"Debunked: Five Chemical Misconceptions, by American Council on Science and Health." Chemicals pervade all aspects of our daily lives — independent of the setting. Whether you are a city dweller or reside in a rural area, synthetic (as well as natural) chemicals encompass and sustain everyday life. Mark Lorch, senior lecturer in biological chemistry at the University of Hull emphasizes the impossibility of leading a chemical-free life as he debunks five common myths popularized by media and … [Read more...]
Pesticides and the West Nile Virus
July 7, 2014
"Killer sand, WMD Insect Spray, and other Idiocy," by American Council on Science and Health. Last year we at ACSH were instrumental in getting the village of Ocean Beach, located on Long Island, to overturn its decades-old chemophobic policy of refusing to participate in the mosquito control program that was routinely used in most of Long Island, as well as wide areas of New York City. We were prompted to do so after ACSH friend Jim Capuono—a six year survivor of colon cancer—nearly died from … [Read more...]
EU Stops Unscientific Ban on Phthalates
July 7, 2014
"Phthalates Given a Reprieve by the EU — Surprisingly, Given European Devotion to the Precautionary Principle," by American Council on Science and Health. Plastics! Nothing to Fear...In a surprisingly pro-science stance, the European Commission has swatted away a rebellion by the Danish environmental authorities to race ahead of the science and institute a ban on 4 types of phthalates. These plasticizer chemicals have been targeted by many “environmental” and “consumer” NGOs over the past 15 … [Read more...]
Few Docs Express Concern about “Chemicals” to Expecting Moms
July 7, 2014
"Survey of Ob. Docs Fails to Find Many Who Discuss “Chemicals” with Moms-To-Be, by American Council on Science and Health. A survey sent to thousands of regional Ob-Gyns by a group from the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California-San Francisco revealed an intense lack of concern among those specialists about environmental chemicals as impacting their pregnant patients. The authors, led by Dr. Naomi E. Stotland, sent out a 64-question survey to over 20,000 California … [Read more...]
Science Not Politics to Help Honeybees
July 2, 2014
"Beekeepers/Farmers Need Answers, not Giant Inflatable Bees," By Elton Robinson. Protestors insisted that Loews remove neonicotinoid insecticides from its shelves. But the protestors once again cited poorly-constructed research about the insecticide's role in bee health. Last month, members of group called SumOfUs.org, sporting a giant inflatable bee, organized a protest at a Lowe’s shareholder meeting, insisting that the corporation “remove bee-killing neonicotinoid insecticides from its … [Read more...]
Lawmakers Speak Out on Honeybee Issue
July 2, 2014
"Cutting Through the Buzz: Pollinator Numbers Are Up," By Reps. Tom Rooney and David Valadao. For some time now, the media has been issuing dire warnings of the coming “bee- pocalypse.” Time magazine ran a cover story titled, “A World Without Bees.” A headline in the London Telegraph proclaimed “Honey bees in US facing extinction.” CBS warned of the drastic threat to our food supply if these essential pollinators are lost. Yet reports of bees’ catastrophic demise are greatly exaggerated. … [Read more...]
A Plan for Saving the Honeybees?
June 27, 2014
"Can Obama Save the Honey Bees?," by David Clark Scott. Who could be against saving the honey bees? For politicians, this is what's called an "Apple Pie" issue. And who pollinates the apple trees? On Friday, Obama signed a presidential memo ordering the federal government to come up with a plan for protecting pollinators such as honey bees, butterflies, birds and bats. "The problem is serious and requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid … [Read more...]
Bee-S Beepocalypse
June 27, 2014
"Bee-S Beepocalypse - Don't Make The Perfect The Enemy Of The Good," by Hank Campbell. Generally speaking, when a politician goes on television and says he is creating a special task force to look at a product, you know what happened; someone wrote about it in the New York Times and someone did a poll and someone else told him it would look presidential to be bold. And then someone in the environmental movement will invoke DDT. Really, the EPA was not created 40 years ago to protect us from … [Read more...]
