What’s an autistic child worth?

The Environmental Protection Agency has an answer. It’s the income the child won’t be able to earn in his or her lifetime because of autism. This neat calculation was used in setting how severely the EPA will regulate mercury emissions by power plants. Less mercury in the environment leads to fewer children with autism. [Read more…]

What makes you sick? For some people, it’s their race.

Last week, newspapers carried an Associate Press article on race and health. The New York Times, where all the news that’s fit to print appears, published three paragraphs. [Read more…]

Last week I commented on an FDA panel of experts recommending the continued sale of COX-2 inhibitors, drugs used for pain that also cause heart attacks.

In this weeks news it was reported that 10 of the 32 experts have ties to the drug industry. Those 10 voted overwhelmeingly (9 to 1) to keep the COX-2 inhibitors on the market. The remaining 22 experts voted in a substantial majority (14 to 8) to pull the drugs off the market. [Read more…]