Consumer exploitation, masks, fluoridation, and more…

FSM news & articles

Supplements exploit consumer ignorance: “For all the hopeful reassurances that pharmacists might have a role in helping consumers evaluate the worth of complementary medicines, its value is completely overshadowed by incessant in-store, online and catalogue promotion of remedies, supplements and concepts that are unscientific, anti-scientific, pseudoscientific and outright fraud. Ian J Carr, B. Pharm., MPS, Pharmacist, Friends of Science in Medicine”

 

General

NIH needs to raise the bar for funding alternative medicine research: “In 2016, the NIH was able to fund fewer than 20 percent of the investigator-initiated research grant proposals it received. The fact that the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health was allowed to spend $130 million in fiscal year 2016 is an affront to the NIH-funded researchers (and aspirants) who are at the cutting edge of their disciplines but face increasing difficulty getting federal funding for studies that rank high on scientific merit.”

Fear-mongering is scary, not genetic technologies themselves: “About a century ago, X-rays and chemicals started to be used to increase the amount of genetic variation of organisms (typically plants) which can be selectively bred. This has generated more than 3,000 horticultural plant varieties that we consume today, none of which are classified as GMOs.”

I’ve always wondered: why many people in Asian countries wear masks, and whether they work: It’s long been thought surgical masks protect from transmission of pathogens, which spread through the air on large, short-range droplets, while respirators protect against much smaller, airborne particles, which may remain suspended in the air for several hours and transmit infection over long distances. So most guidelines recommend a mask for droplet transmitting infections (such as influenza) and a respirator for airborne infections (such as TB and measles).

But we’ve shown respirators protect better than masks even against droplet-spread infections. And the longstanding belief that infections neatly fit into either droplet or airborne transmission is not correct. Respiratory transmission of infections is more complex than this. To say whether masks work, we have to specify whether we’re talking about a respirator, a surgical mask or a cloth mask. The respirators are the Rolls Royce option and do protect, and this is a tool for frontline health workers facing epidemics of known and unknown infections. Surgical masks probably also protect but to a lesser extent. But there’s no evidence cloth masks will protect against invading or escaping bugs.”

 

Health promotion and disease prevention

Activist spouts nonsense – evidence supports fluoridation: Thousands of rigorous studies – including recent large scale data from Sweden and Canada (as well as our own famous Dunedin Study) confirm that community water fluoridation improves oral health and has no detrimental effect on IQ

“Tragedy” of 35 deaths from measles in Europe last year is unacceptable, says WHO:There were 21 315 cases of measles and 35 deaths recorded in Europe in 2017, a 400% increase on the previous year when there was a record low of 5273 cases, World Health Organization figures show. Large outbreaks of measles (100 or more cases) have affected 15 of the 53 countries in the WHO European region, with the highest numbers seen in Romania (5562), Italy (5006), and Ukraine (4767).

 

Great Moments in Health and Science

The development of minimally invasive surgery. Brief laparoscopic history The most well-known minimally invasive surgery is laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery, which since 1987 has grown to become a mainstay for many common but potentially life-saving surgeries such as appendix and gallbladder removal. Minimally invasive surgeries can improve health outcomes by causing less physical trauma and shortening recovery time.

 

Today’s abused medical concept is…

Toxicity  “The Dose Makes the Poison”: Just because a chemical CAN be harmful, doesn’t mean that it is harmful in a small dose.

 

Thanks to Science

Curing blindness with stem cells – here’s the latest science: Are we any closer to using stem cell therapies to treat blindness, or will we always be “ten years away”?

 

Did you know?

10 persistent cancer myths debunked: In this post, you will find all the tired overworked arguments that are presented again and again by proponents of alternative medicine. Cancer is man-made, diet can prevent cancer, cancer loves sugar, there is a cancer cure but Big Pharma is suppressing it. Of course, the believers in alternative and natural medicine will never admit to error, so there’s no point in trying to convince them. But if you’re confused about the disparity in claims made by health professionals with those of alternative practitioners, have a read. The points made are well laid-out and there are heaps of extra links to explore.

In summary, health professionals work hard every day to find a way to defeat cancer. There is no conspiracy, they are not pawns of Pharma, they’re not in it for the money. Simple.