Honeybee Science
June 27, 2014
"Activists Declare The Science Settled - Neonicotinoids Are Killing Bees," By Hank Campbell. Want to scare people about a pesticide? Compare it to DDT. 40+ years after it was banned in a bit of scientization of politics, people have still heard of it. DDT may be the only pesticide many people have ever heard of. Environmental groups love to invoke it for that reason. But if you are a fan of science, when you see a DDT comparison, you know evidence has left the building. DDT, when misapplied, … [Read more...]
Pesticides and Autism Link?
June 23, 2014
"UC-Davis Group Links Pesticides to Autism — Without Measuring Pesticides. What?," by American Council on Science and Health. There they go again: a group of “academics” long-devoted to finding pesticide toxicity by any means necessary has accomplished their goal! What goal, you ask? They have attained a vast amount of media attention (sure, mostly in the “enviro-blogosphere,” but many mainstream folks have swallowed this whole as well, thanks to the PR folks at UC-Davis and that font of … [Read more...]
Closing the Shower Curtain on Obsesity Claims
June 20, 2014
"Shower Curtains Don't Make You Fat," by Julie Gunlock. Ladies, if you’re currently flooding your bathroom each morning because you decided to toss your shower curtain due to some hysterical article you read (and sadly, believed) about shower curtains making people fat, stop what you’re doing. Save your floor grout and reattach that shower curtain. Your shower curtain is guilty of no such sin! Read more. … [Read more...]
Blaming Shower Curtains for Obesity
June 19, 2014
"Do We Really Have to Worry About Shower Curtains Causing Weight Gain?" by Geoffrey Kabat, Stats.org. Several days ago an article titled “Is Your Shower Curtain Making You Fat?” appeared in the magazine Spry and was then reprinted in the Dodge City Daily Globe. The article drew readers’ attention to the dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), giving 5 examples of chemicals used in everyday consumer products (BPA, phthalates, PVC, PFC’s, and PBDFs). With a quote from a professor of … [Read more...]
Organic Labeling Double Standard
June 19, 2014
"Organic Lobbyists Petition To Prevent USDA From Having Organic Food Oversight," By Hank Campbell. Since 1990 organic food has been allowed to exist independently of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the one federal agency responsible for food safety and quality. Sure, organic food still gets recalls, lots of them - using feces as fertilizer and having customers who think food doesn't need to be washed will do that - but the definition of 'organic' is not determined by the USDA. Those … [Read more...]
Infectious and Unscientific Attack on Antibacterial Soap
June 19, 2014
"Green Group's Unscientific Attack on Soap," By Erik Telford. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tasked with promoting public health by ensuring the safety and efficacy of medicines and consumer products. But like most federal bureaucracies under the Obama administration, it has allowed its regulatory agenda to be influenced by activist groups. The FDA’s latest target is, of all things, antibacterial soaps, which fringe activists believe pose a variety of health and environmental … [Read more...]
Greens Admit: BPA Does Not Cause Breast Cancer
June 12, 2014
"BPA A Concern For Breast Cancer? Not According To Study By Leading Environmental Group," by Trevor Butterworth, Stats.org. A massive synthesis of data from the National Toxicology Program and consensus reports from international cancer authorities has identified 102 chemicals as critical for breast cancer research and prevention. The list, compiled by researchers from the Silent Spring Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health, is derived from studies of chemical exposures and mammary … [Read more...]
Ban Threatens Honeybees and Farming
June 9, 2014
"There is No ‘Bee Armageddon’: Misguided Neonics Ban Threatens Honeybees and Farming," byJon Entine, Stats.org. Science can’t be rushed. Usually legislators make policy decisions on controversial issues only after carefully weighing current research. But just the opposite has unfolded in the EU. European Commissioners last year passed a two-year ban on a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids in a preemptive move to protect honeybees, after sketchy reports of higher-than-normal winter … [Read more...]
Honeybee Health and Headlines
June 9, 2014
"Good News and Bad News about Honeybees," By Angela Logomasini. News stories related to honeybee health the past few weeks are all over the map. Some headlines claim that new research proves that honeybees are dying off because of pesticides, while others say honeybees are doing just fine. But reality is different than either scenario. Beekeepers surely have their challenges, but banning pesticide's won't help them or their bees. Much of the media "bad news" comes from a recent Harvard … [Read more...]
