A study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition pours cold water on claims that eating or shunning certain foods will meaningfully affect cancer risk. As one study author from Stanford University told the Washington Post: “What we see is that almost everything is claimed to be associated with cancer, and a large portion of these claims seem to be wrong indeed.” Statistical analysis showed that most associations had little or no statistical significance. Additionally, meta-analyses—which pool multiple observational studies—found smaller effects than the typical “latest study.”- The animal rights extremist who threatened a medical researcher, targeted in a separate campaign by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), was sentenced to six months in jail for trespassing and unlawful posting of a message. While PCRM sticks to the legal, if detestable, practice of advocating that people withhold donations from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the March of Dimes, and the Jimmy V Foundation (among a long list of respected medical charities) because of its animal rights agenda, other animal rights activists are less respectful of the law and human decency.
- If you’re looking for a primer on the organic pesticide question, Science 2.0 has a good one here. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is beginning to test organic crops for pesticide residue—unfortunately, only for synthetic pesticides and not all pesticides. The author speculates that testing for organic pesticides would show that pesticides were present but in safe quantities, just like synthetic pesticides in the overwhelming majority of conventional produce. Tell that to the worrywarts at the Environmental Working Group.
- CCF in the News: We’re on Hawaii Public Radio challenging the so-called Humane Society of the United States to give more than the nothing (no really, $0.00) in pet-shelter-aid grants in Hawaii last year. (You can read the “Not Your Local Pet Shelter” report produced by our HumaneWatch project to find out if any pennies from the group’s $120 million-per-year budget end up with your state’s local pet shelters.) South Florida newspaper readers are also getting the facts on the failures of food and beverage taxes and the real vegan agenda of PCRM. Meanwhile, HumaneWatch and PetaKillsAnimals serve as resources for journalists getting the facts out about these radical activist groups.
- CCF This Week: In our daily posts this week, we’re taking on activists who want to use Washington’s “fiscal cliff” debate to sneak in new taxes on foods and drinks, thanking our meat- and fish-eating ancestors for the brainpower of humankind, finding that claims of “wheat addiction” on Dr. Oz may make good television but make exceptionally bad science, and detailing the legal pickle into which HSUS’s campaign against elephants in the circus has plunged.
