Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG

Do the media promote fear in the U.S. or are the British more phlegmatic? In a report from Dr. Richard Williams, professor of mental health strategy at the University of Glamorgan he analysed the psychosocial impact of terrorism and disaster on individuals and groups. He has analysed research literature to understand why certain people cope better in the aftermath of such trauma than others. Most importantly he drew a distinction between distress – a perfectly understandable reaction to a traumatic event – and a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and said that it was important not to medicalise, ‘ordinary processes’ such as bereavement. Comment: It may well be that our rush to provide 'bereavement counsellors' to anyone near the scene of a tragedy may be misguided.

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Despite the media feeding frenzy on tomatoes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Protection Plan Progress Report, released today in conjunction with the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety Action Plan Update, shows significant areas of activity to further improve the safety of America’s food supply since unveiling its Food Protection Plan in November 2007. The plan focuses on Prevention, Intervention and Response. The FDA is setting up standards agreements with major importers, devloping rapid detection methods for common biological contaminants, identifying best practices and increasing surveillance.

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July 2, 2008 -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted on Wednesday two reports from its work related to assessing the levels of formaldehyde in the indoor air of travel trailers used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for emergency housing of Gulf Coast residents.
Comment: The two reports should be required reading for anyone buying a mobile home (trailer) and for primary care physicians who care for families who live in such units. At the same time we need to beware of activists who condemn anything that can be measured. Remember, it is the dose than makes a poison.

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The Boston Globe reports that "Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) office [began] convening a series of meetings involving a wide array of healthcare specialists to [start] laying the groundwork for a new attempt to provide universal healthcare, according to participants. Comment: We can only hope that he learns from the Massachusetts experience and is advised how complex the system is. Just trying to provide financial access will only make the system worse, unless it is restructured on a primary care/prevention base. One stumbling block is that too many interest groups will be focused on ensuring their specialty is not diminished.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Daniel Carpenter, "[a] Harvard University professor, defended research suggesting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was making overly hasty approval decisions on medicines -- an analysis the agency has criticized as mistaken." The revised analysis indicates that "between 1993 and 2005, the 88 drugs approved near the FDA's deadline had a 15 percent chance of being flagged for severe safety problems," while the "rate was just five percent" for "226 other drugs." The FDA "has maintained that its own internal database showed only a modest increase in the rate of safety problems for such drugs." Comment: One more case of legislating in haste to regret the outcome at leisure. Several years ago activists complained the FDA took too long to make decisions., Congress leaned on the FDA to be quicker, without looking at the downside. No additional money was provided so the FDA had to cut corners. The results are a number of high profile drugs be let loose and then having to be withdrawn. The US syndrome of “want an answer immediately” does not work in science, but Congress will not learn. All of us who have managed large agencies have had to listen to legislators tell us what to do without the freedom to respond or discuss.

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This months Johns Hopkins Public Health Magazine is devoted to Sexual Behavior and its ramificatioris for personal health. Some of the topics worth review are:
Are Abstinence-only Programs Effective?
What happens when politics and scientific research collide?
Time for the Male Pill?
You can find them in the Magazine

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