American Council on Science and Health

American Council on Science and Health Promoting evidence-based science and health since 1978. We debunk hype.

Read our stories: www.acsh.org
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Clips & Podcasts on Instagram: The American Council on Science and health was founded in 1978 by a group of scientists who had become concerned that many important public policies related to health and the environment did not have a sound scientific basis. These scientists created the organization to add reason and balance to debates about public health issues and to bring common sense views to the public.

Prohibition’s Chemistry ProblemPolicies that push drug use underground don’t make it disappear—they make it more dangero...
04/17/2026

Prohibition’s Chemistry Problem

Policies that push drug use underground don’t make it disappear—they make it more dangerous. A New York Times article shows that producers systematically experiment with chemical formulas, swap ingredients based on availability, and rapidly adjust potency and composition to evade law enforcement while maximizing efficiency and profit.

https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/04/16/prohibitions-chemistry-problem-50057

RFK, RFK, Where Have You Been? - The Power of RhetoricAbout 1,500 measles cases have been reported in the US so far in 2...
04/17/2026

RFK, RFK, Where Have You Been? - The Power of Rhetoric

About 1,500 measles cases have been reported in the US so far in 2026. In 2025, almost 2300 cases were reported, the highest number since 1992 when over 2100 cases occurred, a more than a 4.5-fold increase from 2024. The majority of those infected were unvaccinated. The surge not only includes three deaths last year, but escalated hospital admissions by 17% , and increased medical costs by an estimated $244 million in 2025 alone.

https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/04/16/rfk-rfk-where-have-you-been-power-rhetoric-50062

What It’s Like to Live With an Experimental Brain ImplantEarly BCI users reveal what the technology gives—and takesScott...
04/16/2026

What It’s Like to Live With an Experimental Brain Implant
Early BCI users reveal what the technology gives—and takes

Scott Imbrie vividly remembers the first time he used a robotic arm to shake someone’s hand and felt the robotic limb as if it were his own. “I still get goosebumps when I think about that initial contact,” he says. “It’s just unexplainable.” The moment came courtesy of a brain implant: an array of electrodes that let him control a robotic arm and receive tactile sensations back to the brain.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/bci-user-experience

FDA Decision Underscores Need for Consistent, Predictable StandardsThe FDA’s decision to decline approval of Replimune’s...
04/16/2026

FDA Decision Underscores Need for Consistent, Predictable Standards

The FDA’s decision to decline approval of Replimune’s treatment for advanced melanoma (RP1) raises important questions about the agency’s current regulatory posture and its alignment with long-standing principles of science-based, patient-focused decision-making.

RP1 demonstrated clinically meaningful activity in a heavily pretreated population, including an overall response rate of approximately 33% and a complete response rate of 15%—outcomes that compare favorably to historical experience with PD-1 monotherapy in this setting. These data were generated in a patient population reflective of real-world clinical practice and are consistent with precedents in oncology where flexibility in evidentiary standards has been appropriately exercised in the context of serious disease and unmet medical need.

https://www.realclearhealth.com/articles/2026/04/14/fda_decision_underscores_need_for_consistent_predictable_standards_1176684.html

We Know Social Science Is Shoddy. It's Time to Actually Fix It“Half of social-science studies fail replication test in y...
04/16/2026

We Know Social Science Is Shoddy. It's Time to Actually Fix It

“Half of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long project”: that’s the headline from reports on the latest mass replication project sponsored by the Center for Open Science (COS). COS has been sponsoring several mass replication projects in the last decade, each of which organizes dozens or hundreds of researchers to replicate recent research in different disciplines. As famed reproducibility researcher John Ioannidis notes, “the results are ‘not surprising’, because they are in line with those from smaller, earlier studies.”

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2026/04/15/we_know_social_science_is_shoddy_its_time_to_actually_fix_it_1176655.html

Better Tests, Longer Lives, Higher Costs? The ApoB DilemmaWhy cholesterol measurement is changingHeart disease remains t...
04/16/2026

Better Tests, Longer Lives, Higher Costs? The ApoB Dilemma

Why cholesterol measurement is changing

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US and with a projected costs of $1 trillion in 2035, a major driver of healthcare costs. Our treatment, based on a model of dysfunctional lipid metabolism being the proximate cause of cardiovascular disease has focused on LDL, the “bad cholesterol.” But newer American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines, built around updated risk calculation, encourage clinicians to treat earlier, measure more precisely, and intervene more aggressively when warranted.

https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/04/15/better-tests-longer-lives-higher-costs-apob-dilemma-50061

Heart Disease Is Preventable. So Why Does It Kill So Many of Us?For more than a century, cardiovascular disease has rema...
04/16/2026

Heart Disease Is Preventable. So Why Does It Kill So Many of Us?

