Social Issues
j7uy5 | September 14, 2006GARDASIL®,
the vaccine intended to prevent infection with
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papilloma_virus"
rel="tag">human papillomavirus (HPV), was
controversial even before it was
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/18/health/main1628221.shtml">approved
by the FDA.
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG2LFGJFT1.DTL">Debate
rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine Rob Stein, Washington PostMonday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 04:00 PDT Washington -- A new vaccine that protects against
cervical cancer has set up a clash between…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006The adjective extreme has been extremely overused
in recent years. For example, I recently saw a sign in a gas
station that advertised an Extreme Meal Deal: a hot dog, chips, and
soda for $2.49.
But
href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20060910094616232C393327">Extreme
Drug Resistant tuberculosis is no hyperbole:
Dr Tony Moll of the Church of Scotland hospital at
Tugela Ferry was the first to alert the world to the emerging human
tragedy when it was found that HIV positive people who had appeared
initially to "do well" on antiretroviral…
j7uy5 | September 8, 2006This has been a topic here at ScienceBlogs, and elsewhere. In
this post, I point out some of the blogosphere commentary, and provide
links to some commentary published in journals that might otherwise
escape widespread attention.
href="http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2006/04/psychiatry_experts_linked_to_d.php">
class="linkTitle">Psychiatry Experts Linked to Drug Makers--
And?
The New York Times reported yesterday that many of the authors of the
DSM-IV, the sine qua non diagnostic manual (I'm 300.00, thanks for
asking) for mental health professionals had ties, either before or
after…
j7uy5 | September 4, 2006You might have seen the article, The Terrorism Index, in Foreign Policy magazine a while ago. If you did, here is a reminder of the high points. If you did not, go read the whole thing.
j7uy5 | September 2, 2006The August 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has an
interesting article with policy implications. Unfortunately,
they did not make this one freely accessible.
The authors argue that the increased medical costs that we faced
between the years of 1960 to 2000 have been a good investment.
They point out that the life expectancy in that time frame
increased by 6.97 years. The increase in medical costs per
person, divided by the increased expenditures per person, yields a
cost-per-year-of-life-gained of $19,900.
The Value of Medical Spending in the United
States, 1960–2000
D.…
j7uy5 | August 28, 2006The
href="http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060821/UPDATE/608210400">Michigan
Civil Rights Commission ruled recently that small insurance
companies that cover prescription drugs must also cover the cost of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_contraceptives"
rel="tag">oral contraceptives.
Firms with more than 15 employees are already under the jurisdiction of
federal law, so the ruling affects only small companies. But
the ruling will have a wide impact: 60% of firms in Michigan are
affected.
This ruling is consistent with recommendations from major medical…
j7uy5 | August 26, 2006The New
England Journal of Medicine has two
freely-accessible articles this week. As is usually the case,
their free articles are about important topics at the intersection of
medicine and social policy, and are worth reading. However,
this time, both articles rub me the wrong way. (Hat tip:
href="http://psychmatters.blogspot.com/2006/08/colossal-collection-of-wandering-eye.html">Psych
Matters)
The first,
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/8/753">Imposing
Personal Responsibility for Health, by Robert
Steinbrook, M.D., is an opinion piece about the the concept of…
jstemwedel | August 24, 2006Because Shelley asked (and Josh, Mike, Chad, Nick, PZ, and John have all posted answers), I'm going to chime in.
Shelley asks:
Are you for or against the death penalty, or (if it's conditional), in what cases? Furthermore, do you believe that societies that sanction war are hypocritical for opposing the death penalty?
Rather than giving a detailed argument in favor of my position on capital punishment, I'm just going to enumerate my reasons. Then, I'll see if I can say something sensible on what this ought to mean for my position on war.
I'm against capital punishment because:
You can't undo…
j7uy5 | August 17, 2006For decades, corporate influences, primarily in the media, have
pressured women to have poor body images. This has spurred
growth of entire industries in fashion, weight loss, etc. No
doubt, billions of dollars have been made in this way. The
only price to society has been the epidemic of eating
disorders.
However, the marketing impact has largely been limited to women.
Now, it appears, men are increasingly affected.
A study by Dr. Tracy
Tylka, presented at the annual American Psychological
Association meeting this year, provides the details:
href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/…
j7uy5 | August 11, 2006I was just thinking about the topic, not with regard to myself, but the
issue in general, because of a good interview on Ira Flatow's
href="http://www.sciencefriday.com/">Science Friday.
There is no permalink, yet, but it's the show for 8/11/2006,
second hour. They discuss the progress, or lack thereof, in
finding a vaccine.
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with
respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?...
