Pfired but still kicking

Named after the location of first documented outbreak (Norwalk Ohio in 1968) norovirus, aka the "Stomach Flu," "Winter Vomiting Bug," or the "Cruise Ship Virus" is an evil little demon that spares no one. There are few, if any of us, who haven't experienced its misery; it infects 21 million people annually in the US every year—second only to the common cold. It is the leading cause (up to 80 percent) of gastroenteritis in the western world.   

It is just about impossible to find any written entity that is essentially 100% incorrect. Yet, Vani Hari, formerly known "The Food Babe," (and henceforth as "The Food Boob") manages to come pretty damn close. It was a Herculean effort, and should be acknowledged as such.

It is pretty hard to trust or admire our government on a good day.However, this is more of a theoretical concern than a practical one, since they haven't had a whole lot of them lately. 

I've seen some pretty awful tactics used by various self-promoters, quacks, and other invertebrates over the years, but this one may take the organic cake.Internet huckster Mike Adams, who ranks right up there with Crazy Joe Mercola, in terms of spreading self-serving, harmful nonsense around the web has outdone even himself this time.

Here are four things I did not expect to happen to me on Wednesday August 13: 
1) Waking up next to Scarlett Johansson 2) Bowling 300 with an Ikea bag over my head 3) Finding a bassoon in my eye 4) Getting invited to be on the Dr. Oz Show to talk about a weed killer. 
The first three are admittedly unlikely, but the fourth really struck me as especially odd.Why on earth would Dr. Oz want to talk to me? It's not like we travel in the same socioeconomic circles. He has a 400 room mansion with an unobstructed view of lower Manhattan, while I live in a refrigerator crate under the FDR Drive. I doubt we've ever been invited to the same party. 

I used to have some anger issues, but now they're gone.OK, that's a lie. They're not gone, but they visit often.At least not until Friday morning when I got up at 7 to see myself on CBS This Morning. I was mega-pissed after that.A weed killer called 2,4-D was the subject of testimony before Congressional committee the day before. Leading the charge to have it banned was the Environmental Working Group, which was doing their typical routine of trying to scare people into doing something or other using fear tactics, based either on bad science, or no science at all. It often works. They are very good at this.

The fad du jour (and I defy you to find a non-du jour day) is something that sounds like an absolute win-win. It has all the correct buzzwords—green, sustainable, environmentally friendly, endocrine disruptors, bioaccumulation. And many more. Today it's buildings.This is exactly what we at ACSH deal with every day in different forms. There is more than a passing similarity to the very successful promotion of organic foods, dietary supplements, and "chemical-free" (fill in the bank). This is because certain industries and trade groups take full advantage of the usual (but nonetheless effective) scare tactics and slight of hand to scare people into buying their products because of cleverly staged, feel-good, anti-scientific dogma.

You have to admire the consistency of our government, especially when it comes to protecting us.While the TSA is strip-searching 95-year old women in wheelchairs, a janitor tripped over a box of smallpox samples that someone left in an old Budweiser cooler in some closet.OK, this may not be strictly accurate. It could have been Bud Lite. And it wasn't really a janitor, but it really doesn't makes much difference in the grand scheme of things.What really happened is that a bunch of sealed vials of the smallpox virus—possibly the most deadly pathogen ever—were discovered in a  cardboard box in storage room, unsecured and unlocked. This is not good.

I am fortunate enough to own a small cottage on Fire Island.The island is a barrier beach, located about five miles off the south shore of Long Island. It is a wonderful, unique place. There are no roads or cars. And no stress, which is especially astounding, since it is only 50 miles (and a short ferry trip) from Manhattan.We may not have cars, roads or stress, but we have mosquitos— plenty of them.

We all have bad days.Sometimes "bad" is a woefully insufficient adjective. Ask Dr. Mehmet Oz (henceforth known as The Lizard of Oz). He had a really bad day this week, courtesy of Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO). She is not someone you want as an enemy. She tricked The Lizard into testifying before  the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Is life great or what?We have all kinds of wonderful choices available to us. Yankees or Mets (better still, neither), Frosted Flakes or Cap'n Crunch, Homeland or The Walking Dead. Awesome. 
And now we get to choose between an old artificial sweetener that was perfectly safe and a new one that is perfectly safer. 
For more than 30 years, aspartame (aka NutraSweet), has been the target of conspiracy crazies and those who profit from the crazies. Speaking of whom, supplement mogul Crazy Joe Mercola calls aspartame "By far the most dangerous substance added to most foods today." 

After 20 years of grueling research, unimaginably effective drugs to treat hepatitis C are hitting the market. They are so good that cure rates (aka sustained virological response, or SVR)—defined as the absence of detectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA six months following cessation of treatment—are approaching 100 percent. Even ten years ago this would have been regarded as science fiction.These drugs are quite expensive. But, are they worth it?