For more than a century, cardiovascular disease has remained the leading cause of death in the U.S. Yet these last 100 years have also brought about incredible medical advances that have transformed our ability to treat cardiovascular disease with life-saving devices such as stents, implantable cardiac defibrillators, and heart pumps, alongside breakthrough medicines. We understand today, more than ever, the importance of nutrition, physical activity, and sleep for cardiovascular health. But in 2024, more than 900,000 people in the U.S. died of cardiovascular disease—which is more than the number of Americans killed by cancer and accidental deaths, combined.

https://time.com/article/2026/04/13/heart-disease-is-preventable-sadiya-khan-essay/

Families Need Sound Science — SCOTUS Can HelpIn the MAHA era of bizarre claims based on bogus science, it’s increasingly...
04/16/2026

Families Need Sound Science — SCOTUS Can Help

In the MAHA era of bizarre claims based on bogus science, it’s increasingly difficult to know what to believe, which products are safe, and who to tune out.

It’s not just RFK Jr. inexplicably ice plunging in jeans, either. Sure, he may be the plaintiff bar’s sweetheart, a trial lawyer by trade, and made millions suing based on made-for-litigation science — but really, he just brought a long-festering issue into the mainstream.

https://www.realclearhealth.com/2026/04/14/families_need_sound_science__scotus_can_help_1176599.html

New Kidney Disease Strategy Could Save Medicare BillionsThe U.S. Government spends upwards of a trillion dollars a year ...
04/16/2026

New Kidney Disease Strategy Could Save Medicare Billions

The U.S. Government spends upwards of a trillion dollars a year on Medicare, and a substantial portion of the Medicare budget goes toward dialysis treatment and related care for patients with late-stage kidney disease. Since Medicare covers kidney dialysis regardless of age, and kidney disease is growing at alarming rates, the costs to the federal government are quickly becoming unsustainable. Yet if younger people were screened, diagnosed, and treated earlier for kidney disease, Medicare could potentially see huge savings and our country would have a healthier, more productive workforce.

https://www.realclearhealth.com/articles/2026/04/14/new_kidney_disease_strategy_could_save_medicare_billions_1176606.html

Loneliness in Older Adults: Signs and How to Help Your Aging ParentWhen Sandi Mitchell’s partner died in fall 2023 after...
04/15/2026

Loneliness in Older Adults: Signs and How to Help Your Aging Parent

When Sandi Mitchell’s partner died in fall 2023 after a difficult illness, she was devastated by the loss, though it was far from her only taste of grief. Her first husband had died in 1999 after a long illness, and her second husband died suddenly in 2012. The third strike, however, was the one that really dinged her resilience, and she spiraled into depression and loneliness.

Despite living comfortably in her son’s home, his family's circumstances had also changed over the 13 years that Mitchell, now 80, lived with them. The grandchildren had grown up, and Mitchell was left alone at home most days with little to occupy her time. Her grief, sadness and mobility challenges stemming from osteoarthritis made getting out and staying active in the community difficult.

https://health.usnews.com/senior-care/articles/how-to-tell-if-your-aging-parent-is-lonely-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

MAHA and science-based public health: Can’t we all just get along?One of the truly remarkable—and depressing—things that...
04/15/2026

MAHA and science-based public health: Can’t we all just get along?

One of the truly remarkable—and depressing—things that I’ve observed since the longtime antivax activist who is now our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., first coined the slogan “make America healthy again” whose abbreviation MAHA now stands for everything from antivax activism to promoting lots of supplements and even cancer quackery, with a dollop of science-based considerations of the effect of healthy diet and lifestyle as determinants of health in order to disguise the stench of pseudoscience, has been to watch how quickly MAHA has become normalized, to the point where a usually good news outlet, STAT News, buys into the normalization.

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/maha-and-science-based-public-health-cant-we-all-just-get-along/

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In 1978 scientists began to fight back against two decades of scaremongering by lawyer-driven activist groups who adopted the veneer of environmentalism in order to terrify the public and increase their ideological control of society. The result was the American Council on Science and health and since then we have added reason and balance while debunking manufactured claims about public health issues.