Free Republic

One of the companies identified as a fetal tissue supplier in sting videos of Planned Parenthood counts two federal health agencies among its customers, earning at least $300,000 for material used in research of treatments for HIV and eye disease, officials confirmed to POLITICO. It’s unknown whether the nonprofit, Advanced Bioscience Resources, got any of that fetal tissue from abortions performed at Planned Parenthood clinics. But the firm’s relationship with the women’s health organization, and its contracts since 2009 with the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, have shed light on the government’s involvement in the...

Dr. Leon R. Kass, the Addie Clark Harding Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought and the College at the University of Chicago and former chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics under former President George W. Bush, has written a report entitled “The Meaning of Life – In the Laboratory”. Kass discusses the morality surrounding the US government’s funding of “research on human embryonic stem cells, cells derived from early embryos produced by in vitro fertilization in assisted-reproduction clinics.” According to the report, the use of human embryos is justified by the advancements of science which demands that...

(CNSNews.com) -- The American University Museum in Washington, D.C. will host an art exhibition this fall that protests the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) current ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men (MSM).The museum says the exhibit, entitled “Blood Mirror", will feature a “powerful sculpture created from the blood of 9 gay men." Viewers of the sculpture will be able to see themselves reflected on the surface of the encased blood.​Gay artist Jordan Eagles said in a press release that he preserved the blood within a seven-foot-tall monolith to show “that this blood could have been used...

CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. — Authorities say Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, who published research based on the medically disproved claim that vaccines cause autism, has been found dead in an apparent suicide in North Carolina. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued this week that Bradstreet died of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Bradstreet, who was from Braselton, Georgia, was found in the Rocky Broad River in Chimney Rock on June 19. His body was found by a fisherman. The sheriff’s department said Tuesday that a handgun was also pulled from the...

Now that trans fats will be off the list of safe additives, any company that wants to use them will have to petition the agency to allow it. That would phase them out almost completely, since not many uses are likely to be allowed. Still, food companies are hoping for some exceptions. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the main trade group for the food industry, is working with companies on a petition that would formally ask the FDA if it can say there is a "reasonable certainty of no harm" from some specific uses of the fats. A spokesman for the...

Artificial trans fat will have to disappear from the American diet, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA on Tuesday ruled that trans fat is not "generally recognized as safe" for use in human food. The department gave food manufacturers three years to remove the partially hydrogenated oils, or PHOs, from their products. The companies can petition the FDA for a special permit to use it, but no PHOs can be added to human food unless otherwise approved by the FDA. Eating a diet rich in trans fat is linked to higher body weight, heart disease and...

The first-ever "female viagra" in the world came one step closer to coming to market, as a key advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted Thursday afternoon to recommend that the FDA approve it with conditions. The committee voted 18-6 to recomend that the FDA approve flibanserin, a drug designed to boost otherwise healthy women with low sexual desire. The FDA had twice before rejected the drug, saying the side effect risks of fainting, nausea, dizziness, sleepiness and low-blood pressure outweighed its benefits. Even on Thursday, the committee described the drug benefit as "moderate" or "marginal."

The Obama administration is calling for the end to a lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, acknowledging that the policy “is perceived by some as discriminatory.” The Food and Drug Administration proposed new rules on Tuesday that would roll back the ban, though it still restricts gay men from donating blood if they have had sex with another man within a year. The proposal still marks the country’s biggest step yet toward changing the 30-year-old prohibition. Critics of the ban, which was enacted during the national AIDS epidemic in 1983 and last updated in 1992, say...

People who are trying to do good for their families and the planet by living a simple life based on traditional skills are facing yet another assault. Artisanal soap makers say new regulations, proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), will put them out of business. The view of Sen. Feinstein and her corporate backers (listed below) is that the Personal Care Products Safety Act (Senate Bill S.1014) will make the world a safer place by scrutinizing “everything from shampoo and hair dye to deodorant and lotion.” She says the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act...

People who are trying to do good for their families and the planet by living a simple life based on traditional skills are facing yet another assault. Artisanal soap makers say new regulations, proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), will put them out of business. Many soap makers are rural “kitchen table” operations that rely on the income to fund their simple living lifestyle. Some use milk from goats they raise and ingredients they harvest from the land. The Handmade Cosmetic Alliance posted this form on its website that can be used to reach out...

