When you go on a fishing expedition, you hope to come back with some fish to fry. But even if you don’t catch anything, you can still come home with a “ fish story” to tell. Perhaps about the [...]
Category: Dysfunctional Scientific Climate
The hidden cost of following the rules
Last year the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report entitled “Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust.” Clinical guidelines are what doctors use to diagnose and treat medical [...]
Fiscal cliff notes
Last year, when Congress and the White House failed to make any meaningful budget cuts to get the national debt and deficit under control, it set up “automatic” cuts to take place in 2013. [...]
NIH Revisited
After three decades of trying to accomplish things in Washington, I finally found it was much easier to realize a lifelong personal ambition. Which was to return to the area where I grew up. And [...]
The cancer test women should avoid at all costs
In June, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article addressing a recently updated recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The title of the [...]
A Mighty Fortification is Our Guide
Despite what we’ve all been led to believe, most people don’t need more iron in their diets. In fact, getting too much can be downright dangerous. I’ve given the inside story about how the NIH [...]
Garbage In, Garbage Out
There’s an old saying in science, “garbage in, garbage out.” It means if you put bad data into an analysis in the first place, you will get a useless result. But nutritional studies should really [...]
Another Outdated Verse in the Gospel of Government Guidelines
For 40 years now, we’ve been told that we need to restrict salt. Another verse in the gospel of government guidelines is the importance of lowering saturated fat consumption. But just like the [...]
Spy Games
Move over CIA. It looks like the FDA has taken up the spy game. According to a front page story in The New York Times on July 15, the FDA is carrying out a wide-ranging surveillance operation. [...]
Whole Foods Misses the Forest for the Seas
I have to admit, I don’t miss the hustle and bustle of Washington D.C. I love it where I grew up and now spend most of my time these days—Gloucester and Rockport, MA. Not only is the ocean view [...]