Posts tagged with ‘public health’
A single, small study stirred a mass anti-vaccine movement that threatens public health. Now that the paper has been declared totally invalid, advocates and the medical establishment need to talk.
It was a banner year for scientific progress and progressive science policy. But sadly, it was also the year for the rebirth of what is now a wide-ranging war on science.
The vaccine, while safe and effective, has provided a vehicle for the anti-vaccine movement to launch attacks on some of our most vital tools for protecting public health.
Despite moving early to initiate production of a vaccine for H1N1 influenza, it’s now clear that the federal government will not have nearly has many doses ready this season as officials originally claimed. Reports in both the Washington Post and the New York Times indicate that the administration relied on production estimates provided by the [...]
Cocaine is notoriously addictive, and even users committed to kicking the habit have a tremendously hard time cutting the chemical dependency. To help break the cycle, researchers have developed a vaccine aimed at stimulating an immune response that stops the drug from working. The National Institutes of Health reported yesterday that a clinical trial of [...]
Office of Management and Budget review can be a good thing, but not when it duplicates peer review and delays generation of critical pubic health data.
Vaccines grown in cell cultures, virus-like particles that stimulate the immune system without threat of infection, and antibodies that could attack any flu strain are all promising routes to slowing pandemics.
Washington, DC schools reopen this today, along with some Maryland districts, and officials and parents are preparing to keep influenza from returning to classrooms with students. The Washington Post reports that plans are underway for a large-scale immunization program, but there’s also a push to foster healthy habits that can stop the spread of the [...]
Digital technologies are changing the world of public health, and officials are just now exploring the best ways to incorporate these new tools into older systems of disease detection and medical research. Looking ahead, the nationwide switch to digital health records has enormous implications for public health—but not just for the reasons most people are talking about.
The recent United States Global Change Research Program report warned U.S. citizens of more frequent heat waves, greater disease risks, and damage to the marine life in this country, but we should not forget about the consequences abroad. Depending on emissions scenarios, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the average global surface temperature [...]
ScienceInsider reports that the World Health Organization is couching its language so carefully that at a press briefing yesterday, a spokesperson said it is now “really very close” to calling the international H1N1 influenza outbreak a “pandemic.” At issue is the need to communicate disease risk without triggering unnecessary panic. The WHO pandemic alert system designed [...]
Cutting back on smoking could reduce U.S. health care spending by nearly $100 billion a year, thanks to the reduction in costly tobacco-related maladies, reports the Associated Press. The Congressional Budget Office expects the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256) to cut the use of tobacco products among underage users by 11 percent [...]
Recent studies have built on research showing that climate change will have damaging consequences for human health. In his article today, “Global Ailing,” contributor Jeremy Jacquot looks back over existing work and outlines the latest science, stressing the importance of past warnings about the impact of global warming on public well being.
Here’s a look at [...]
Research begun in the 1990s is relevant now more than ever, and what we know about the relationship between health and climate will be crucial as communities adapt to a warming world.
A report released last Thursday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that smoking, alcohol abuse, and illegal drugs cost federal, state, and local governments $467.7 billion in 2005. Reporter Erik Echolm described the stunning numbers in The New York Times. Federal expenditures alone amount to $238.2 billion, or 9.6 percent of [...]
The editors at Effect Measure do not mince their words, though they also do not shy away from parsing them. The word of the moment? “Pandemic.” At issue is whether or not the official declaration of a pandemic should depend upon the severity of the disease in question, in addition to its geographic scope. They [...]
ScienceInsider posted an illuminating (albeit rather technical) interview yesterday evening with Ruben Donis, chief of the molecular virology and vaccines branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In it, he explains the swift work CDC has done investigating the genetics of the swine flu virus.
The detective work, still underway, indicates that the [...]
Public health measures that reduce the potential for spreading disease through groups of people present a strong defense in the face of an outbreak. We should have been talking about them earlier.
Controlling infections once they reach the human population is crucial, but the origin of many pathogens may lie in factory farming operations, where potent diseases develop.
Over at the main CAP site, P.J. Crowley and Andy Grotto ask how well public health officials have done in responding to the international epidemic. Their assessment: the systems in place to protect citizens are working well. Detection, identification, and response are the central responsibilities, and they give local and federal agencies high marks.
They also [...]
This morning, President Obama addressed the National Academies of Sciences, laying out the imperative for sustained government investment in scientific research. He said his administration would commit more funding to R&D than during the Apollo program (see Update below):
I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our [...]
Almost one million people died of malaria in Africa in 2006, according to the World Health Organization. Stopping this devastating disease requires a new set of tools, some of which might include mosquito-killing drugs, drugs designed to evade parasite resistance, or perhaps even mosquito-immobilizing lasers.
In an effort to halt the spread of infections, health groups [...]
Vaccine policy in the United States is riddled with inconsistencies that are prejudiced against those coming into the country and which undermine the system as a whole.