I don't worry about it for myself or my family at all, except in the
same abstract way that I worry about pancreatic cancer or something
like that. …
j7uy5 | August 10, 2006I know, it is a lame excuse. But I just found this article,
and am too tired to blog about it. It should be a fertile
inspirational source for someone, though, if someone else wants to get
to it before me.
From the August 10, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine:A
Proposal for Radical Changes in the Drug-Approval Process, by
Alastair J.J. Wood, M.D.
Sometimes, articles of particular interest to public policy are made
available on an open-access basis. This is one of them.
Usually, such articles are worth reading.
j7uy5 | August 9, 2006James Robbins, contributing editor at the National Review Online,
thinks global warming is a good idea. This is proclaimed in
his article, Hooray for Global Warming.
This is another version of the "CO2
is life" meme. And like "CO2
is life," it is utter nonsense. Anyone who would say that
fails to grasp a critical point about climate science. I've
never actually done a fisking, and I do not particularly care for it as
a literary form, but this one begs for it...
href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTJmNWI4N2Y2NTBmY2E3ZTIzZjcxM2IzM2ZjNjRkYWI=">Hooray
for Global WarmingSurf’s up…
j7uy5 | July 29, 2006This is another upsetting bit of news about our government.
The
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/29/AR2006072900592_pf.html">Washington
Post is reporting laboratory being built in Ft.
Detrick, Maryland. Known as the National Biodefense Analysis
and Countermeasures Center (NBACC), the new facility will conduct
title="Wikipedia link"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare" rel="tag">biological
warfare research "within what many arms-control experts say
is a legal gray zone,
skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the…
j7uy5 | July 29, 2006This is an archived post from September, 2005, posted here and now because I am away on vacation.
As
I go about my days, I get the impression that there is a lot of
confusion out there about the treatment of opiate abuse and dependence.
Wes Clark (not that Wes Clark, the other
one) has written an article to help us understand this nettlesome
issue.
First, I summarize some point from his article, and a
few others, then add a few bits of my own.
Dr. Clark provides us with some historical background in his article,
rev="review" href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/349/10/928">…
j7uy5 | July 20, 2006This is from a study published in the latest NEJM: The "Gender Gap" in
Authorship of Academic Medical Literature — A 35-Year
Perspective [
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/355/3/281">abstract/
rev="review"
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/3/281">full
text/
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/3/310">editorial
(subscription required for full text and editorial)].
First, the good news:
During the past four decades, the participation of
women in medicine has increased dramatically. Women now represent 49
percent of all medical…
j7uy5 | July 20, 2006A lot of people are writing about this, and I do not really have
anything new to contribute. But I will say it anyway.
Researchers whom I trust, people of fine moral character,
think the restriction on federal funding for embryonic stem cell
research is bad. Despite opinions from a majority of
scientists, President Bush
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/washington/20bush.html?ex=1311048000&en=706eb15c10c16c16&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">vetoed
legislation that would have allowed federal support for the research.
A supporter, Sen. Jim Talent
(R-Mo.),…
j7uy5 | July 19, 2006This is a follow-up to
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/07/transgenic_drug_controversy.php">the
post from a couple of days ago. It might not make a
lot of sense unless you have read that post, or are otherwise familiar
with the issues regarding genetically-modified crops.
In general, there are valid concerns about genetically-modified crops.
However, it is important to think clearly about the issues
involved. Concerns about the technology that arise from a
generalization, may or may not
apply to a specific implementation of the technology. In
order to understand the…
j7uy5 | July 16, 2006There is controversy in Peru, of all places, about the experimental use
of a treatment for diarrhea in children. Diarrhea is a major
cause of mortality in underdeveloped nations, especially in children.
From the Wikipedia page on
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality" rel="tag">infant
mortality:
Major causes of infant mortality in more developed
countries include congenital malformation, infection, and SIDS. The
most common cause of infant mortality of all children around the world
has traditionally been dehydration from diarrhea.
Because of the success of spreading…
j7uy5 | July 9, 2006There are a two poems written by veterans, on the site for Yes! magazine. The magazine is a written by progressives, with the intention of trying to keep their messages positive.
When it comes to war, it is hard to put it in a positive light. But if you consider that the men who wrote those poems were traumatized, the fact that they were able to write such poems, and get them published, is at least somewhat positive.
j7uy5 | July 8, 2006I was happy to see this article in the New York Times:
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/business/worldbusiness/06equator.html?ex=1309838400&en=372128defc2d33d5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">More
Lenders Join in Pledge to Safeguard EnvironmentBy CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCHPublished: July 6, 2006
Three years ago, 10 financial institutions — with Citigroup
the only United States company on the list — announced that
they would abide by the Equator Principles, a set of standards intended
to ensure that the large projects they financed did not have a harmful
impact on the…