American Council on Science and Health

Generic Drug Price Gouging Stems from Meddling Congress - Congress tries to control drug prices and it blows up in their faces. How? Shortages of common drugs, and obscene price gouging for others. Unintended consequences? You bet, along with a few horrendously painful outcomes for patients. Read more.

Movie Review: O-D’ing on Sugar Produces Flabby Science - Now that it's OK to eat fat again, we seem to need another dietary villain. Enter That Sugar Film, one Australian's attempt to blame sugar for his ills after he consumes way too much of the stuff. How convincing is it? Not very. Read more.

E-Cig Survey Muddles Gateway-to-Smoking Debate - A new study published in JAMA, focusing on a survey of 2,500 ninth graders, suggests that e-cigarettes might be a gateway to traditional tobacco smoking. But a closer look shows how the study falls short. Read more.

Colon Cancer Risk Reduced with Common Pain Relievers - A new study links long-term, continuous use of common painrelievers (NSAIDs and aspirin) to a reduced risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study does not prove a cause-and-effect benefit, and these drugs can cause bleeding, so discuss with your doctor. Read more.

Bee Wary of Tales of the 'Beepocalypse' - Bees die. A lot. They die in the winter and summer. Sometimes they die in one area, like they did in 2006. Why? Well, it could be stress. Or that beekeeping has become a fad, where amateurs are bungling their backyard hive. So there's mounting evidence that the so-called "Beepocalypse" is not to be Bee-lieved. Read more.

Will Sugar Substitute Psychos Like Psicose? - There's a new sugar substitute called allulose (aka psicose), with properties that could make it a very popular, non-caloric sweetener. But it must be manufactured. It'll be interesting to see how psicose will be received by the anti-sugar substitute psychos. Read more.

Rating Doctors Like PCs: Bad Idea Needing a Reboot - A new trend among health care systems is posting patient evaluations of staff physicians, or "doctor report cards." A bad idea. Professional qualities of care, knowledge and compassion (much less outcomes) are not amenable to Yelp-like reviews, as if doctors were personal computers on sale. Read more.

2 New Alzheimer's Studies Show Disappointing Results - Simple lifestyle interventions are a tempting target to stave off cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Sadly, two new studies appearing in JAMA show no discernible benefit from exercise activity nor from omega-3 or vitamin supplementation. Read more.

Clearing Itself, EPA Again Weakens Public's Trust - First, the EPA bungled the mine disaster in Colorado, polluting a beloved river. Now, it's getting even tougher to believe its officials, when earlier this week the agency announced that an internal investigation of a separate matter cleared itself of wrongdoing. Read more.