In 1951, Sirs Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill began surveying thousands of doctors to determine the cause of rising lung cancer rates in the United Kingdom. Initial results clearly identified smoking as the culprit; and follow-up studies revealed additional causes of death attributable to the habit. This research galvanized doctors to take concrete actions: […]

COVID-19 has presented not only a health crisis, but a burgeoning economic catastrophe as well. A recent McKinsey report notes that in 2020, African economies could experience a catastrophic loss from US$90 billion to US$200 billion, a 3–8% drop in GDP growth, and delayed or reduced foreign direct investment. Such a massive hit will require […]

Continued from Part Two: The misinfodemic spreads worldwide The first two parts of this series were based on an independent analysis of 18,000 news stories covering “EVALI” – an outbreak of lung injuries that occurred in the United States in 2019.  The probable cause of that outbreak is now clear:  An adulterant in unregulated illicit […]

Continued from Part One, Searching for ‘patient zero’ This three-part series is based on an independent analysis of 18,000 news stories covering EVALI – an outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries that occurred in the United States in 2019. Part one of this series explained why the most reasonable explanation for the EVALI outbreak is an […]

Last November, Massachusetts became the first US state to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. And in February of this year, the House approved a bill to eliminate the sale of these cigarettes at the federal level. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has launched a campaign to enforce menthol bans in New York State under the […]