Tag: SoundCloud

Cancer screening – does it save lives?

Healthcare providers are encouraged to be frank about the limitations of screening—the harms of screening are certain, but the benefits in overall mortality are not

Why cancer screening has never been shown to “save lives”—and what we can do about it, BMJ 2016;352:h6080,
06 January 2016.

The claim that cancer screening saves lives is based on fewer deaths due to the target cancer. Vinay Prasad and colleagues argue that reductions in overall mortality should be the benchmark and call for higher standards of evidence for cancer screening.
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What it means when the EU Commission delays decision for identifying dangerous EDCs

HEAL’s Lisette van Vliet speaks to Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news

pregnancy image
The Commission was supposed to adopt rules setting a criteria for identifying hormone disrupting chemicals, so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) by the end of 2013.

Euranet Plus Central,
December 16, 2015

The Commission breached EU law when it failed to put in place criteria for identifying hormone disrupting chemicals two years ago, says the European Court in a judgement. But despite the ruling and scientific reports saying it is urgent to act now, the EU authority will not speed up the identification of dangerous chemicals.

Listen to Lisette van Vliet of @HealthandEnv on #ECJ #EUEDC outcome via @EuranetPlus!

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Toxic Bodies: the history of endocrine disrupting chemicals

LIVING ON EARTH with Jeff Young and Nancy Langston

Endocrine disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A have been making news lately, with several states passing regulations limiting or banning their use. The trajectory of BPA is similar to another chemical, commonly known as DES, once prescribed for pregnant and menopausal women. Host Jeff Young talks with Professor Nancy Langston about the history of endocrine disrupting chemicals and how this history can inform future chemical regulation. Her book is called, “Toxic Bodies: Hormone Disruptors and the Legacy of DES.” (published March 19, 2010).

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More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

Hormone Disruptors Linked To Genital Changes and Sexual Preference

Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses

Tyrone Hayes’ at work in his lab in Berkeley

Scientists are continuing to sound the alarm about some common chemicals, including the herbicide atrazine, and link them to changes in reproductive health and development. Endocrine disrupting toxic chemicals have been found to feminize male frogs and cause homosexual behavior. Ashley Ahearn reports on how these substances may be affecting human development and behavior.

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The BMJ requires data sharing on request for all trials

How we expect researchers to make all their data available

clinical-trial-capsules
From 1 July The BMJ will extend its requirements for data sharing to apply to all submitted clinical trials,
not just those that test drugs or devices. Image by Esther Dyson.

The movement to make data from clinical trials widely accessible has achieved enormous success, and it is now time for medical journals to play their part. From 1 July The BMJ will extend its requirements for data sharing to apply to all submitted clinical trials, not just those that test drugs or devices.

The BMJ’s Elizabeth Loder explains what this means for authors, and how we expect researchers to make their data available.

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Health apps benefits and disadvantages for healthy people

Can healthy people benefit from health apps?

cell-phone-wth-apps
Some apps have the potential to encourage healthier habits and are accessible to most people, writes Iltifat Husain, but Des Spence notes the lack of any evidence of effectiveness and the potential for encouraging unnecessary anxiety.

What is the harm in health apps – none, right? And surely they can only be good at enhancing healthy behaviors? Or:

  • are there too many apps of too little value?
  • are there lots of potential for otherwise healthy people to get unhealthily worried – obsessed even – about their normal health?.

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Sources and more information

  • Can healthy people benefit from health apps?, BMJ 2015;350:h1887, 14 April 2015.
  • What is the point of health apps when we are healthy?, medicalnewstoday, Wednesday 15 April 2015.
  • Report Questions Whether Health Apps Benefit Healthy People, nytimes, APRIL 14, 2015.
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Social egg freezing: risk, benefits and other considerations

Listen to Angel Petropanagos interview

egg on image image
Family physicians have an important role in advising women about the benefits and risks of egg freezing, argues an analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Doctors are being warned not to encourage young women to freeze their eggs as a way to avoid “future regret,” says a just-published article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that argues egg freezing risks perpetuating expectations that being a mother is central to being a woman.
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Sources and more information

  • Social egg freezing: risk, benefits and other considerations, cmaj, April 13, 2015.
  • Family doctors important in advising young women on egg freezing for future fertility, eurekalert, 13-APR-2015.
  • Doctors warned not to encourage young women to freeze their eggs in new medical journal article, nationalpost, April 14, 2015.
  • Egg freezing not a fertility panacea, Metro Canada, April 14, 2015.
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The FDA and Medical Fraud missing from Public Record

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Faked X-rays, fabricated data, unreported amputations… those are just a few examples of the medical misconduct discovered during Food and Drug Administration inspections. Science Friday interviews Charles Seife.

In his recent investigation about the FDA, fraud and misconduct in scientific studies of medicine, Charles Seife – Journalist, author, NYU professor – and his students revealed that the FDA routinely fails to report evidence of fraud or misconduct when it inspects the way researchers conduct clinical trials, leaving the public unaware of which research is credible and which is not.
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Sources and more information

  • Are Your Medications Safe?, slate, Feb. 9 2015.
  • Research Misconduct Identified by the US Food and Drug AdministrationOut of Sight, Out of Mind, Out of the Peer-Reviewed Literature, JAMA Intern Med. Published online, doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.7774, February 09, 2015.
  • The FDA doesn’t tell you when it finds scientific fraud, theverge, February 9, 2015.
  • FDA fails to report fraud in clinical trials – study, Reuters, February 10, 2015.
  • Medical Fraud Missing From Public Record, sciencefriday, FEB. 13, 2015.
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France Procès Distilbène: une Sarthoise dénonce UCB Pharma

Carnet de Santé sur France Inter

10 janvier 2014 – Interview de Sylvie Le Cossec

La vie de Sylvie a été ravagée par le Distilbène, cette hormone de synthèse prescrite à sa mère et supposée éviter les fausses couches.

Deux grossesses pathologiques, un fils polyhandicapé à la vie dévastée, une carrière internationale stoppée, une vie de couple bouleversée, un cancer de l’utérus, un quotidien difficile à gérer… Sylvie publie son livre “Distilbène, Mon Fils n’aura Jamais son Bac” et dénonce le laboratoire UCB Pharma.

Le Distilbène DES, en savoir plus
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Medicine’s Missing Half

How withholding clinical trials degrades the evidence base

Science & the City interviews Dr Ben Goldacre – author of Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients – who discusses the pervasive bias in reporting clinical trials of medications.

Dr Ben Goldacre calls for all trials to be registered and for all trial results to be reported. Otherwise, he says, doctors, researchers, and patients are prevented from making discerning decisions about treatments and the field of evidence-based medicine is pointlessly hobbled.

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