Category: This Mortal Coil

When Supplements Work? or (may) Kill

Normally, when we learn that alternative medicine substances are contaminated with actual, scientifically tested pharmaceuticals that happen to do the exact same thing the “all-natural” supplement purports to do (oops), we can happily report these issues are not associated with serious injury or death. Normally. Sometimes people do get hurt:

FDA has received multiple reports of adverse events associated with the use of Fruta Planta, including several cardiac events and one death. FDA laboratory analysis confirmed that Fruta Planta contains sibutramine, a controlled substance that was withdrawn from the market in October 2010 for safety reasons. The product poses a threat to consumers because sibutramine is known to substantially increase blood pressure and/or pulse rate in some patients and may present a significant risk for patients with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias or stroke. Fruta Planta may also interact in life threatening ways with other medications a consumer may be taking.
– FDA Medwatch – “Fruta Planta: Public Notification – Undeclared Drug Ingredient” – 23 December 2010 (emphasis mine) Continue reading “When Supplements Work? or (may) Kill”

Genomycism: “Deflating the Genomic Bubble”

Genomycism – the unsubstantiated belief that the cataloging of the genomic sequence of an individual conveys useful understanding about their ancestry, current characteristics, and disease risk with high degrees of accuracy and predictive power.

An important policy forum article has appeared in the most recent issue of Science discussing the expectations for the benefits of genomics, the issues created when those expectations are unrealistic, overinflated, and over-hyped[1]. Continue reading “Genomycism: “Deflating the Genomic Bubble””

Airport Body Scanners: Not Much Risk, Even Less Benefit?

Are the new backscatter x-ray airport body scanners going to give you skin cancer? Probably not. And when I say probably, I mean really really really unlikely. The risk posed by these scanners is well within the “if you are worried about this, best not ever leave your house or turn on the light switch” type parameters we consider “safe” for all our other modern “conveniences”. For an excellent discussion of their safety, go read Mike’s post “Airport Body Scanners Won’t Give You Cancer” now. I’ll wait for you to come back. . .

. . .ok, welcome back. That was pretty solid, eh? Mike does good work, no?

What is curious about this debate is its absolutist nature.

The scanners will give you cancer.
– or-
The scanners are the only way to stop the terrorists.

In the rest of our lives, we regularly balance probabilistic risks with probabilistic benefits all the time, and reject absolutist thinking as childish. Continue reading “Airport Body Scanners: Not Much Risk, Even Less Benefit?”

Airport Body Scanners won’t give you cancer

With the big holidays just around the corner, thousands of folks are about to get their first taste of the TSA’s new virtual strip search machines – X-ray body scanners. Privacy issues may be the main concern for most people, but the safety of these things has some people worried.

Back in April, a group of UCSF professors with a range of expertise in x-rays and biology wrote a letter to White House advisor John Holdren (PDF) raising some potential safety concerns about the TSA’s X-ray scanners. Continue reading “Airport Body Scanners won’t give you cancer”

REPOST: Imagine if Sex Were Only for IQs Over 120

At the request of my co-blogger Mike, I’m reposting this article which originally appeared at Science 2.0 on 30 December 2008 where some authors of the paper in question respond in the comments during the run-up to the publication of their book The 10,000 Year Explosion.

Unfortunately for all of us still breathing braniacs, the title only applies to those of us who are also medieval Ashkenazi Jews, according to the authors of the 2006 paper “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence”.

Discussing “race” and intelligence is always a touchy subject and definitely not politically correct; but science should not be fettered by the chains of political correctness like a mangy circus lion.  It must run free across the intellectual savanna, striking down the juvenile wildebeest of ignorance. Following articles on the biology and significance of race by Michael White, Massimo Pigliucci, and moi, my attention was directed to “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence”.  Thanks to press attention from biological research bell-weathers like The Economist and the New York Times, as well as discussion on National Public Radio, this paper has gained Goodyear AquatredTM-esque traction on the internet. Continue reading “REPOST: Imagine if Sex Were Only for IQs Over 120”