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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Saturday, April 30, 2011

American Council on Science and Health, 2011: Week 16


ACSH welcomes new Director of Publications Today (Thursday 4/28/11) marks the arrival of our new Director of Publications Alyssa Pelish.

Anti-pesticide camps should be the ones accused of lower IQs Just in time for the 41st annual Earth Day last Friday, the news media went wild reporting on a trio of highly flawed studies published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a periodical now notorious for reporting on junk science research.

“Save the Frogs” campaign: Follow the money to an anti-pesticide ruse Two recent articles in The American Spectator and the Huffington Post, as well as a posting on JunkScience.com, have pulled back the veil of deception of the current "Save the Frogs" campaign; we'd like to praise Robert James Bidinotto, Jon Entine, and Steve Milloy, respectively, for these editorial contributions.

My Take - For over 40 years I have been hearing the greenies claim that mankind was killing the frogs with some chemical.  For 40 years they have been wrong!  How could that be?  Because everything the greenies tell us a lie; either lies of commission or lies of omission!  We need to "get that"  

Flame retardants pose lifesaving benefit, not risk The headline on a recent article screamed "UC flame-retardant study finds risks for kids." However, the article, written by Marla Cone in SF Gate, makes no such assertion, therefore, whoever wrote the misleading headline needs to be educated.

An indoor, smoke-free America in 2020? Give it another nine years or so and every state will have implemented an indoor smoking ban.

Wakefield to blame for measles outbreak in EU Hopefully the recent whooping cough epidemic in California and now a measles outbreak in Europe will convince anti-vaccine activists that their propaganda is putting thousands of lives at risk.

My Take - Recently one of my posts dealing with this issue was recommended by one of my favorite commentators, Patrice Lewis. One of her readers commented;

"...he doesn't hold back..." well that's putting it nicely…….. I definitely won't be visiting that blog again. He's just about as abrasive as a sandblaster. “
It fascinates me that some are so worried about the sensitivities of those selling death to children.  I absolutely wonder at people’s priorities....and their sanity. I commented back;
“As for being abrasive; how can someone be gentle with those who are promoting things that have such terrible consequences for so many innocent children? Much like the snake oil peddlers of 100 year ago, they are peddling death. If being as “ abrasive as a sandblaster “ will force people to think in order to save the lives of these poor innocent children; not to mention the pain, agony and self incrimination that parents must go through when their children die….then I say thank you. I accept!
Earth to Linn County: Even the FDA is OK with smokeless tobacco products The Linn County, Iowa Board of Supervisors will vote next month on whether to ban the sale of dissolvable tobacco products.

Death rates improved for high blood pressure patients — but still much higher than normal According to a new study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, mortality due to hypertension is decreasing, yet it's still greater in people with high blood pressure compared to those without.

Birth interventions: More or less sometimes equals the same In terms of interventions during labor and delivery to improve neonatal (birth) outcomes, today's mantra might be less is more. Or not.

Chernobyl 25 years later: Less cancer than feared –– but more PTSD Twenty-five years ago today, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian SSR in the former Soviet Union - near the Polish border - exploded, causing a global frenzy of fear and panic.

Danes propose restrictions on certain phthalates Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency is calling for the restriction of four phthalates under REACH (the European Union's precautionary chemical regulation protocol).

Activist Attack on Coke’s Use of BPA Fizzles ACSH staffers would like to take our hats off to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, who announced in an annual company meeting Wednesday in Atlanta that he does not believe there exists sufficient scientific evidence to stop using BPA in the epoxy linings of the company's iconic cans.

Unusual dilemma for Genentech: Competing against itselfThe results from a multicenter trial funded by the National Eye Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) demonstrate that after one year of follow-up, both Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab) had equivalent effects on maintaining or improving visual acuity in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly.

Junk food ads for kids may fall under same restrictions as X-rated content Four governmental agencies - the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - yesterday proposedvoluntary guidelines for the food industry that would limit "junk food" advertisements aimed at children up to the age of 17.

Quitting smoking difficult for all, especially the mentally ill The results of a small study on Pfizer's smoking cessation drug Chantix (varenicline) underscore the difficulties smokers face when attempting to kick the habit for good.

Cleveland misses two birds with one stone ACSH staffers would like to give two thumbs down to the Cleveland City Council for recently passing some "extraordinary" public health bills.

My Take - I talked to one of my restaurateur friends in Cleveland when this passed. He said this was a waste because they weren’t using trans fats anyway, but now it created more paperwork for his to show that he wasn’t using trans fats. We both agreed that this wasn’t their business. I have to wonder how many medical and scientific experts Cleveland has on the City Council. I also wonder who is really behind this measure.

Cleveland is a great town. We have more diversity than any city in the country per ratio…and for whatever problems we may have, we get along better than most others most of the time. Any kind of food from any area of the world you may want can be found in Cleveland, and we have pierogies. We have what is considered one of the great symphonic orchestras of the world, and Severance Hall, where they perform. We have the second largest theatre district in the country. We have the science museum, garden center, natural history museum and a wonderful art museum. And if it is your taste…the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We have some of the most fabulous medical facilities in the world here. We have plenty of great low cost golf courses and if you are into intramural sports we have all that also. We have water and snow skiing. We have plenty of great suburbs with great homes at a fraction of the cost of those in places like California and we are surrounded by a Green Ring of Metro Parks. And we have the Browns, the Indians and the Cavaliers to rally around….with great passion.

This problem In Cleveland is that by the time things like this make it to the local news rag the deal was already struck behind closed doors. I love this town and intend to spend my life here, but the fact remains; nothing has changed. The roads are still in desperate need of repair! That really is their job! I sure wish someone would tell them!

Seniors should take it one step at a time, literally Falls are the leading cause of injury among people over the age of 65, and according to the CDC, it affects one in three adults each year.

Ignore that quacking sound: Thermograms are not the new mammogram, no matter what Dr. Mercola says With his website ranked the 390th most popular, Dr. Joseph Mercola uses his online notoriety to tout thermograms as diagnostic screening tools for early breast cancer detection.

Gene therapy brings new hope for Tay-Sachs disease Tay-Sachs disease, a devastating congenital error in metabolism of central nervous system fats, is caused by a rare genetic mutation.

A heart-y affirmation: Current ICU interventions pump up heart attack survival A new Swedish study confirms the efficacy of current medical interventions for the emergency treatment of symptoms and signs of acute coronary occlusion (i.e. heart attack).

Greenpeace lawsuit could endanger stem cell research A new court ruling in Europe could bring the development of life-saving embryonic stem cell therapies to a halt.

FDA panel unanimously endorses Merck’s boceprevir for Hepatitis CAs most virology experts predicted (including ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom), an FDA advisory panel voted to recommend that Victrelis (boceprivir), the first specific antiviral drug for hepatitis C, be approved by the FDA.

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