Madely Health Headlines Commentary for June 1 , 2011

Source:

WHO Says Cell Phones May Cause Cancer

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2. Why the H1N1 vaccine program continues despite the decline in infection rates
3. Cell phone link to brain cancer is tenuous at best

Madely Health Headlines Commentary for May 30, 2011

Source:

Dermatologists dismiss sunscreen worries

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1. Why the H1N1 vaccine program continues despite the decline in infection rates
2. Study suggests autism screening has too many false positives and a discussion about a sunscreen use survey
3. Dr. Oz’s fearmongering about arsenic in apple juice

Madely Health Headlines Commentary for May 17, 2011

Source:
How safe is your makeup?

Teens and young adults may need mumps booster

Reference:

An assessment of mumps vaccine effectiveness by dose during an outbreak in Canada

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3. Two doses of chicken pox vaccine recommended

Madely Health Headlines Commentary for February 3, 2010

Comment:

This is a story that we have covered extensively over the years on Sunday House Call. An excellent synopsis can be heard in our interview with Guardian columnist Dr. Ben Goldacre here.

I hold the some of the media just as responsible as Dr. Wakefield for this fiasco by sensationalizing news, promoting fear, and misrepresenting risk to peddle their stories. They are thus complicit in this MMR hoax. To see them react with such gusto against Wakefield and his research now that this paper has been completely retracted from publication epitomizes hypocrisy. They have learned nothing from their shameless behaviour and poor science reporting.

Source:

Lancet retracts study linking vaccine to autism

Reference:

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 2 February 2010

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Madely Health Headlines Commentary for January 8, 2010

Source:

Air Canada ordered to create nut-free buffer zones

Comment:

This is a classic illustration of poor risk evaluation. There is no information available in this article to help me answer the basic questions when examining a health claim.

How many people suffer anaphylactic reactions on airplanes that require emergency treatment? How many have died? What is the incidence of these occurrences?

Has there been any evidence to show what the risk reduction would be with setting this policy? Will there be any subsequent evaluation to look at outcomes? And if the outcome demonstrates little to no reduction of risk or incidence, will there be a push to rescind this edict?

Have proactive measures by people who have nut allergies prior to boarding the plane been sufficient to prevent anaphylaxis?

This is a classic illustration of the precautionary principle eloquently discussed by this man.

An exerpt from the website Junkfood Science illustrates this point.

Food allergy deaths have only been tracked by the CDC since 1998, using death certificates coded using ICD-10 classifications (the 10^th edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases). ICD-10 hasn’t yet been universally adopted, which makes the accuracy of its figure unreliable. It reports that of 2.5 million deaths among all ages in the U.S. in 2005, 11 people died from a food allergy in 2005, with the number from peanuts unknown.

Perhaps the most accurate population data on peanut-related deaths among children comes from the UK. Its national death statistics and pediatric surveillance system has recorded death statistics for nearly all children and it reported that only one child, a 15-year old, died from a peanut allergy between 1990 and 2000.

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Madely Health Headlines Commentary for November 4, 2009

Source:

Diet sodas may be hard on the kidneys

Comment:

The principle causes of kidney disease are high blood pressure and diabetes by far. Until a double blinded study is done with measured quantities of diet soda and proper control groups, no association or link can be made.

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