Science

Celebs Rally for Vaccine Reform

Evidence suggests vaccines do not cause autism, but anger understandably runs deep amongst many of the parents of the 1 in 150 U.S. children diagnosed with the disorder.

Bush Definition of 'Transparency'

When the head of the EPA and OMB say "transparency," they don't mean public paper trails, answers or accountability. Instead, it's about the White House.

Burger King to Tomato Pickers: Have it Your Way

After its executives spied on immigrant farmworkers and slandered them on-line to fight a grass-roots campaign for better pay and working conditions, Burger King Corp. abruptly reversed course Friday. The company caved into the workers’ demands, agreeing to pay them an extra penny a pound for tomatoes that go on Whoppers and other BK products, according to a joint news release with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

HHS Hollers Back

In a response I received after my anthrax vaccine story had been posted, Health and Human Services spokesman Bill Hall denied that his agency had erred in withdrawing the Vaxgen contract. Vaxgen missed its deadlines and failed to fix its problems, he said, and HHS was still pursuing a recombinant anthrax vaccine (as I noted in the story, Emergent is likely to win this contract).

Anthrax Vaccine Loses to Lobbying

One of the biggest failures of the $5.6 billion federal Bioshield program, which was supposed to provide drugs and vaccines against terror agents, is the story of the anthrax vaccine.

Ignorance Spreads Measles

The United States is suffering its worst measles outbreak in at least seven years, health officials announced Thursday, because parents who fear the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot aren't vaccinating their kids--in Israel, Switzerland, and here in the U.S. So far this year at least 70 cases have been reported, more than any year since the 116 cases of 2001. That number will easily be topped by the end of the year, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, head of the CDC's Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. There have been measles cases reported in 10 states this year. In the latest outbreak, eight unvaccinated children in a Washington state family fell ill after relatives attended an international church conference.

Safety of Chemicals in Baby Products in Question

Bisphenol A, one of the chemicals we talk about in today's story on the EPA and children's health, has been in the news this week for its potential harm to children. The chemical -- used in the manufacturing of plastic baby bottles and baby formula cans -- can harm the development of a child's brain and reproductive organs, a federal health agency said in a report released this week.

Articles Criticize Merck on Vioxx

Merck didn't pull the plug on a trial, despite a clear signal that patients taking Vioxx were dying of heart attacks at higher rates, the authors of a major medical journal say.

CDC Aims to Appease Vaccine Critics

The case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling, diagnosed with autism, has renewed fervor amongst parent groups who blame vaccines for their children's illnesses.

Bad News, Beer Lovers

Bad news for beer lovers and brewers. Climate change is likely to drive beer prices up even further over the next 30 years, according to New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Climate scientist Jim Salinger said today that shifting climates will likely cause a decline in the production of malting barley, especially in New Zealand and Australia. This means beer production could take a serious hit as land gets drier and water supplies decrease. Breweries can adapt by switching to different malt varieties.

Coming to a Shopping Mall Near You

The vaccine scare being stirred up by people who blame vaccines for childhood autistic disorders may be starting to have a serious impact on public health. The Nassau County Department of Health today announced that a child with measles visited seven stores in a Cedarhurst, New York shopping area last Thursday. The county is offering measles hyperimmune globulin--a post-exposure prophylactic--to people who may have been exposed to this most contagious of contagious diseases. According to a public health source, the un-immunized boy was exposed to a sick aunt on a visit to Jerusalem, and became ill a few days after returning to the states.

 

Measles transmission stopped within the United States about a decade ago, but we still get cases imported from less-vaccinated countries--particularly Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Israel. This is the third outbreak of measles in the past few months linked to unvaccinated children. In San Diego, an outbreak started in January in a community center where many parents of autistic children have been outspoken in their suspicion of vaccines. A second outbreak is going on now in Arizona. 

Subpoena the Blogger

The vaccines-cause-autism controversy has reached a new low. Clifford Shoemaker, an attorney who represents parents of allegedly vaccine-injured children in the federal "vaccine court" and other venues, has subpoenaed Kathleen Seidel, a sharp-witted blogger who delights in poking holes in the legitimacy of the physicians and scientists who support the thesis that vaccines cause autism.

 

Shoemaker filed the subpoena only hours after Seidel listed his payments in a series of vaccine court cases, in a piece she titled "The Commerce of Causation." Shoemaker's subpoena, filed in the case of the child of a the Rev. Lisa Sykes, an anti-vaccine lobbyist and Methodist minister, commands production of "all documents pertaining to the setup, financing, running, research, maintaining the website neurodiversity, including bank statements, cancelled checks, emails, etc., between Seidel and anybody remotely associated with her, including "religious groups (Muslim or otherwise)."

Big Oil Defends Profits

Gas prices and profits are largely out of their control, oil executives tell Congress.

More On Polycythemia Vera

I blogged yesterday on a response from a former employee of the Agency for Toxic Substances to our report on the CDC agency. Former ATSDR official John Steward talked about the problems that can be associated with linking public health problems to environmental factors. He took issue specifically with our report's suggestion that polycythemia vera clusters in eastern Penn. are linked to environmental causes.

I pointed out that polycythemia vera, a very rare form of blood cancer, is not a genetic disorder, as Steward suggested, even though it can result from a genetic mutation -- in the JAK2 gene. According to the National Institute of Health, it is not passed from parent to child.

Geneticist Dante Picciano emailed me responding to yesterday's post. He explained the scientific difference between an inherited genetic disorder and a genetic mutation:

Milking It

The growth hormone gets an extra gallon of milk out of a cow each day, but it's also been linked to health problems in humans.

Consumers' Right to Sue Weakening

While the FDA remains a troubled, underfunded agency, the White House is pushing to shield industry by blocking consumers from their last resort -- filing a lawsuit.

More Library Wrecking by Federal Agents

If you've ever worked in one of the cramped docket rooms of a federal agency, you know it can be a tiresome way to get insights into the intricacies of regulation. So the government's plan to put documents online is a good, democratic thing.

 

But before you destroy the paper copies, it's a good idea to make sure they've been scanned.

Important Bacteria Cultures Destroyed

Infectious disease specialists around the world are calling the VA's decision to incinerate the library of microbe cultures a tragic, inexplicable act of vandalism.

An Autism Anomaly

The Hannah Poling autism case continues to enthrall that rarified spectrum of the blogosphere where the debate about vaccines and autism rages. The consensus among reasonable, well-informed people like me and SF-area doc Rahul Parikh (here on Salon.com) is that Poling's case is rare and may not even by linked to vaccines. Others, like the incurable thimerosal flak David Kirby think that the Poling case is the National Treasure of Government Malfeasance. Here's a nice post by a Manhattan lawyer with an autistic child who notes that John McCain, perhaps chastened by his staff, has backed off his endorsement of the vaccines-cause-autism theory.

Worse Than You Thought

The Post reports today that new studies show carbon emissions will have to be cut to zero in a matter of decades to fight a dangerous rise in global temperatures. China generates more man-made CO2 emissions than any other country, and the U.S. comes in at a close second.