Category: Public Health
The Nation indulges in fear mongering about cell phones and cancer
An article published last week in the Nation likens wireless telephone companies to tobacco and fossil fuel episodes in their tactics of spreading fear, misinformation, and doubt regarding the science of cell phone radiation and health. To produce this narrative, the investigation's authors rely on unreliable sources and cherry pick scientific studies, ignoring the scientific consensus that cell phone radiation almost certainly...
Cell phones and cancer: random chance in clinical trials
The full results of the National Toxicology Program's study of cell phones and cancer are finally in. They are somewhat complicated, but ultimately do not support the idea that cell phones can cause cancer.
PSA Screening for Prostate Cancer
PSA testing is controversial. A new study finds that PSA screening for prostate cancer offers no survival benefits.
ICD-11: A triumph of the “integration” of quackery with real medicine
ICD-10 is an a standardized system of alphanumeric codes for diagnoses maintained by the World Health Organization used throughout the world for billing, epidemiology, research, and cataloging causes of death. Its successor, ICD-11, is nearing completion, and unfortunately appears to be taking the "integration" of traditional medicine to a whole new level by integrating quack diagnoses with real diagnoses.
Texas: Ground zero for the politicization of school vaccine mandates
Vaccine policies and school vaccine mandates have traditionally been as close to a nonpartisan issue as there can be in the US. Unfortunately, in Texas antivaccine activists and conservative activists threaten to change that. The antivaccine group Texans for Vaccine Choice has formed an unholy alliance with antiregulation conservative activists to attack school vaccine mandates. Antivaxers all over the country are doing...
Are we all contaminated with chemical toxins?
Are we all being gradually poisoned by environmental toxins? And what is the evidence for detoxification kits and cleanses?
Gun Violence as a Public Health Issue
Gun violence is a serious public health issue in America but is not getting the research that it deserves. This needs to change.
Move
For most people, common health goals are best approached with as simple a strategy as possible. This avoids cognitive overload and non-compliance. Get the basics right, as there are diminishing returns from increasingly arcane details.
Anti-vaccine sentiment associated with belief in conspiracy theories
A recent survey examined the relationship between opposition to vaccines, belief in conspiracy theories, and other factors. The results suggest that we may need to modify how we address concerns about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
Death by Gardasil? Not so fast there…
There is a type of "vaccine injury" story promoted by the antivaccine movement that is particularly pernicious, a narrative I call "death by Gardasil." The stories, which use tenuous connections between vaccination against HPV to prevent cervical cancer and the unexpected death of a teen or young adult, are always tragic, and you can't help but feel incredible empathy for the parents....