►March 5, 2004 - Scientist says no study yet proving GMO safety - www.sunstar.com.ph - "Traavik, who is based at the University of Tromso in Norway, admitted that there are not enough studies on the safety of GMOs, even from independent scientists, as the studies entail huge costs...He said the United States-based Monsanto Company, producer of the Bt corn, have presented supposed findings on the safety of their products, but he pointed out that the findings were 'not scientifically substantiated'...'If you look at their (study) design, they were more on the productional elements. There were no studies on what happened to the bodies of the scientists exposed to them,' he said."

►March 3, 2004 - Estrogen Study Stopped Early Because of Slight Stroke Risk (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "A large federal study of estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women has been stopped a year ahead of schedule because the estrogen increased the risk of stroke and offered no protection against heart disease, the government announced yesterday...The study included only women taking estrogen alone, not those who take combined hormones. An earlier study, halted abruptly in 2002 after the researchers found an increased risk of breast cancer, involved only women taking the combined hormones estrogen and progestin...But health officials also noted that the increased risk was small, estimated at about eight extra strokes per year for every 10,000 women taking estrogen."

Comment:  Contrast this situation with what is happening re: vaccine-associated adverse reactions. Why, given the far greater number of vaccine-associated deaths and injuries, hasn't vaccination been halted?  There have been over 125,000, probably representing between 1 and 12 million, adverse vaccine-associated reactions.  When it comes to vaccinations, enough never seems to be enough.  For more on this go to Scandals: Infant Vaccine Deaths - But Who's Counting? (No news is NOT good news.),  Scandals: Vaccine-related infant deaths - When is enough, enough?, and Scandals: Avoidance Of Vaccine Truth But Not Consequences -  Are We "Knee Deep in the Big Muddy"?

►February 19, 2004 - Report Urges Higher Ethics in Human Toxicity Studies (requires registration) - Reuters Health via Medscape - "A government-sponsored expert panel recommended Thursday that federal regulators closely scrutinize controversial experiments in which humans are intentionally exposed to toxic chemicals...The panel urged the agency to restrict human toxicity research to studies that are "necessary and scientifically valid" and to only use human volunteers in cases where animal testing is uninformative or unavailable. Human studies should also only be performed when the potential benefits to society outweigh the potential risk to research subjects, the report said."

►February 28, 2004 - Does animal research benefit humans? - journal article (BMJ)

►February 27, 2004 - Scientists doubt animal research - Many animal experiments may be of little benefit to treating human disease, according to experts.  - BBC

►February 25, 2004 - Hopkins group had pattern of errors - Drug mix-ups, unqualified staff led to broader probe; Child died after home care lapse - The Baltimore Sun

►February 13, 2004 - Fraud spurs Cell paper retraction - Postdoc fabricated data, leaving his career in tatters and embarrassing his boss - The Scientist via BioMed Central

►February 7, 2004 - Adventist was human guinea pig for military during Vietnam War - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - "Ken Cobb was drafted into the Army during the height of the Vietnam War. Instead of fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, the Seventh-day Adventist member volunteered as a human guinea pig in a top-secret biological weapons program...He was one of a select group of soldiers who volunteered from 1954 to 1973 to expose themselves to deadly viruses and bacteria as human guinea pigs. The Army used the soldiers to test vaccines and equipment against biological weapons and diseases and to develop treatments for these diseases. All of the volunteers were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church."

►February 5, 2004 - Autism: The doubts: B.C. Doctors not convinced - The Province - "'Much of the research that looks for harms from vaccines, at some point, you come back to the fact that the researcher may have a bias against vaccines and this work gets seized upon by people who clearly have a bias against vaccines,' Kendall said."

Comment:  Well, gee, I wonder why this "expert" never seemed to have a problem before with studies alleging to vindicate vaccines that not only were conducted by pro-vaccine researchers, but paid for or otherwise influenced by vaccine manufacturers. 

►January 21, 2004 - Experts demand 'cowboy cloners' ban - Maverick scientists attempting to clone humans should be outlawed across the world, a leading expert has said. - BBC

►January 22, 2004 - Do cancer patients in clinical trials have better outcomes than non-participants? - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute via www.eurekalert.org

►January 23, 2004 - Trials 'do not benefit patients' - There is little proof that taking part in clinical trials alone is enough to improve outcomes for cancer patients, research has found.  - BBC

►January 26, 2004 - Web sites can give patients info they need for decisions - Credible Internet resources were found to be helpful for patients needing to make informed choices on cancer screening. - www.ama-assn.org

►January 15, 2004 - Science losing its appeal - A trend away from science among students leaves French academics worried  - The Scientist

►January 16, 2004 - Doctors disagree over boy's illness - North Lake Tahoe Bonanza - "Controversy and disagreement are as endemic in the medical field as in any other. One recent example is the recent diagnosis of Incline Elementary School fourth-grader Nathan Shuey."