An article
published in today’s JAMA Pediatrics purports
to link premature birth to exposure to the group of chemicals known as
phthalates. These are plastic softeners-plasticizers, and are also found in
numerous household products and cosmetics and shampoos.
In fact, this
so-called study is a typical product of those researchers whose goals are —
rather than the advancement of science, knowledge, or public health — to
advance their own agendas and careers by propelling the anti-chemical bandwagon
to which they have attached their stars. Despite all the self-expressed
plaudits with words such as “elegant,” “robust,” and “solidifies,” anyone with
an inkling of insight into valid epidemiological methods will smell a rat
almost immediately……. ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross had this to say: “Here’s another
stinkeroo from the folks who brought you many other anti-chemical ‘studies’,
based either on high-dose rodent tests or, like this one, with some human
connection (however tenuous and attained only with the twistiest of data
manipulations). These types of distortions of sound science are well-known to the editorial writer, Shanna Swan, whose
infamous work on phthalates and ‘ano-genital distance’ has been roundly
satirized in the responsible literature and — it goes without saying — never
replicated (and never will be, I daresay).....To Read More....
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