I talked to the authors of the disputed brain study and this comment stuck out to me: “We’re living longer than ever. Let’s not panic.”

Just maybe avoid microwaving food in a plastic container and live your life:

www.vox.com/health/47530...

We have to find a better equilibrium for thinking about plastic.‬

‪It has enabled wonderful things we enjoy as modern humans. It also presents health risks worth taking seriously. ‬

‪Both things can be true!‬

‪https://www.vox.com/health/475307/plastic-microplastics-waste-human-effects-guardian‬

Here is, I think, a more productive mindset for most of us:

- Plastics do harm human health
- Take "low pain" steps to mitigate risk without upending your life
- Don't overreact, in either direction, to new research or new media fixations

www.vox.com/health/47530...

I spoke with co-authors on the brain study critiqued in the Guardian article.

“Nobody’s getting it perfect. But when you start combining the best practices, all of a sudden, I think in a year, maybe two, we’re going to have this unassailable approach."

www.vox.com/health/47530...

Lost in the public squabbling about microplastics research is this reality: This is a young field and new research should be critiqued for its methods. That's how the research will improve. This is how science is supposed to work:

www.vox.com/health/47530...

‪The science on microplastics is hard to do and it is multifaceted. This week’s bombshell was about a specific kind of study. ‬

‪We need a better framework for absorbing new developments:‬

‪https://www.vox.com/health/475307/plastic-microplastics-waste-human-effects-guardian‬

It’s one particularly wonky example of how politicians warp reality to bend it to what they want people to believe — not what actually happened.

And at the end of the day, even if they misled people, they won the fight. That’s politics, I guess:

www.vox.com/health/47472...

It’s a subtle thing. But the industry and Congress clearly felt they had a stronger argument if they portrayed the Biden admin alcohol study as coming after the industry-preferred study — and they have consistently twisted these facts to advance that story.

But this is false — and contradicted BY THE HOUSE REPORT ITSELF.

Look at this page. They say the Biden admin authorized their alcohol study in APRIL 2022 —*after* Congress already authorized theirs.

But follow the footnote. They cite a spending bill passed in DECEMEBER 2022

A key talking point was this was a crusade and one that began AFTER Congress had
authorized what would become the more pro-alcohol study.

House Oversight published their final report on the controversy and they repeat this talking point throughout:

oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...

There was a coordinated effort between the alcohol industry and Congress to discredit both the findings of the study that found negative effects at low levels of drinking and the researchers themselves. Again read all about it here:

www.vox.com/health/46008...

You can read the whole saga, but in short, two different studies analyzing alcohol and health were produced ahead of the dietary guidelines. One study found negligible negative effects, while the other found a serious mortality risk at low drinking levels

www.vox.com/health/46008...

There’s an interesting lesson in DC spin and misinformation when it comes to the new dietary guidelines and alcohol and the studies produced to justify these new changes.

A short thread —>

And you can sign up for Good Medicine here:

www.vox.com/pages/good-m...

In the near feature, you could get your inflammation checked at your annual check-up along with your blood sugar and cholesterol.

“I can envision a future where inflammation is a pre-symptomatic warning sign — something you notice before you feel sick."

www.vox.com/health/47438...

“We’re going through a cycle, and there will be casualties. There will be needless deaths and illnesses,” a Texas pediatrican told me. “I think that the only generation that is going to learn from this will be maybe the next one.”

www.vox.com/health/47333...