A New Jersey lawmaker wants to ban an organic herb fueling the latest drug craze among teens. As WCBS 880’s Sean Adams reported, Kratom gives a high similar to heroin. The substance is legal and kids can buy it, Adams reported. The plant is related to coffee; it is native to southeast Asia and has long been used as an herbal pain reliever. But it is also psychoactive and can cause hallucinations and addictions, says New Jersey Assemblyman Ron Dancer, who wants to make the substance illegal. “According to the FDA, there is a known toxicity in multiple organs that...

The Food and Drug Administration is tearing into several Kind fruit and nut bars, blasting the company's claims they are healthy.Apparently there is a federal criterion for what is considered healthy, and Kind doesn't meet it, according to a recent FDA warning letter to the company.The agency singled out the labels for four Kind bars: almond and apricot, almond and coconut, peanut butter-dark chocolate and protein, and dark chocolate-cherry cashew and antioxidants.The agency took aim at several claims that the bars were "healthy," including that they were low in sodium and were a good source of fiber.

The World Health Organisation’s cancer agency has declared that one of the UK’s most widely used weedkillers is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.Amateur gardeners and professional farmers have been urged to “think very carefully” about using the popular herbicide Roundup, which contains glyphosate. A summary of the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) report, published in The Lancet Oncology, said that the herbicide had been detected “in air during spraying, in water, and in food”.It had also been detected “in the blood and urine of agricultural workers, indicating absorption”....The IARC's report said that its use has increased sharply with the...

One of the world’s most popular weed killers—and the most widely used kind in the U.S.—has been labeled a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The decision was made by IARC, the France-based cancer research arm of the World Health Organization, which considered the status of five insect and weed killers including glyphosate, which is used globally in industrial farming. […] The new classification is aimed mainly at industrial use of glyphosate. Its use by home gardeners is not considered a risk. Glyphosate is in the same category of risk as things like anabolic steroids and...

I don’t know what’s worse; that Big Guy keeps making videos like this while ISIS continues to kidnap, rape, torture and kill it’s way across the Middle East…Or that he looks so natural while doing it.In fact, he’s so good at acting that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences could have avoided all the bad press about being too white simply by awarding Barry a well deserved Lifetime Achievement Oscar.Butt getting back to Lady M’s big 5 year anniversary:Okay, get on your mark, get set…5 sit ups:Our “sitting” president5 mile run 5 vegetables:Now get out there and #gimmefive! In...

In honor of the five (5!) year anniversary of Lady M’s Let’s Move! initiative, in conjunction with her “Eat Brighter” campaign, launched in 2013… A tip for “eating brighter:” put the mic down first and keep your tongue in your mouth. The federal committee responsible for nutrition guidelines (the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, or DGAC) has finally issued a 571-page report of recommendations that calls for:  the adoption of “plant-based” diets, taxes on dessert, trained obesity “interventionists” at worksites, and electronic monitoring of how long Americans sit in front of the television. So nothing real intrusive; it just wants to fundamentally...

President Barack Obama wants to create a new government agency dedicated to keeping the nation’s food safe. The proposal in the president’s budget released Monday comes after outbreaks of illnesses linked to chicken, eggs, peanuts and cantaloupe in recent years. More than a dozen federal agencies oversee food safety, and consumer advocates have long called for bringing all those functions together in a single home. […] The budget proposes consolidating the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and all of FDA’s food safety oversight into one new agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The new agency...

Federal health regulators have approved an attention deficit disorder drug for a new use: A first-of-its kind treatment for binge-eating disorder. […] The Food and Drug Administration originally approved Vyvanse in 2007 as a once-a-day pill for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. On Friday, the agency cleared the drug for adults who compulsively overeat. Vyvanse, known chemically as lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, is part of a family of drugs that stimulate the central nervous system. The drug’s prescribing label warns that Vyvanse has a “high potential for abuse and dependence,” and doctors should monitor patients for signs of dependence. …

I’m thinking, “Maybe not.” Yet, this sort of unethical practice goes on all the time. According to physician/activist Roy Poses, MD, there were at least four significant settlements of such cases during the last half of 2014 alone. And, by January 9th of our new year, another high profile case has already been settled. Officially, it is known as U.S. ex rel. Fragoules v. Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., Civil Action No. 10-10420 (D. Mass.). In accordance with the disposition of the case, the US subsidiary of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. will pay $39 million to the US federal...

Just before Christmas, the deputy director of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) told reporters that the agency had decided to lift the lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with men. While the details still have to be worked out, as does a period of public comment this year, the FDA intends to institute a one-year ban it says fits in with current evidence.And what evidence is that? According to the Associated Press: Marks said some of the most compelling evidence for changing the policy comes from Australia, which put in place a one-year ban...