Public Health

Our Farmers Get An A+ For Low Pesticide Residues

Last week, the USDA released its  annual Pesticide Data Program (PDP) report about pesticide residues on food. This release comes from extensive sampling of crops entering the market during 2012. ...

Article - Steve Savage - Feb 24 2014 - 2:01pm

Are Depression And Smoking Equal Risks For Heart Disease?

Is depression as dangerous as smoking? A 12-person panel has published a paper in the journal Circulation saying that their review of literature indicates that depression should be listed with smoking, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure as risk fac ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 25 2014 - 6:30am

The FDA On BPA Safety

In June 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) answered the question “Is BPA safe?” with a simple and unambiguous answer – “Yes.”   In contrast, countless words have been written over many years suggesting exactly the opposite.   ...

Article - Steve Hentges - Feb 28 2014 - 11:03am

BPA Implicated In Primate Organ Development

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been used for decades in a wide variety of consumer products, like metal food and beverage containers, thermal paper store receipts, and dental composites. Though the FDA has found BPA safe after numerous studies, because it can exhi ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2014 - 8:32am

James Watson: Type 2 Diabetes Caused By Lack Of Biological Oxidants, Not Excess

Nobel laureate James D. Watson, the co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA, has published a hypothesis on the causation of type 2 diabetes- that diabetes, dementias, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers are linked to a failure to generate ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2014 - 9:57am

Iron Deficiency Does Not Cause People To Become Vegans

Statisticians have a rule of thumb for calibrating claims made in humanities and science papers alike. Andrew Gelman, for example, talks about statistical significance filter- "If an estimate is statistically significant, it’s probably an overestimate ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 6 2015 - 7:05pm

Bedroom TVs Linked To Weight Issues In Kids

With over one-third of American children overweight, the search is on to figure out why. Happy Meals get blamed, as do sodas, trans fats and just about everything else. A new study even blames television- not necessarily how much time is spent watching it, ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2014 - 4:24pm

Whooping Cough: Vaccinating New Mothers Reduces Risks For Infants

A comparison of two hospitals and pertussis, one of which followed standard procedures and another that implemented a physician opt-in order initially and then a standing order for new mothers to receive the tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and a ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 5 2014 - 9:47am

Pro-Vaccination PSAs May Do More Harm Than Good

When I have done workshops for aspiring science journalists/writers, I have three pieces of advice. The first is: Don't defend science. It doesn't need defending. But it's easier said then done. If you spend some time in science media cultur ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Mar 5 2014 - 12:53pm

Will Eating Red And Processed Meat Lead To Cancer? The Science Answer

Some recent claims have warned about a link between eating red and processed meat and the risk of developing cancer.  While vegetarians unleashed their confirmation bias in full force, they were happy to ignore the uncertainties in the evidence. As often ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 6 2014 - 11:39am