Pesticides Used on Organic Food
June 9, 2014
"The Biggest Myth About Organic Farming," By Ross Pomeroy. The majority of Americans believe that organic foods are healthier than food grown using conventional methods. The majority of Americans are wrong. Two systematic reviews, one from Stanford University and the other by a team of researchers based out of the United Kingdom, turned up no evidence that organic foods are more nutritious or lead to better health-related outcomes for consumers. But the idea that organic foods are healthier … [Read more...]
Regulators More Dangerous than Pesticides
June 9, 2014
"Killer Regulators Are More Dangerous To Bees Than Neonics Are," By Hank Campbell. At a time when the EPA is rushing to place new regulations on the one thing that is still cheap and increasingly environmentally effective in America, energy, it may seem strange to laud the EPA. But career scientists do solid work there. I made that point in a comment about Rachel Carson and "Silent Spring" recently. While the book was not very solid scientifically it was certainly effective culturally. Every … [Read more...]
BPA Politics
June 9, 2014
"Politicizing Livers: No, We Are Not Kidding," by American Council on Science and Health. An op-ed by Merrill Matthews in Investors.com, the online blog of Investors Business Daily would seem to say no. The piece entitled Left Wants EPA To Ban Chemical FDA Says Isn’t Harmful describes how a common and harmless chemical—bisphenol A, aka BPA— has turned into a political rallying point for groups that have nothing better to do than to try to ban it. They may be misguided, but at least you have … [Read more...]
Flame Retardants in Soft Drinks Less Risky than Water
June 2, 2014
"Inflamed Debate Over a Soda Additive," By Angela Logomasini. A recent announcement by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo that these companies are pulling the ingredient brominated vegetable oil (BVO) out of their soft drinks is no big surprise. It’s yet another example of how junk science and media hype forces needless product reformulations. While such actions don’t make us safer or healthier, they promise to make us poorer. This case started with a 2013 petition on Change.org, pushed by a … [Read more...]
Bee Busybodies Rebuked
June 2, 2014
"Bad News for Bee Busybodies," Washington Times Editorial. The hardy honeybees are back, having returned from dark and mysterious places in the imaginations of the environmentalists. The latest numbers from the Agriculture Department are a stinging rebuke to the doomsayers who spread hysterical tales of a mysterious apocalypse of beedom. In the latest annual survey, federal bee counters reported the lowest rate of over-the-winter bee losses in nearly a decade. Beekeepers call a loss of 19 … [Read more...]
Chemical Scare Stories Debunked
June 2, 2014
"Popular Chemical Misconceptions Debunked," By American Council on Science and Health. Our environment is a mosaic of chemicals that add to our everyday living. Despite their ubiquitous presence and essential role in society, chemicals continue to be vilified by the media and interest groups. Making Sense of Chemical Stories is a consumer friendly 16-page guide stripping the negative impressions surrounding chemicals and their relationship to human health and the environment as a whole. The … [Read more...]
FDA: BPA Dose is Too Low to Have Health Effects
June 2, 2014
"FDA: No Low-Dose Chemical Dangers," by Dennis Avery. The Food and Drug Administration has just loudly re-endorsed perhaps the oldest truth in science—that the dose makes the poison. Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, told us 500 years ago, “All substances are poison. There is none which is not a poison. The right dose makes the difference between a poison and a remedy.” Even sunlight and water are poisons at high doses. The FDA has just commented on a new study which found no health impact … [Read more...]
Green Calls for BPA Ban Unwarranted
June 2, 2014
"Left Wants EPA To Ban Chemical FDA Says Isn't Harmful," By Merrill Mathews. President Ronald Reagan famously asserted, "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." He might have added that the second nearest thing is a completely discredited left-wing cause. Exhibit A: Since the left can't convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to outlaw the chemical BPA, it wants the Environmental Protection Agency to take over. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is … [Read more...]
