foreground on this legal battle. MRIs use magnetic energy to visualize our bodies. In short, large magnets are turned on and off rapidly. When the magnetic is on, all of the protons in the water we contain (and we are mostly water) align; when the magnet is turned off, the protons return to their former position, and the energy they give off in returning is used to create images of our bodies.

Stents, the bread and butter of cardiology, are put into place to keep an otherwise clogged artery open. But a new study from The Lancet questions whether those tiny wire mesh tubes are as useful as previously thought.

If your TV doesn't work, it's annoying. If your AC goes on the fritz during a heat wave, that's annoying and possibly dangerous. But when a fire extinguisher fails, that's a disaster. There are 40 million potential disasters in North America right now.

With pot, when it comes to cancer marketing finally a line has been drawn. FDA officials have issued warning letters to four companies, since these frauds are selling marijuana-based products with claims that they can prevent, diagnose, treat, or even cure cancer. Obviously, that's illegal – and a huge step beyond the shady claims that previously existed.

We have never seen anything like this. Climate scientist Mark Jacobson has sued the National Academy of Sciences for publishing an article that disagrees with him. For his hurt feelings, he wants $10 million.

Statistics are an essential piece of scientific experimentation. Here, we discuss an almost 100 year old landmark experiment that separated a guessing game from a proven ability. In doing so, it established the statistical standard that scientists still use today. 

According to the 2017 Premature Birth Report Cards, provided by the March of Dimes, not only did Mississippi rank the worst in preterm birth rates but the state even saw an increase from last year.

A long-awaited report on strategies to combat the national opioid crisis has been issued by the White House. Will it make things better or worse? Some of the recommendations are no-brainers, while others are controversial with some being good and others being just terrible. Here's how we scored 'em.
 

The United Kingdom's National Health Service will not perform elective surgery on two groups of health sinners, smokers and the obese. At least in some parts of the country.

The three top healthcare systems in New York City where recently given a lowly “C” rating for patient safety. The grades were issued by the Leapfrog Group, which has the longest track record rating hospitals. It was formed in 1998 by business leaders seeking to control their costs by identifying best hospitals.

For the best in hospitality services stick to The Four Seasons, not hospitals.

In 2015, the American Council on Science and Health joined every reputable science body in being critical of yet another International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph. In recent years they had become prone to selectively choosing studies to include in their analyses, almost as if they predetermined a conclusion and then found studies to match it.

This article, written by Dr. Alex Berezow, was cited by New York Daily News. Obviously, measles outbreaks are garnering a lot of national attention. People seem to have forgotten that, at one time, measles killed thousands of Americans every single year. To this day, measles kills more than 100,000 people around the world annually. But without a doubt, health officials –- especially those who trek to remote and sometimes dangerous locations to administer vaccines – are true public servants.

The EPA insists that poor air quality in America is a terrible killer and must be regulated regardless of the economic burden imposed. But with no evidence to justify such a claim, this is nothing more than a Noble Lie.
Steve Milloy, a biostatistician and lawyer, conducted a study to examine if small particulate matter in air pollution was linked to acute deaths. Using publicly available death certificates, he found no such correlation. Furthermore, using hospital discharge data, he found no link between ozone levels and asthma attacks in the Sacramento area.

It appears that a significant portion of those tasked with keeping us from getting sick, are putting us at risk of getting sick. That's a key finding of a new study, which determined that recently more than 40 percent of healthcare professionals, instead of staying home, treated patients when they were sick and contagious.