Cancer policy
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Category archives for Cancer policy
Environmental cancer: because it’s there
Posted by revere on May 8, 2010 President Obama got some advice yesterday from a special Presidential Cancer Panel. The Panel was mandated under the National Cancer Act of 1971 and included a strong staff and leading cancer specialists. The focus was on cancers we get from environmental exposures. It is strong stuff, but it is also stuff experts in cancer epidemiology…
Getting rid of dry cleaning solvent
Posted by revere on April 14, 2009 If you have any of your clothes dry cleaned it’s more than likely you are being exposed to a chlorinated solvent called PCE (for perchloroethylene aka perc aka tetrachloroethylene/tetrachloroethene). You may be lucky enough to also get some in your drinking water, too (which means you are also breathing it and absorbing it through your…
Cancer registry cock up in Maryland
Posted by revere on August 5, 2008 The Health Care Renewal blog has made a business of chronicling the undreside of the American health care system: fraud, conflicts of interest by respected academics, bureaucratic incompetence and malfeasance. I do basic research and don’t get involved in health care delivery so I only refer to them occasionally, but it’s a terrific resource —…
Shutting down the information spigot at EPA
Posted by revere on May 23, 2008 If you aren’t in the business of figuring out if a chemical is a health hazard you might never have heard of the EPA’s IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) database but suffice it to say it is a wealth of valuable information on the topic. Considered authoritative by many states and countries, its judgements have…
Benzene in soda: update
Posted by revere on April 29, 2008 We’ve covered the FDA failure leading to their overlooking benzene in soda pretty often (at least if pretty often means here, here, here, here, here, here and here). It’s like the guy who went to the doctor complaining of pain in his belly. “Ever have it before?” the doctor asked. “Yes, twice” the patient said.…
Manufacturing chemicals, manufacturing doubt
Posted by revere on April 28, 2008 On a couple of occasions (here, here) we’ve taken note of the scientific controversy regarding the plasticizer, bisphenol-A (BPA). I shouldn’t really put it this way, because as the leading BPA researcher, Fred vom Saal of the Univeristy of Missouri said in the Washington Post over the weekend, there is no meaningful controversy any longer.…
New prostate test. No thanks.
Posted by revere on January 18, 2008 Another story about a “new” screening test, this one for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in the US. This one looks for a particular combination of variations in five genes. If a man has all five and a family history of prostate cancer then his risk of is increased by a factor of nine.…