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Follow-up on two of our recent, important Dispatch items. California s Assembly has cleared the next-to-last legislative hurdle toward removing the state s non-medical exemptions for children s vaccinations. And an FDA panel has approved overwhelmingly a new type of cholesterol-lowering medication.

Rotavirus, which causes severe gastroenteritis, doesn t get the same degree of attention that others viruses like measles or chickenpox get, but it can be a troublesome infection especially for young children. The CDC lists a number of daunting statistics for children under 5. Rotavirus causes: 70,000 annual hospitalizations, more than 400,000 doctors visits and 200,000 emergen

Good news: New York State s smoking rate continues to decline, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Not-so-good-news: the source of these data and their reliability are suspect, and the reasons for any decline are unclear

The American Medical Association (AMA) the largest association of physicians in the United States has called for an end to non-medical exemptions for vaccinations. They argued that there is no scientific basis for non-medical (philosophical or religious) exemptions and these exemptions put the public s health at risk. AMA doctors

The NY Times has printed the truth about GMOs in Jane Brody s weekly column on health.

John LaMattina, the former head of R&D at Pfizer, tackles a timely and important topic in his Forbes piece today: What is the best way to do oncology research? And, can it save money as well as lives?

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. An estimated 73,800 new cases of melanoma, and almost 10,000 deaths, will occur this year. And now researchers have found that rates of melanoma have doubled over the past 30 years, according to a report by the CDC.

A new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, which never encountered a health scare it didn t exaggerate, tries ever so hard to link ambient radiation exposure to childhood cancer, but fails.

California seems to get all the attention when it comes to the anti-vaxx movement, but the epidemic of non-medical exemptions exists in other states too, and in many cases it s worse. In fact according to data from 2012, Cali

A new follow-up study shows that tight blood sugar control for diabetes has little if any benefit on cardiovascular outcomes: stroke or heart attack. So why bother, given the risk of low blood sugar from Rx? There are other reasons.

The US government s most comprehensive examination of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and drinking water, which spanned four years, concluded that fracking, as it is being carried out and regulated, is not a threat to drinking water.

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released a position statement on homeopathic remedies. After reviewing 225 research papers and 57 review studies, the group said Based on the assessment of the evidence of effectiveness of homeopathy, NHMRC concludes that there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective.

Kudos to Kent Sepkowitz for his very smart piece in yesterday s Daily Beast. The title alone Today s ADHD Blame Game: Pesticides suggest critical thinking about chemical toxicity something that is very rare in these days of one phony scare after another is being applied. Indeed Sepkowitz uses just that, and does so brilliantly.

It s understandable that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are eager to find a way to help their kids overcome the problems associated with their conditions

Here we go again. The NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof has wandered away from his saving the world s underprivileged bailiwick to once again scare-mong about toxic chemicals, this time in popcorn and that s not the only dangerous item! No siree.

This week saw the unfortunate passing of Vice President Joe Biden s son Beau, who succumbed to brain cancer. What happened to Beau, who was just 46 years old, is a sad reminder of just how far we are from having effective treatments for many deadly cancers, in particular brain cancer.
It however is not a sad reminder for everyone. For those who oppose superfluous things like logic and reason, Beau s untimely passing is a golden opportunity to remind

We at ACSH have been writing about the dire situation we face because of antibiotic resistance for years. Both Dr. Josh Bloom and ACSH advisor Dr. David Shlaes a world renowned expert in the field have written many times about the looming antibiotic crisis, a time when common infections that were previously treatable are no longer so

CDC Follies, part two. No, part three. Well, whatever: our nation s chief repository of biological threats (i.e. bioterror weapons, potentially) resembles the gang that couldn t shoot straight. They keep spreading lethal organisms around.

Previous studies have suggested that pregnant women taking a commonly-prescribed class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) late in pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). PPHN (also known as persistent fetal circulation) is a

this commercial made for Citi that makes the following claim: "For the first time American kids are slated to live a shorter lifespan than their parents." This has to be false. Please investigate.

It s well known that breastfeeding is beneficial for both mother and child in a variety of ways in addition to the transfer of natural antibodies, it is associated with lower risks of allergic diseases, lower respiratory infections and middle ear infections.

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the presence of abnormal cells inside a milk duct in the breast. DCIS is considered the earliest form of breast cancer, and is the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. DCIS

Instead of the WHO s World No Tobacco Day, we d be better off with a new event: World No Tobacco Control Day

Today s New York Times features a story on a topic we have discussed frequently very expensive cancer drugs that provide only a modest benefit to most patients, but maybe a large benefit to some.

The Secret Science emanating from the EPA is being reflected in the apparent epidemic of phony published studies in respected journals. While the latter is bad enough, the Agency s agenda-driven and opaque rulings strangle our nation s economy.