Month: March 2013
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Anti-GMO writers show profound ignorance of basic biology and now Jane Goodall has joined their ranks
It’s a sad day for the reality-based community, within the critiques of Jane Goodall’s new book ‘Seeds of Hope’ we find that in addition to plagiarism and sloppiness with facts, she’s fallen for anti-GMO crank Jeffrey Smith’s nonsense. When asked by The Guardian whom she most despised, Goodall responded, “The agricultural company Monsanto, because I…
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Fixing the Chargemaster Problem for the Uninsured
For those disturbed by the evils of the hospital chargemaster as exposed by Brill’s piece in time, Uwe E. Reinhardt’s proposed solution is a must read. While the hospitals are never going to charge the uninsured the same rate as they charge medicare (and probably be less forgiving the more they think they can get…
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New homebirth statistics show it's way too dangerous, and Mike Shermer on liberal denialism
Two links today for denialism blog readers, both are pretty thought provoking. The first, from Amy Tuteur, on the newly-released statistics on homebirth in Oregon. It seems that her crusade to have the midwives share their mortality data is justified, as when they were forced to release this data in Oregon, planned homebirth was about…
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Lead Industry & the Deck of Cards
Helen Epstein has an interesting review of Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America’s Children by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, in the current New York Review of Books. The review is worth reading to better understand the public policy problem of lead in products and the environment. But I cannot…
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The Good, Not So Good, and Long View on Bmail
Denialism blog readers, especially those at academic institutions that have/are considering outsourcing email, may be interested in my essay on UC Berkeley’s migration to Gmail. This is cross-posted from the Berkeley Blog. Many campuses have decided to outsource email and other services to “cloud” providers. Berkeley has joined in by migrating student and faculty to…
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Bittman changes his tune on Sugar Study, while Mother Jones Doubles Down
There’s been an interesting edit in Marc Bittman’s sugar post, as he has now changed his tune on the PLoS one sugar study, now Bittman acknowledges obesity too is important. That was big of him, it is after all, the most important factor. Maybe my angry letter to the editor had an effect, but he’s…
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Don't Switch to the Mediterranean Diet Just Yet
The New York Times made big news with reports that the New England Journal of Medicine study on the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet showed it could dramatically reduce the rates of heart attack and stroke. But this study has major issues that bear directly on whether or not physicians should make new recommendations…