LIFE SCIENCES
The FDA’s myopic focus on early-stage testing and lack of emphasis on phase four human clinical trials has led to many safety-related drug recalls in recent years, meriting a reexamination of our regulatory system.
A new study from a Stanford scientist looks closely at how carbon dioxide accumulates over urban areas, exacerbating air pollution and increasing local mortality. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology estimates that local carbon dioxide emissions [...]
The tobacco industry pioneered the art of attacking scientific research that undermined corporate interests. Strong evidence linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer appeared in multiple 1950 studies. Just a few years later, the industry began manufacturing a new product: doubt. [...]
SCIENCE, CULTURED
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.
SCIENCE, CULTURED
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.
H1N1
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 [...]
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 [...]
PUBLIC HEALTH
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.
PUBLIC HEALTH
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 [...]
PUBLIC HEALTH
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
CLIMATE AND HEALTH
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.