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In February, a blogger at journal publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS), issued a random, unsubstantiated smear against the organization I now run - she claimed, bizarrely, that we lost our credibility decades ago by being shills for Big Tobacco. Ironically, she is an award-winning journalist. The American Council on Science and Health is famous for being anti-smoking - any journalist who was worth a darn would spend five seconds researching and know that. The walls are quite literally adorned with...

The public, who too frequently look to the five o'clock news, local papers, and magazines as sources of health information, is left wondering if it is safe to drink tap water, to heat food in plastic containers, or even to eat fried foods for fear of encountering a myriad of so-called carcinogens. How can the average American separate the wheat from the chaff to determine which of the unnerving tales hyperbolized by the press, if any, are valid, and which would better be fodder for the next sci-fi flick?

Take an article published in the Newark Star-Ledger, New Jersey s largest newspaper, entitled, "New Alarm Over Chromium 'Hot Spots'" (April 20, 2004). In this Erin Brockovich revival piece, reporter Alexander Lane may actually believe he is providing a...

The June 22nd CBS Evening News item "Vaccines Linked to Autism" by Sharyl Attkisson was a journalistic atrocity. Based on the litany of unsupported claims, and the obvious reliance on anecdotal evidence over sound science, I would guess her information came from an alarmist group still looking to blame thimerosal, a mercury-derived vaccine preservative, for causing autism.

How many times must it be said? Repeated studies have established no causal link between autism and thimerosal exposure from routine pediatric vaccines. The Institute of Medicine issued a report last month stating exactly that, as have several other health organizations including the National Immunization Program of the CDC. These reports are based on many peer-reviewed studies. Therefore, to...

DISPATCH: Plastic, Longevity, Gender, and Vitamins

The Anti-Quote of the Day: The dangers of plastic bottles
"The truthful answer is that nobody knows" their full health impact yet, said David Ozonoff, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. "And because we don't know, it's prudent to avoid something that is avoidable." --_Boston Globe_, April 23, 2008.

ACSH on Fox News
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan appeared on Fox News yesterday to discuss a new study about life expectancy in America. She emphasized that the study's primary conclusion was very good news: Overall, Americans are living longer than ever--with a seven-year increase in life expectancy between 1960 and the 1990s. But there are segments of the population in...

Public trust in media is near an all-time low. “Just 7% of Americans have 'a great deal' of trust and confidence in the media, and 27% have 'a fair amount,' Gallup reported on October 18. “Meanwhile, 28% of U.S. adults say they do not have very much confidence and 38% have none at all in newspapers, TV and radio.”

Why do so many people have so little trust in journalists? Explanations run the gamut: the public doesn't know how to navigate newspapers; there's too little local news coverage; too few people rely on fact-checkers when browsing the headlines, and so on. None of these...

I don't need to tell you, especially if you've ever needed pain medications for moderate-severe pain, that this country is just plain nuts. Many people still believe that prescription opioid pills are small, white time bombs that continue to addict and kill a huge and growing swath of the US. The facts, however, tell a different story; very few people who use these drugs while under a physician's care will either die from or become addicted to them – an obvious disconnect between public perception and reality. More on this later.

 

The Oxycodone Warhead of Doom Image:...

The activists at Environmental Working Group (EWG) consistently butcher the science on a variety of consumer health issues. They're wrong about the dangers of pesticide exposure; they're wrong about the environmental impacts of meat consumption. They're wrong about ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has done many positive things recently: they eased red tape on generic drug approval, which is 85% of U.S. spending for pharmaceuticals, setting a new record last year by August and are on pace to exceed that again before the end of this fiscal year; they finally stated they were going to look into the suspect labeling claims made by Big Organic, which are far more deceptive...

 

Official Health Report for SANTA CLAUS

 

 

 

 

CLAUS, SANTA

One St. Nicholas Icy Drive

North Pole, Arctic

Date of Birth (DOB):  Immortal

Medical Record #:  12-24-0000

This letter reflects the official summary of SANTA CLAUS’ (aka St. Nick) recent health visit to determine medical fitness to serve as himself on Christmas Eve in a global capacity.  As the Director of Medicine and a Board-Certified physician at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), I can...

Systems engineer Richard A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D., is an advocate for pain patients and frequently discusses opioid prescription policy. This is about his piece, "A Report Card On the American Healthcare System" and is his opinion.

As an ancient Chinese curse would have it, we live in “interesting” times.  Even the most casual reading of news and popular literature must convince us of the premise of a fascinating movie from a few years ago:  “The Gods Must Be Crazy.”  Nowhere, I think, is this more evident than in American healthcare.

American public commentary on health care in 2016 seems dominated by “Obamacare” (the US Affordable Care Act), and its impacts on rising health care cost. Politically conservative voices would repeal the act (or “replace” it...