Public Health: From the American Council on Science and Health: is Glum

Ho Hum. Blum is Glum, Posted September 26, by admin

Here she goes again. Deborah Blum couldn’t resist bemoaning the state of our environment—this time, trace chemicals in water. In her New York Times Sept 25th blog, “A Rising Tide of Contaminants,” Blum seems to be trying to convince us that we are drinking pure poison. If followed to its logical conclusion, one might wonder why anyone is still alive.

Blum’s piece is based upon studies by Deborah Swackhamer, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota. Swackhamer recently decided to measure certain chemicals in the Zumbro River, a tributary of the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota.

To no one’s surprise, she found chemicals in the water, including traces of pesticides and, gasp, prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Some of the drugs detected included acetaminophen (Tylenol), Prozac, antibiotics, and steroid hormones (birth control pills).

Blum adds, “Researchers realized more than 15 years ago that pharmaceuticals – excreted by users, dumped down drains – were slipping through wastewater treatment systems.”
Never one to be deterred by science, Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group chimes in “Our chemical safety net is more hole than net.” Cook is concerned that the The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate the environmental spread of pharmaceuticals. He adds, “Where does that leave us in terms of scientific understanding of what drugs to regulate?”

ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom, who needed both Tylenol and Prozac after reading this, is incredulous: “The ludicrous nature of these statements indicates that those involved in this cause are utterly clueless about chemistry, or being purposefully disingenuous simply to scare people.”

He adds, “Drugs do not ‘slip’ through wastewater plants. These plants were never designed to handle drugs in the first place. They treat bacteria from sewage. Anyone who thinks that thousands of drugs can be removed from wastewater has been reading too much science fiction. Or taking too much LSD (which is no doubt in the water as well.)

ACSH friend, and super-chemist, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society finds the entire article to be absurd. He says, “The reason that all of these chemicals are now being detected is enormous advances in analytical chemistry—not because there are more chemicals present. Compared to twenty years ago, the level of detection has improved between 1,000 and 1,000,000-fold. We are now able to measure chemicals at concentrations of about 1 part per trillion (PPT). To give you an idea of the magnitude of this, one PPT is equivalent to one second in 32,000 years.”

Dr. Schwarcz also notes, “To those who propose testing all of the chemicals, how exactly are you going to do this? Feed them to people? And where is the evidence of harm? People are living longer every year, and age-adjusted cancer rates have been steady for decades.”

Then, there’s the practical matter of how to keep these chemicals out of wastewater. Dr. Bloom says, “There are only two ways that this is possible. 1) Do not take antibiotics, birth control pills, antidepressants, or Tylenol. 2) Do not urinate, since this is how the drugs get into the water. Personally, I’m a big fan of urination. It makes me happy. Unlike this stupid article.”

Researchers claim association between antibiotics and childhood obesity - We say not so fast. - By the age of two, one in ten children are considered obese. Considering that obesity early in life puts one at greater risk of obesity later in life, childhood obesity is something to pay attention to. Now, a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics claims to have found an association between the use — especially the use of multiple courses of treatment — with antibiotics before the age of two, and an increased risk of obesity by the age of five. However, despite the breathless headlines provoked by this apparent link, the methods used by the researchers need to be examined a little more closely.ACSH’s Ariel Savransky says, “This research is clearly missing this crucial lifestyle factor that may contribute to obesity in children. But it also makes a point that these lifestyle factors are extremely important in the early years of child’s life and parents and doctors should pay close attention to young children and their eating habits……..However, what the researchers failed to point out: children who need antibiotics four or more times before the age of two may also have some other underlying condition(s) which may predispose them to obesity and this is something else worth investigating further. And of course, this study should not be used to avoid prescribing antibiotics to children when necessary.”

