How Big is the Risk of H1N1 (“Swine”) Flu?Part 2: Where is the...
In a recent post we noted an apparent factual inconsistency: Vaccine opponents are often described as being motivated by religion and animus toward science, but the most public vaccine opponents do not...
View ArticleHow Big is the Risk of H1N1 (“Swine”) Flu?Part 3: Why is the vaccine in short...
We’e blogged here and here on H1N1 (“swine”) flu. Saturday’s Wall Street Journal includes a Page One story about the shortfall in supply, noting that the vaccine is cultured in eggs and the yield has...
View ArticleHow Big is the Risk of H1N1 (“Swine”) Flu?Part 4: Big enough to have fun
The National Academies of Science, a notoriously serious organization, is now selling H1N1 (“swine flu”) tschochkes. “Soft and cuddly, this H1N1 Microbe is the only virus you’ll want to give or receive...
View ArticleThe Government’s New Recommendations for Breast Cancer ScreeningSensible...
The US Preventive Services Task Force issued a report with revised recommendations calling for much less frequent use of mammograms for screening women with no risk factors for breast cancer. The...
View ArticleThe Government’s New Recommendations for Breast Cancer ScreeningPart 2:...
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation that women without any risk factors for breast cancer obtain mammograms less frequently has elicited furious complaints by both Republican and...
View ArticleThe UK’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health Opines on How Not to...
Rebecca Smith and Martin Beckford of the Telegraph (UK) tell us the British experts have concluded that smacking (i.e., spanking) children for misbehavior doesn’t work and is equivalent to physical...
View ArticleAre Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Benefits Worth the Risks?Scientists and regulators...
Shirley S. Wang of the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription) on the fallout from a study published in Science showing that bexarotene, a drug approved for treating skin cancer, appears to clear...
View ArticleAre Baseball Players Overweight?Yes, if you use the government’s obesity...
The government says 70% of adult Americans are overweight and 36% are obese. These conclusions are derived from the government’s body mass index (BMI) classification scheme, which relies on the...
View ArticleDoes Soft Drink Consumption Cause Arthritis to Get Worse? The latest in...
According to reporter Nick Tate at Newsmax Health, “If you have bad knees you might want to lay off the soda. New research has found that men with osteoarthritis of the knee who drink sugary soft...
View ArticleScientization of Policy: AAAS and the Campaign to End Obesity Action Fund
Federal regulatory policies, whether made by Congress or Executive branch agencies, benefit from the contributions of physical, biological and social scientists. But these contributions are not without...
View ArticleTravel Restrictions to Reduce Ebola Risk in the US:Part 2: First case in New...
Yesterday we explained why travel restrictions were part of a plausibly effective strategy to reduce the risk of Ebola infections in the US, notwithstanding well-publicized opposition from senior...
View ArticleTravel Restrictions to Reduce Ebola Risk in the US:Part 3: How to implement...
The federal government has not imposed travel restrictions on travelers originating in West Africa, but the governors of New York and New Jersey have done so. Each State Department of Health at JFK...
View ArticleTravel Restrictions to Reduce Ebola Risk in the US:Part 4: State travel...
The nurse quarantined in New Jersey is expected to be released — sort of. The office of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has announced that Kaci Hickox will be discharged and allowed to return home...
View ArticleTravel Restrictions to Reduce Ebola Risk in the US:Part 5: How to maximize a...
Enforcement is crucial to a quarantine’s effectiveness. If a quarantine is unpleasant (as Kaci Hickox described hers), or it is managed by personnel who betray limited competence and disrespect for the...
View ArticleEbola: A Case Study of Federal Risk Communication Failure
Once the first case of Ebola infection was diagnosed in the US, it was inevitable that it would attract great attention. What was not inevitable is the federal government’s epic failure in risk...
View ArticleThe Science-Based Argument Against Ebola Quarantines, Courtesy of the Editors...
Many published reports say that state quarantines are ineffective or otherwise contrary to the best available scientific advice. A look at that scientific advice shows that it is policy-driven, not...
View ArticleThe Centers for Disease Control Ebola Guidance
Federal officials and elite public health experts say that the guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control are “science-based.” A close look at those guidelines suggests that the scientific...
View ArticleMaine Court Allows Kaci Hickox to Selectively Comply with CDC’s Ebola Guidelines
Today’s Order by Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere permits Kaci Hickox not to comply with the home quarantine directive issued by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. More interesting, though,...
View ArticleWhat Happened to the Precautionary Principle?Federal officials have abandoned...
The Precautionary Principle states that in the absence of scientific certainty, risk managers should err on the side of safety. The Precautionary Principle is routinely practiced by federal agencies...
View ArticlePigouvian Taxes on Soda Yes in Berkeley, no in San Francisco
Voters in Berkeley and San Francisco had the opportunity on November 4 to decide whether to approve taxes on “sugary soda.” The Berkeley measure passed 75%-25%; the San Francisco one failed 55%-45% (A...
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