American Council on Science and Health

Agriculture

Genetically Engineered Potato Gets USDA Nod For Deregulation - The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced that a GE potato developed by J.R. Simplot Company engineered for late blight resistance, low-acrylamide potential, reduced black spot bruising, and lowered reducing sugars will be non-regulated. Read more.

Germany Rightly Skewered for GMO Nonsense; Kudos for WSJ - German green zealots have taken over the asylum, mandating a ban on GMOs, thanks to an EU dictum allowing each nation to make that decision independent of the overall EU policy. A Wall Street Journal editorial assesses the situation tersely, but accurately: Germany vs. Science. Read more.

Cancer

Conundrum Confronts DCIS Breast Cancer Patients - What's the best procedure for women diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ? Should they undergo surgery, or just have more frequent mammograms? This crucial question is addressed in a recent study, but it doesn't seem to produce a clear answer. Read more.

Diet

Hoosiers’ Homework: How to Be Student Salt Smugglers -It appears that some Indiana school children may be forced to create a secret smuggling web. Does it involve drugs, or other contraband? No. They're doing it just to get through their midday meal. Do we want to raise a generation of students who worry they can't even trust their own lunch? Read more.

Expect Only Frowns if Silly Happy Meal Law Passes - The so-called War on Fast Food has not been the healthcare boon that overzealous regulators anticipated it would be. But that hasn't stopped them from trying, and their latest endeavor is more of the same ineffective thinking, as a New York City lawmaker tries to clamp down on Happy Meals. Read more.

Soda-Heart Attack Study Uses Fizzy Math - A new study tries to demonstrate that there is a correlation between purchase (not even consumption) of soda and heart attacks. It fails miserable, but that didn't stop the Washington Post from swallowing it whole. Read more.

Is Losing Weight Just Another Hunger Game? Everyone knows that if you eat less than you're used to eating you will be hungry. It's just a fact of life. But according to Gary Taubes, hunger is the elephant in the room when it comes to weight loss. Read more.

Medicine

Sorry, AIDS Deniers. It’s Only a Headline - The subset of loons known as "AIDS Deniers" must have been overjoyed to see the news today. Some of the headlines seems to suggest what they have been believing all along: That despite overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that HIV is the causative pathogen of AIDS, all of it is wrong. So they say. Read more.

ECT/: Not a Cuckoo’s Nest — a Valid Depression Rx – Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, "shock treatment") has been a well-accepted therapy for severe depression and other serious mental conditions for decades. Yet, most people perceive it like "the cuckoo's nest" last-resort. We discuss it rationally with experts here. Read more.

New Joints May Raise Heart Risk - Knee or hip replacement surgery can greatly improve quality of life for arthritis sufferers. But new research indicates that these procedures may also increase the risk of heart attacks early in the recovery period. Read more.

Pharmaceuticals and More

Mission Not Yet Accomplished on Vaccines - Good news abounds in 2015 on the vaccine front and the CDC announced some more this week. Vaccine coverage rates among American kindergardeners is very high in most of the country. However, keep that "mission Accomplished" banner at bay. There's still advocacy work to be done. Read more.

Supplement Makers Can’t Ignore Dead Bodies - Another expose of the phony dietary supplement industry scam by Dr. Pieter Cohen reminds us to warn all consumers about the dangers these useless and potentially toxic products pose to the unwary. Thanks to Dr. Cohen's work to keep this travesty in the news. Read more.

Not All Expensive Drugs Are Equal - There are expensive drugs and there are expensive drugs. But they can be very different. Two new antibody drugs that drastically lower LDL cholesterol have just hit the market. But they cost about $1,000 per month—for life. Hepatitis C drugs have been targeted as too expensive, but this is worse. Read more.

Smoking

Cigarettes, Now With An Organic Health Halo - It took a new national advertising campaign for the FDA to do what they have been saying they would do since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave them the authority. We're on their side, so we don't want to be too mean, but why did it take six years? Read more.

No Need For Toxins In E-Cig Vapor— Still Less Than Cigs - Toxic aldehydes have been detected in a significant number of flavored vapors from e-cigarettes. Although there is no evidence yet that these levels are dangerous for vapers, there is no reason for their presence in flavors and they should be eliminated. These products are still safer than combustible cigarettes. Read more.