Last week, the British Sunday Times reported that the original study which sparked a ten-year debate about vaccine safety and autism was based on faulty data. Days later, a special U.S. court ruled that there is little to no evidence linking vaccines to autism. Together, the two events may cool a simmering debate about how to protect young children’s health.
While the risks for most people from avian influenza remain low, the virus has occaisionally moved from bird population to humans since 1997. In 2006, the number of human infections peaked; the World Health Organization counted 115 cases and 79 deaths, mainly in southeast Asia. As of February 2 this year, there were 9 reported [...]
While pandemic flu is off the media radar, public health officials are busy tracking what they call the number one infectious threat in the world—and are preparing for the worst-case scenario. Above: A scientist works at the U.S. Naval Medical Research in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The organizers of National Handwashing Awareness Week, which runs through Saturday, want you to know that washing your hands with soap and warm water, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, is the best way to stop the spread of germs.
In recognition of World AIDS Day, our colleagues at the Center for American Progress have prepared a set of stats on the ongoing epidemic in the United States. They also provide recommendations for the next administration to develop a National AIDS Strategy.
It will be an uphill battle to justify some of the upfront costs of the personalized medicine revolution, given the technical, political, and educational hurdles that stand between where we are and where we want to get: to a place with better care that costs less.
Keeping hands clean—literally and figuratively—saves money and lives. The point is worth considering as the country closes the door on an era of regulatory slumber and considers anew how to get people and institutions to behave in more socially responsible ways.
There’s no shortage of good researchers with groundbreaking, unfunded ideas. So the Gates Foundation will dole out $100,000 to 104 scientists around the world with the aim of cultivating novel new preventive methods or cures for treating a variety of diseases, including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
In a surprising move last week, the Environmental Protection Agency sided with science, environmentalists, and America’s children. It has been 30 years since the United States saw a reduction in lead emissions standards, but on October 15, EPA reduced the limits from 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to 0.15. Here’s a timeline of lead regulation in the United States over the past 100 years.
It’s been about a year since MRSA, or drug-resistant staph, last made major headlines. But the news this October is about a form of Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, that is causing meningitis, pneumonia, and bloodstream infections, according to a report in The New York Times. Rather than resisting antibiotics, the organisms in this case may have outmaneuvered a proven vaccine.
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 15 to September 19.
Why did it take almost four months after the first report of a Salmonella St. Paul infection for the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control to find the grower responsible? Two congressional hearings yesterday and today aimed at understanding why this most recent food safety scare took so long to understand.
With the support of cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris USA, the House voted Wednesday to approve legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco.
A quick look at the issues making the rounds on the science blogs this week.
Experts at a briefing on Capitol hill yesterday discussed global health concerns caused by climate change, but left out the significant impacts Americans will encounter.
New research published this week indicates that a genetic mutation prevalent in individuals of African descent may increase susceptibility to HIV infection.
Resent research concludes that even if scientists were to score a complete home run by finding a “cure” for any single chronic disease such as cancer or stroke, life spans in developing countries would hardly grow longer.
The Red Cross recently released its 2008 Disasters Report, which calls the global HIV/AIDS epidemic a “disaster.” The study devotes a chapter to unraveling the the “complex link” between natural disasters and the spread of HIV.
Individual genetic markers can reveal increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer, but recent research examines the cumulative impact of multiple markers and could inform more effective genetic screening procedures.
David Michaels speaks at a Center for American Progress event to discuss his book,
Doubt Is Their Product, explaining the “tricks of the trade” used by cigarette makers, drug companies, and climate change deniers to delay regulation that would make Americans safer.
As food worries grow, so does the appeal of a single federal Food Safety Administration to deliver effective oversight of what America eats.
In his new book,
Doubt Is Their Product, Michaels chronicles the “tricks of the trade” that mercenary scientists and product defense firms employ to delay or prevent regulation of chemicals that kill. Their tactics put them in the good company of cigarette companies and global warming deniers.
The Associated Press reports that over 200 million children worldwide do not have access to basic health care. As a result, about 10 million children, most from the developing world, die each year from treatable illnesses.
One wonders how much of a public health crisis we need before we rethink our vaccine exemption policies—particularly given that misconceptions floating around about a connection between vaccines and autism are driving more parents to opt against MMR.
Various companies now offer direct-to-consumer genetic counseling. Public concern about genetic discrimination is on the rise. The Senate may soon vote on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. But there are many uncertainties to consider as genetic medicine gets increasingly personal.
From the Chronicle comes news of a study showing some academic scientists may be adding their names as authors to papers authored by corporations. The study—published in the Journal of the American Medical Association—suggest the practice maybe all too common in medical journals.
Two years ago, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy formed a task force to develop a plan to research the issue of pharmaceutical products in drinking water. Monday, an Associated Press report revealed that the group failed to carry out its responsibilities. In a Senate hearing today legislators put pressure on the EPA to take initiative on the issue.
New research appearing in this week’s edition of
Science focuses on a wide variety of bacteria that have not simply evolved resistance to antibiotics, but can in fact survive entirely on a diet of compounds intended to kill them.