FDA delaysapproval for life-saving drugs - In his recent opinion piece published in the New York Post, ACSH friend and former trustee (and former FDA official) Dr. Henry Miller questions the FDA’s decision to grant permission for “expanded access” to experimental Ebola drugs, while products desperately needed to treat deadly diseases in the United States are still awaiting approval. Dr. Miller references Bexsero, a vaccine for meningitis B, and pirfenidone, a drug meant to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)—both drugs were approved by the European Union and Canada, yet the FDA still has not given the OK in the US. The delays of these drugs have had deadly consequences—MenB outbreaks continue to occur on college campuses, and an estimated 40,000 people die each year from IPF. “The FDA bases priorities on factors other than data and the nation’s medical needs. Africa’s Ebola outbreak is front-page news, so the FDA grants expanded access for an Ebola drug,” Dr. Miller explains.  Read his entire article from the New York Post here.

Clinical trials find that breast cancer drug Perjetaextends survival - Last year, the advisory committee to the FDA voted to advise approval of a cancer drug, Perjeta, that could be used to treat breast cancer patients before surgery. Now, a new clinical trial sponsored by Swiss drug maker Roche, found that patients taking this same drug used in combination with Herceptin lived about 16 months longer on average than those patients in the control group.

Half of HIV-infected gay and bisexual men not receiving adequate treatment - A recent study by the from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that half of gay and bisexual men infected with HIV are not getting the treatment they need to stay healthy. Gay and bisexual men are the demographic at highest risk for infection of HIV. Over half of all HIV infections occur in gay and bisexual men, although the group makes up about 2 percent of the population. A 2011 survey conducted as part of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS) reported that almost 20 percent of gay and bisexual men tested for the virus were HIV positive.

A painful recommendation by the American Academy of Neurology - There is no doubt that the use and abuse of opioids—narcotics related to morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc. is on the rise. There is also no doubt that the rate of addiction and overdose deaths are also headed upward. So, what do you do about it? And, does what you’re doing make sense? The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) thinks that it has a solution—stringent restrictions in the legal use of narcotic painkiller. In a new policy statement, the group said “The risks of opioids far outweigh their benefits in chronic pain conditions such as headache, fibromyalgia, and lower back pain.”……ACSH’s Dr. Gil Ross says, “The sad truth is that management of chronic pain is a serious unmet medical need—even more than 200 years after these drugs were first used in the U.S. for pain control. While these academic ‘experts’ may feel it’s just fine and dandy to talk about ‘safe alternatives,’ the sad fact is that they don’t exist. Nor will we be seeing them anytime soon. Opioid addiction is a serious problem and so is chronic pain. This is, unfortunately, a case of the lesser of two evils. It is not clear which is worse.”

General Mills treads a find lne between activists and science - Shareholders of food company behemoth General Mills soundly rejected a move to eliminate genetically engineered (GMO) ingredients from the company’s product line. Earlier this year the company announced it was removing all GMO ingredients from its iconic Cheerios cereal, but didn’t announce any plans to duplicate that move with its other foods. Then, at an annual shareholders’ meeting, a proposal was raised to remove GMO ingredients from all of General Mills’ products — supposedly because they weren’t safe….. The truth about genetic engineering and food safety can be found here.

The use of PET-scan imaging to evaluate cognitive impairment and dementia - Recently, the FDA has approved new PET tracers “as clinical tools to estimate brain amyloid burden in patients being evaluated for cognitive impairment or dementia.” And these new tracers – tau-protein tracers – may be key to distinguishing between chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a degenerative disease of the brain often found in athletes – and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In distinguishing among the various causes of cognitive impairment — the late stages of which are called dementia — the presence of tau protein in the brain is of substantial importance. In combination with the detection of beta-amyloid plaques, their detection represents the hallmark of AD.

 Women’s heart attacks may not resemble the “typical”pattern, and too often kill - When most people picture heart attacks, they think of sudden, intense chest pain causing the person to grimace in agony, clutching his chest. However, the presenting symptoms of a heart attack can be totally different for women. In her opinion piece, “The Woman’s Heart Attack,” in Sunday’s issue of The New York Times, Martha Weinman Lear discusses why the gender differences in heart attack symptoms aren’t more widely known—and why both women and, unfortunately, many doctors need to be better informed….. Lear points out that contrary to popular belief, the biggest killer of American women is heart disease—not breast cancer. In fact, heart disease kills more women than all types of cancers combined…… So how do women know when a symptom is due to heart attack, or nothing to be worried about? “If it is a symptom unlike any you have experienced before, make the call,” Lear’s doctor tells her.