ACSH Science Dispatch

The emerging Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has resurrected the well-worn accusation that food and drug companies dictate US public health policy. How true is this claim? And do the leaders of the MAHA campaign have their own conflicts of interest? They sure do.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) seems to be in an awkward spot. The group fears that children could be exposed to hormone-disrupting pesticides through food. However, it also endorses the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones—drugs that disrupt normal hormone production—in gender-dysphoric youth.

Are the AAP's divergent standards justified, or is this just a classic case of hypocrisy?

Scientists have learned much about COVID-19 over the last four years. But several aspects of the pandemic remain to be fully explained, including Long COVID: a chronic condition that can cause or contribute to some 200 health effects throughout our bodies.

A recent study suggests that fibrin, a key component of blood clots, plays a role in the development on Long COVID, and may lead to effective treatments for the condition. Let's take a closer look at the results.

Some patients taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are beginning to report slower or no weight loss as their bodies build up a tolerance to the medication. Does this spell trouble for obese people looking to slim down long-term? Dr. Chuck Dinerstein reports his personal experience with the so-called Ozempic plateau.

Scientists often think they're smarter than they are because of their narrow academic expertise, according to a new study. Recent history is littered with corroborating examples in which experts made false declarations about COVID-19 and refused to acknowledge their errors. What drives this hubris, and how should the public respond to it?

America's anti-opioid crusade routinely denies chronically ill patients access to adequate pain control, relegating them to an agonizing existence. Many of these individuals would rather die than withstand the anguish, and some advocates of physician-assisted suicide say we should help these patients end their lives. Is this an ethical solution to the crisis of untreated pain? We have our doubts.

If you're too busy for an hour-long gym session, "exercise snacking" – short bursts of intense activity over several minutes – may help you stay fit despite your jam-packed schedule. That's according to a new study, but how compelling are the results? Let's take a look.

A recent study claimed that excessive sitting–all too common in our modern, hyper-connected world–is more deadly than smoking and HIV. The solution, the researchers claimed, is a novel creation known as the treadmill desk, which allows people to exercise during their work days. How truthful is all this? Not very.

America's prohibitionist assault on prescription opioids has left an untold number of chronically ill patients without access to adequate pain control, encouraging them to use illicit substances like heroin or even take their own lives to end their suffering. Some drug policy reformers say the solution to this tragic situation is outright legalization of all drugs. How well would that policy actually work? Let's take a look.

As social creatures, humans often synchronize with each other in watching movies, dancing in groups and mirroring the behavior of our romantic partners. Could this synchronicity actually influence whom we find attractive? A new study says—maybe.