April 23, 2018. Many of the synthetic playground materials being used contain carcinogens, and when children are exposed to those carcinogens day after day, week after week, and year after year, they increase the chances of our children developing cancer, either now or as they get older. That should be adequate reason to not install them in Montgomery County.
Read More »We’re Speaking Out on Health Issues
NCHR scientists and health policy experts provide written and oral statements on a wide range of topics.
Here are many of the ways we have been Speaking Out on Health Policy Issues for the last few years. Whether the topic is legislation intended to cure diseases, proposed bans on BPA or other chemicals that disrupt your hormones, the importance of including women, people of color, and patients over 65 in clinical trials, or many other topics, you’ll gain a better understanding of our evidence-based analyses by reading these letters, statements, and testimony.
Here are the ways we have been Speaking out on Medical Treatments and Products, such as prescription drugs and medical devices that the FDA is considering approving, or is considering taking off the market because of serious risks. Whether the topic is Chantix, Addyi, Yaz, Essure, or medical products you’ve never heard of, you can find out more about what is known and not known about the safety and effectiveness of a wide range of products by looking through this section of our website.
Public Meeting for Patient-Focused Drug Development on Opioid Use Disorder
April 17, 2018. Patients’ perspectives on how opioid use disorder is affecting their health, well-being, and daily lives will help the FDA and drug companies focus on studying outcomes that are most important and clinically relevant for patients.
Read More »Coalition Letter Opposing Wendy Vitter
April 16, 2018. To merit confirmation, judges must exhibit an ability to appropriately weigh and contextualize scientific evidence when matters involving science are before them. Vitter’s misrepresentations
of scientific evidence call into question her ability to do so appropriately. We therefore urge you to vote no on the confirmation of Wendy Vitter to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Letter to Montgomery County Council and Board of Education Members on Installing Artificial Turf Fields and Rubber Playgrounds
April 16, 2018. Synthetic rubber play surfaces are now being proposed for MCPS outdoor play spaces. These “poured in place” and other types of rubber playground surfaces have many of the same risks as tire crumb and other rubber infill that the County Council realized were too dangerous to use in 2015.
Read More »NCHR’s Comments on USPSTF Draft Research Plan: Interventions for Tobacco Cessation in Adults, Including Pregnant Women
USPSTF, April 11, 2018, We strongly support the efforts of the USPSTF to draft a research plan to identify benefits and harms of tobacco cessation interventions in broad populations, including pregnant women. We encourage the USPSTF to consider: 1. the necessary evidence to establish the short-term and long-term benefits of tobacco cessation on an individual and population level 2. potential fetal outcomes, including developmental and birth-related outcomes. 3. the harms associated with electronic nicotine delivery systems, as these products have been touted as safer alternatives that may also serve as quit aids.
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