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A Gulf Science Blackout

By on August 26, 2010

The Deepwater Horizon blowout may be capped and the surface oil slick dispersed, but the scientists’ job has just begun: hundreds of us are working in and around the gulf to determine the long-term environmental impact of the drilling disaster.
Although we are all doing needed research, we’re not receiving equal money ... Read more »

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Avastin Shouldn’t Make the FDA Give Up on ‘Accelerated Approval’ of Drugs

By on August 18, 2010

An important but obscure aspect of the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of drugs has been in the news in recent months. Called “accelerated approval,” this “quick-on, quick-off” mechanism for medicines to reach the marketplace can work to the advantage of drug companies and needy patients alike.
Introduced almost two decades ... Read more »

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A Tougher Car Safety Agency

By on August 3, 2010

The United States has done a fairly good job so far of policing the safety of cars and trucks. The number of deaths in traffic accidents dropped to an estimated 34,000 last year — the least since the 1950s. But that is still too many deaths.
The recall of millions of Toyota cars and trucks because ... Read more »

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Unsafe at Any Meal

By on July 26, 2010

EVERY day, about 200,000 Americans are sickened by contaminated food. Every year, about 325,000 are hospitalized by a food-borne illness. And the number who are killed annually by something they ate is roughly the same as the number of Americans who’ve been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.
Those estimates, from the Centers for Disease ... Read more »

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The Hard Work of Gun Control

By on July 12, 2010

Thirteen days ago, the Supreme Court undermined Chicago’s ban on handguns by applying the Second Amendment to the states, ruling that people have a right to protect their homes with a gun. Four days after that, Chicago passed another handgun restriction that edged right up to the line drawn by the court. And on Tuesday, ... Read more »

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More Questions About Avandia

By on July 7, 2010

The safety of the diabetes drug Avandia looked increasingly suspect late last month after two major studies found that it raises the risk of cardiovascular ailments. Then a third study seemed to exonerate Avandia, sowing more confusion. Expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will soon deliver a more definitive judgment, but at this ... Read more »

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