The FDA maintains a database of clinical trials. They created the database after 20 years of criticism about the murky and often deceptive use to which this research was put in approving drugs and medical technologies. The database is intended to make it possible for researchers and clinicians to access the best evidence in medical care. Continue reading →

In the current issue of The Future of Children, two Canadian researchers argue that our current approach to protecting the health of children and the adults they will become is wrongheaded. Instead of lavishing funds “on medical research to identify risk factors and mitigate symptoms of disability for individual children,” we should instead lavish funds on “environmental influences that put entire populations at risk.” Continue reading →

I’ve been reviewing critics of complementary and alternative medicine for a course I’m creating called “Critique of Health Practices.” It’s an odd literature. The criticisms are presented as an evaluation of alternative health practices from the perspective of the scientific method. Usually the alternative practices are found wanting. Critics typically show disdain, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly. Continue reading →

The Wildlife Conservation Society has launched an international effort to prevent the extinction of a dozen turtle species. I marvel at this: people from around the world collaborating to save creatures because it’s the right thing to do. Continue reading →

With austerity politics in full bloom, governments at all levels are eliminating a wide range of activities. Most of these affect our health. For example, over the last two years the state of Massachusetts has eliminated funding for the prevention of lead poisoning. According to the Boston Globe, the US Congress is likely to eliminate these programs as well. Continue reading →

Last week, the New York Times reported that researchers found that the risk of autism is associated with certain DNA variants. The article used the word “mutations” in its title, presumably to conjure the horrors of a 1950s science fiction movie. Early on the article says, “Scientists have been debating the relative influence of inherited risk and environmental factors in autism for decades, and few today doubt that there is a strong genetic component.” Continue reading →

A village in Ecuador has caught the attention of scientists interested in increasing how long we live. Some people in the village are immune to cancer and diabetes, two of our societies most significant diseases of aging. Researchers also say that these Ecuadorians have the potential for long life, were it not for their high death rate from alcoholism and accidents. These Ecuadorians have a medical condition referred to as Laron syndrome. This syndrome is the result of a defect in the cell receptors for growth hormone that limits their height to less than four feet. Continue reading →

The placebo effect is on the rise. Pharmaceutical companies are worried. Continue reading →

I propose a simple test to find out whether someone is crazy: ask, “Should nuclear power plants be used to generate electricity?” If the answer is yes—even a qualified yes—then the person you’re talking to or working with or voting for is insane. They need our help, of course, but we need to protect ourselves from their insanity. Continue reading →

Vaccination is a cornerstone of conventional medical practice—so much so that “vaccination” and “immunization” are used interchangeably. That’s because a complex of social forces has created a kind of herd effect: anyone who questions the wisdom of vaccination, especially the vaccination of children, is ignored, shouted down, ostracized, and even threatened with jail time. Continue reading →