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December 10, 2007: A Nice Note of Support, a Less Than Nice Flu Season
- Quote to Note: "I've been a constant reader of [ACSH's website], loving every minute, learning valuable information, finally agreeing with something I read about science/health, and rolling my eyes at the rabid misinformation out there with the knowledge of how much this costs me and ignorant or scared people everywhere." --Anthony, a fan of ACSH.

At last, there is a reliable source of information to help us differentiate real health threats from alarmist nonsense. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) has researched and published a reliable reference to help the consumer discern the comparative risk of dying from various illnesses, behaviors and exposures. On our new website, Riskometer.org, a simple graphic-illustration diagram of relative threat magnitudes is accompanied by clear text and references to source material.

ACSH's newly-launched Riskometer.org site, offering clear graphic representations of the (drastically varying) relative risk of death from different bodily causes and external hazards, has already gotten attention and praise, including links from:
Freakonomics' Freak-est Links section (last week)
Seed Magazine
Wes Phillips

California may once again target innocuous beverages -- caffeine-containing sodas and energy drinks -- for labeling with the dreaded Proposition 65 warning label. According to an Associated Press article, a California advisory board is calling for a study to determine if such beverages pose a risk to pregnant women.

Introduction
As the year draws to a close, some of us will be reminded that olde acquaintance should not be forgot. So, before we can officially commence the New Year, the American Council on Science and Health would like to reflect upon this year past. We d especially like to spend an extra moment considering what we hope the world will eventually learn to forget the most unfounded health scares of 2007.

Another British news outlet, the Times Online, has a much saner article about debunking health myths that are propagated by celebrities. For example: "Heather Mills, former model: '[Meat] sits in your colon for forty years and eventually gives you the illness you die of. And that is a fact.' Melita Gordon, gastroenterologist at the University of Liverpool: 'Meat proteins, like all other proteins, are digested by enzymes, and absorbed in the small bowel before they ever reach the colon. Any indigestible matter is...expelled.'"

This piece first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.
The days when you could count on hard news in the morning are long over. But as the morning news extends from breakfast to brunch, the standards have fallen even more.

This piece first appeared in the New York Post.

This piece first appeared in the New York Post.
We live in an intensely chemical-phobic society, one where food labels and menus brag of being "all-natural" and "purely organic." Poultry sections offer fryers from "happy, free range chickens." "Chemical-free" cuisine is in.

On December 7, 2007, Joe Koz noted the dawn of the ACSH Riskometer:

A November 19, 2007 article by Steve Mitchell notes the opposition of ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan to a Devra Davis book and a separate report blaming industrial chemicals for disease:
Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science andHealth, a group funded in part by industry, told PTCN she disagreed with both the Collaborative report and Davis' book.

New York, NY -- December 6, 2007. Americans are bombarded almost daily with warnings about new health risks -- and advice on how to avoid premature disease and death. Too often, this flurry of advice and warnings blurs the true distinction between real and hypothetical health risks -- and between large and tiny chances of death.

New York, NY--November 28, 2007. Drugs are radically reducing the toll of breast cancer--both by reducing the likelihood of breast cancer recurring and, for certain high-risk women, decreasing the likelihood it will appear in the first place.

November 16, 2007 -- New York, NY. Scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health analyzed the natural foods that make up a traditional holiday dinner -- and have found that they are loaded with "carcinogens": chemicals that in large doses cause cancer in laboratory animals. None of these chemicals are made by man or added to the foods. Indeed, all of these "carcinogens" occur naturally in foods. But ACSH scientists have good news: these natural carcinogens pose no hazard to human health.

When most people think of YouTube, thoughts of music clips, practical jokes caught on tape, and funny video spoofs come to mind. And they're all harmless. But a study published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association on the video-sharing site YouTube found it to be a bastion of the growing anti-vaccination movement.

Obesity isn’t good for you -- it can lead to myriad health problems and can shorten life -- but not always. Recent research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Sui, et al. 2007;298:2507-2516) indicates that even obese older people, if they also are physically fit, have a reduced risk of death compared to similarly fat but less fit folks.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) make a big deal about how they want public input -- and the law requires public comment -- so ACSH Advisors Dr. James Enstrom, Dr. Stan Young, and I presented our concerns about EPA toxicology and epidemiology to a meeting of the Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) subcommittee of the BOSC by phone (in the case of Enstrom and Young) and in person (me), on November 15 in Bethesda, MD.

November 23, 2007: Giving Thanks, Donations, and Dispatches
-- ACSH staffers (from their respective hometowns) hope everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving yesterday. (We also hope you shared your ACSH Holiday Dinner Menu with your family! If you did not request a copy, you can download one here.)

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) sent out an important warning this week: we all must keep safety in mind as we enjoy our holidays, which often include decorating with candles, holiday lights, and Christmas trees. As beautiful as these decorations are, when not used properly they can lead to fires, injuries, and in the worst cases death.

Yesterday, Tuesday Nov. 20th, the New York Times published an editorial entitled "Another Very Scary Germ." The thrust of the piece was that more needs to be done, now, to get MRSA back under control. It was prompted by recent news showing that this highly-resistant and dangerous bug has been spreading outside of its usual haunts, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, to sicken and kill in the community. In fact, 2005 data indicated almost 95,000 of us contracted illness from MRSA, and over 18,000 died.

November 16, 2007: No Industry Experts Allowed -- They May Eat iPods
-- Quote to Note: "So the immediate takeaway is, don't eat your iPhone or your earbuds?" --CNN American Morning co-anchor John Roberts, about reports that iPods contain phthalates and bromides.

Pedometers -- those little devices worn at the waist to count steps -- are popular tools for documenting activity levels, and it's now been documented that their use can help motivate users to increase their exercise levels. Dr. Dena M. Bravata and colleagues at Stanford University Medical School (JAMA 2007;298:2297) combined and evaluated data from twenty-six studies of the effects of pedometer use on activity levels and various health indices.

November 12, 2007: Desperate Smoker, Scary Chemicals, More Fat
-- Quote to Note: "I can say 'don't smoke,' but you know, people said that to me for years. It's more a matter of saying you know, make sure that you have adequate medical care, make sure that you are getting chest X-rays." --Actress Kathryn Joosten, quoted by ABC on having lung cancer and the "reasons" she survived.

Bupropion, a drug taken for smoking cessation and prescribed most often for adults, is yielding only short-lived results in adolescents according to an article in the November issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Each year 1.5 million adolescents in the U.S. light up for the first time and 416,000 of those go on to make it a daily habit. The numbers are staggering and unfortunately our current cessation treatment methods are showing little success, and even that success is often short-lived.

November 15th marks the thirty-first annual "Great American Smokeout," a campaign initially undertaken by the American Cancer Society, whose goal was to encourage smokers to quit -- even if only for one day -- hoping this would lead to prolonged abstinence from cigarettes.