Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG

The FDA has released a warning about Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP), and warns against eating the liver (the green substance) of lobsters, and stick to the white meat. Remember that the dose makes the poison. We are not told what the level of PSPs is in the lobster livers, or how much you would have to eat to develop shellfish toxicity. This is one the troubles with trying to protect the public's health. Recommendations are often based on animal studies, or disease outbreaks. Still, prevention is pretty simple, just stay away from the green stuff in lobsters. I am surprised that there is no warning about crab livers. Crabs inhabit the same waters.

Posted by at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two addictions are worse than the sum of their parts. After six to nine months of abstinence from alcohol, recovering alcoholics who were also chronic smokers showed a significantly lower rate of improvement in tests of memory, reasoning, judgment, and visual/spatial coordination than non-smoking recovering alcoholics in a study conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC). Not only did the smokers improve less, but their overall scores were lower than the non-smokers on most neurocognitive measures tested by the researchers.

Posted by at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Ohio State University & Johns Hopkins we find a nursing infant's exposure to VOCs from indoor air was 25- to 135-fold higher than what that infant ingested through breast milk. In fact, levels found in milk were far below the U.S. EPA's maximum contaminant levels for drinking water. The researchers stress that despite human milk's vulnerability to chemical contamination, the health benefits of nursing far outweigh the risks, and that breast milk is the best source of nutrition for a growing infant.

Posted by at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the NY Times: Bangor is believed to be the first city to outlaw smoking in cars with children. But Arkansas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico recently enacted similar bans, and at least three other states are considering them: California, Connecticut and Maine, where proponents hope the Bangor ban will be a catalyst for a state law. How far do you think public health agencies should proceed in becoming a health police, rather than health educators?

Posted by at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ethyl Mercury, used in dental amalgams does not cause mental retardation or other mental illnesses. This new study in JAMA this week clearly demonstrates lack of effect. The thoughtful accompanying editorial points out that more than one study may be needed to settle the issue is worth resding.. When we consider the millions of dollars spent to refute activist fears about dangers of current vaccines, the use of thiomerasol , the use of cell phones, dangers of power lines, or the use of breast implants, we should beware of diversion of funds that could have been spent to improve the health of miliions, that has been wasted on studies to prove that 'nothing' happened or will happen, and also the costs of law suits and inappropriate awards. How many potentially useful vaccines and medications will not be developed because of our willingness to listen to every activist voice, even when there is no biological plausibility for their concern?.

Posted by at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a seperate reports from Emory University and The University of Queensland "The results of a major clinical trial involving 12,167 women shows Gardasil, a genetically-engineered vaccine by Merck & Co., was 100 percent effective in preventing persistent infection with the two major strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that account for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. As far as a cancer vaccine goes, this is the best we have," says Dr. Ault, of Emory, who has spent much of his career researching the HPV vaccine. "In four or five generations we've gone from cervical cancer being the most common cause of cancer death in the United States for women to being a vaccine-preventable disease. That's a really remarkable story if you trace this research over the last 50 to 60 years."
Dr Ian Frazer of UQ's Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research said "It is very rare, almost unheard of, to achieve a 100% efficacy rate in any treatment, so these results are truly wonderful”

Posted by at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

This interview from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health destroys one more environmental myth.
Rolf Halden, PhD, PE in this Q & E
Q:What do you make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins can be A:released by freezing water in plastic bottles?
No. This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don’t think there are."

Posted by at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, now that we have had one more unnecessary law suit, which will work its way through the courts for a couple more years we find out from Duke University Medical Center that low dose aspirin ( which many if us over 65 years of age are already taking) may prevent the problams over which the law suit developed. too many ambulance chasers, too much advertising. We never seem to learn from our mistakes.
"Our data suggests that therapies that block unrestrained thromboxane actions – for example, low doses of aspirin -- might protect against end-organ damage without affecting blood pressure in patients taking cox-2 inhibitors," Coffman said. "However, the practical utility of such an approach would depend on whether such a therapy would retain the gastrointestinal protection afforded by cox-2 inhibitors alone."

Posted by at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Commissioner of Health for Virginia I really objected to the studies we had to perform every time an activist convinced a legislator that something was dangerous. The funds used for these studies had to be taken from programs that we knew worked, such as vaccinations and prenatal care. I cannot tell how many time I have told people that disinfection of water to promote safety from disease causing organisms was a safe procedure. Now:
From UNC News Service, Chapel Hill NC
When one cuts through the "bureauspeak" it appears that more refined studies whch should have shown stonger evidence for effects on pregnancy did not do so. It is high time legislators stopped knee jerk reactions to activist rumors and funded known public health interventions such as immunization, hypertension control, prenatal care and food safety.

Posted by at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Cox News Service
Reports examination of cord blood by an activist group, on 10 bloods. No data on measurement levels, just a statement about toxic compounds in blood of newborns. Remember that everything is Toxic, it just depends on the dose. Expect story to be repeated and get wilder as days go by.

Posted by at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)